About The Burlingame Local

This publication is dedicated to analyzing the role local governments play in California’s most enduring social issues. It’s written by me, Madeline, a resident of Burlingame.

Do you ever think about how terrible traffic has gotten around town? How unaffordable housing is today? How Electeds are defining climate action? Or how San Mateo County has managed to maintain residentially segregated cities? Moreover, do you ever wonder how these problems came to be? Well, I do. So I spent some time digging deeper into the history of these problems, and found that I would frequently end up at the same familiar place: policy decisions made at the local level.

I started The Burlingame Local because our community deserves to know how we got ourselves into a slew of social issues, who’s responsible, and how decisions being made today at the local level make things better or worse.

What You’ll Get

The Burlingame Local is published at least once a month, and will cover the going’s on about town: unfiltered perspective on Burlingame City Council and various commission meetings, with special attention paid to agenda items pertaining to housing, transportation and road safety, climate action, and racial justice. And the occasional letter incorporating relevant regional, state, and federal topics.

About Me

I’m a young millennial renter living in the suburb city of Burlingame, California. I’m a product designer by day, race bikes with my FTWNB team on weekends when there’s not a pandemic, and now apparently am a full time critic writing The Burlingame Local. With my ties to the bike community and my lived experience relying on bikes for transportation at a time I couldn’t afford much else and couldn’t afford rent near all the major transportation hubs, ending traffic violence is a cause I feel strongly about.