Brisbane, California

City of Brisbane
City
Downtown Brisbane
Nickname:  City of Stars
Location in San Mateo County and the state of California
Country	United States
State	California
County	San Mateo
Incorporated	November 27, 1961
Government
• Mayor	Cyril G. "Cy" Bologoff
• City Manager	Clayton Holstine
Area
• Total	20.077 sq mi (51.999 km2)
• Land	3.096 sq mi (8.017 km2)
• Water	16.981 sq mi (43.981 km2)  84.58%
Elevation	108 ft (33 m)
Population  (2010)
• Total	4,282
• Density	210/sq mi (82/km2)
	United States Census Bureau
Time zone	UTC-8 (PST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-7 (PDT)
ZIP code	94005
Area code	415
FIPS code	06-08310
GNIS feature ID	1658137
Website	http://www.ci.brisbane.ca.us

Brisbane City Hall

Brisbane (/ˈbrɪzbeɪn/) is a small city located in the northern part of San Mateo County, California on the lower slopes of San Bruno Mountain. It is on the northeastern edge of South San Francisco, next to the San Francisco Bay and near the San Francisco International Airport.

The population was 4,282 as of the 2010 census.

Brisbane is called "The City of Stars" because of a holiday tradition established over 65 years ago. At the start of the Christmas/Hanukkah season, many residents and business owners place large, illuminated stars, some as big as 10 feet (3.0 m) or more in diameter, on the "downhill" sides of homes and offices throughout Brisbane. Brisbane is built on the eastern slope of San Bruno Mountain, allowing visitors to easily see the stars. Many of the stars are kept up all year.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 20.1 square miles (52.0 km²), of which, 3.1 square miles (8.0 km²) of it is land and 17.0 square miles (44.0 km²) of it (84.58%) is water, the latter the Brisbane Lagoon. A remnant of San Francisco Bay, the Lagoon was formed by the construction of the U. S. Highway 101 causeway, and became diminished as most of its north and central portions were filled with landfill. Brisbane sits at the southeast corner of the Guadalupe Valley.

History

The first inhabitants were the Costanoan Indians. They built dome-shaped dwellings of boughs and tules. By 1776, Spanish explorers had arrived and the Franciscan missionaries soon followed leaving numerous large land grants in their wake. With Mexican rule, the lands controlled by the Mission were released to private enterprise.

Brisbane was originally part of Rancho Canada de Guadalupe la Visitacion y Rodeo Viejo, a large tract of land that included the Cañada de Guadalupe (now Guadalupe Valley), and also the Bayshore district of Daly City, the Visitacion Valley district of San Francisco, and San Bruno Mountain. Visitacion City, as it was initially known, was platted in 1908 adjacent to a new rail line that had been completed in 1907 to the east of the town site. The Southern Pacific Railroad built the new line to create a faster and more direct route into San Francisco. The railroad also planned to build extensive terminal facilities just north of the town site. The Visitacion Valley rail yard and locomotive works were expected to employ over 1,000 workers, but construction was halted soon after it began due to the Panic of 1907. The town site remained largely undeveloped for many years. The railroad resumed construction of the yard and shops during World War I, and the facilities were completed by 1918.

The city is served by the Peninsula Library System.

In the 1920s Arthur Annis, who many describe as the "Daddy" of Brisbane, arrived. He proposed the name change from Visitacion City to Brisbane. Annis regarded the name Visitacion City as a handicap "being so close to a San Francisco city district with a similar name", a situation he felt would confuse people and would prevent "Brisbane" from establishing its own unique identity. Accounts of how the city acquired its name vary. According to his daughter, the city was named for Brisbane, Australia, perhaps due to the areas resemblance to that port city at the time. Another story holds that it was named for newspaper columnist Arthur Brisbane.

In the 1930s, the city was home to several slaughterhouses. Animals kept at the nearby Cow Palace were butchered in Brisbane. The meat was loaded onto railway cars in Brisbane for transport.

Demographics

2010

The 2010 United States Census reported that Brisbane had a population of 4,282. The population density was 213.3 people per square mile (82.3/km²). The racial makeup of Brisbane was 2,578 (60.2%) White, 80 (1.9%) African American, 21 (0.5%) Native American, 1,084 (25.3%) Asian, 41 (1.0%) Pacific Islander, 182 (4.3%) from other races, and 296 (6.9%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 712 persons (16.6%).

The Census reported that 4,266 people (99.6% of the population) lived in households, 16 (0.4%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 0 (0%) were institutionalized.

