5 ms·

A major problem is that there's no political unit of the correct size: San Francisco is too small and California is too big.

pjlegato 11y ago
Exactly. The local economy long ago outgrew the municipal structures. The state should do what New York City did a century ago and merge all of the tiny local governments into a single unified entity. San Francisco is a big city that hasn't yet realized it's not a small city anymore.
HeyLaughingBoy 11y ago
Hmmm. Well, we managed to do it in the Minneapolis metro area. I live on a farm (obviously in a rural area) and I work in downtown Minneapolis about 40 miles and two counties away. I take an express bus to work every day after driving about 15 miles to a Park & Ride (free parking). Since it can use the HOV lanes or drive on the shoulder when necessary, the bus consistently gets me there in less than half the time of driving and I don't need to pay for downtown parking or deal with the stress of bumper to bumper traffic. The actual bus ride costs a little less than I would have to spend on gas to drive there. Minneapolis has made some streets in downtown bus-only in one direction so there is little intermingling of bus & automobile traffic. I have to say it works very well.
dragonwriter 11y ago
> A major problem is that there's no political unit of the correct size: San Francisco is too small and California is too big. If only there was a political unit -- say, maybe, a "district" -- of larger geographical scope than San Francisco, but smaller than California, focused on providing rapid transit for the San Francisco Bay Area...
- pjlegato 11y ago
  The BART system you refer to was gutted. It met with heavy resistance from the local governments in the Marin and Peninsula suburbs who feared it would "alter the character" of their quaint semi-rural villages (which haven't been that for a very long time.) They got away with it and effectively blocked most of the planned system from ever being completed. Original plan: http://www.jakecoolidgecartography.com/regional-rapid-transit-bay-area.html http://www.jakecoolidgecartography.com/regional-rapid-transi...

pjlegato 11y ago

Exactly. The local economy long ago outgrew the municipal structures. The state should do what New York City did a century ago and merge all of the tiny local governments into a single unified entity. San Francisco is a big city that hasn't yet realized it's not a small city anymore.

HeyLaughingBoy 11y ago

Hmmm. Well, we managed to do it in the Minneapolis metro area. I live on a farm (obviously in a rural area) and I work in downtown Minneapolis about 40 miles and two counties away. I take an express bus to work every day after driving about 15 miles to a Park & Ride (free parking). Since it can use the HOV lanes or drive on the shoulder when necessary, the bus consistently gets me there in less than half the time of driving and I don't need to pay for downtown parking or deal with the stress of bumper to bumper traffic. The actual bus ride costs a little less than I would have to spend on gas to drive there. Minneapolis has made some streets in downtown bus-only in one direction so there is little intermingling of bus & automobile traffic. I have to say it works very well.

dragonwriter 11y ago

> A major problem is that there's no political unit of the correct size: San Francisco is too small and California is too big. If only there was a political unit -- say, maybe, a "district" -- of larger geographical scope than San Francisco, but smaller than California, focused on providing rapid transit for the San Francisco Bay Area...

pjlegato 11y ago
The BART system you refer to was gutted. It met with heavy resistance from the local governments in the Marin and Peninsula suburbs who feared it would "alter the character" of their quaint semi-rural villages (which haven't been that for a very long time.) They got away with it and effectively blocked most of the planned system from ever being completed. Original plan: http://www.jakecoolidgecartography.com/regional-rapid-transit-bay-area.html http://www.jakecoolidgecartography.com/regional-rapid-transi...