There were 1,821 households, out of which 514 (28.2%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 808 (44.4%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 159 (8.7%) had a female householder with no husband present, 96 (5.3%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 128 (7.0%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 59 (3.2%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 554 households (30.4%) were made up of individuals and 122 (6.7%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.34. There were 1,063 families (58.4% of all households); the average family size was 2.94.

The population was spread out with 825 people (19.3%) under the age of 18, 213 people (5.0%) aged 18 to 24, 1,356 people (31.7%) aged 25 to 44, 1,459 people (34.1%) aged 45 to 64, and 429 people (10.0%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41.7 years. For every 100 females there were 100.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 99.8 males.

There were 1,934 housing units at an average density of 96.3 per square mile (37.2/km²), of which 1,169 (64.2%) were owner-occupied, and 652 (35.8%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.3%; the rental vacancy rate was 5.5%. 2,936 people (68.6% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 1,330 people (31.1%) lived in rental housing units.

2000

As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there were 3,597 people, 1,620 households, and 850 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,083.6 people per square mile (418.3/km²). There were 1,831 housing units at an average density of 551.6 per square mile (212.9/km²). There were 1,620 households out of which 23.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.2% were married couples living together, 8.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 47.5% were non-families. 34.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.20 and the average family size was 2.89.

In the city the population was spread out with 17.7% under the age of 18, 5.6% from 18 to 24, 37.5% from 25 to 44, 31.1% from 45 to 64, and 8.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 100.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 101.3 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $63,684, and the median income for a family was $81,484. Males had a median income of $51,270 versus $48,684 for females. The per capita income for the city was $37,162. About .4% of families and .7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.7% of those under age 18 and 7.6% of those age 65 or over.

Politics

In the state legislature Brisbane is located in the 8th Senate District, represented by Democrat Leland Yee, and in the 19th Assembly District, represented by Democrat Jerry Hill. Federally, Brisbane is located in California's 12th congressional district, which has a Cook PVI of D +22 and is currently represented by Jackie Speier.

The mayor is Cyril G. "Cy" Bologoff, and Steven W. Waldo serves as the Mayor Pro Tem.

Transportation

Brisbane is located near BART, Caltrain, and Muni Metro lines but does not have its own dedicated stations. Brisbane Shuttle provides free services to residents and people that work in Brisbane to the Bayshore Caltrain Station/Sunnydale Muni Metro station and Balboa Park BART and Muni station. Samtrans also provides service to the San Francisco Transbay Terminal from Brisbane Park and Ride Lot and there is also a Senior Shuttle to San Bruno BART station/Tanforan Mall.

Economy

Brisbane's economy is dominated by office parks at Sierra Point and an industrial park around the Valley Drive corridor. There are commercial areas at Brisbane Village, Visitation Avenue, and Bayshore Avenue. The population of Brisbane doubles during the work day as such facilities fill up with commuters. Some of the larger office tenants in Brisbane are IGN, Hitachi, Dolby, WalMart.com, Tercica, Sing Tao, and Intermune. Monster Cable Products and bebe stores (traditionally spelled in lowercase) are headquartered in Brisbane on Valley Drive. The Sierra Point office park area is home to a number of well-known class A office buildings like the Dakin Building.

Universal Paragon's proposed 659-acre (2.67 km²) Brisbane Baylands project, if approved by Brisbane voters, proposes to more than double the existing employment base of the City by providing new office, research & development, retail, hotel and other land uses that are accessible by a proposed multi-modal transit station (Caltrain, Muni T-Third light rail and proposed Bus Rapid Transit).

Top employers

According to the City's 2009 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the city are:

#	Employer	# of Employees
1	Pepsi Beverages Company	380
2	Recology	350
3	IGN Entertainment	305
4	VaxGen	295
5	VWR	272
6	BiRite Foodservice Distributors	259
7	Monster Cable Products	248
8	Expeditors International	223
9	CollabNet	212
10	bebe	198
11	Fong Brothers Printing	190
12	Shopping.com	175
13	InterMune	126
14	Pitney Bowes Presort Services	123
15	Lincoln Broadcasting Co.	120
16	Glam Media	108
17	Purcell Murray	105
18	Hitachi America	99
18	SFO Apparel	99
20	Aircraft Technical Publishers (ATP)	97

Whale rescue

In 1989, north of Sierra Point Humphrey the whale was beached on a mudflat after an anomalous journey into the San Francisco Bay. His rescue was filmed for national TV and witnessed by hundreds of onlookers from the upper floors of the Dakin Building. The rescue was carried out by staff of The Marine Mammal Center and United States Coast Guard.

External links

• City of Brisbane
• History of Brisbane
• Brisbane Baylands Project