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Not all problems can be laid at the feet of consultant culture. Transit routes picked at the ballot box are bound to be worse than those drawn up by experts; tr

Not all problems can be laid at the feet of consultant culture. Transit routes picked at the ballot box are bound to be worse than those drawn up by experts; transit’s role as a “job creation” bonanza doesn’t create incentives to be particularly efficient. Yeah, bad political processes are not a good way to get a big project started off on the right foot, that's for sure.

sofixa 4y ago
It's funny how "too much democracy" can actually legitimately be a problem. What people want might be going against what people actually need, or what serves better more people. It's a frequent thing in the US, with e.g. transit routes - something might be popular on paper, but that doesn't make it the best solution for most future users, or weird elected positions like sheriff/DA/etc. that have to make promises to get them elected instead of actually doing their job the way they're supposed to according to laws and job description, or school boards where instead of you know, actual education experts deciding what kids will study, parents meddling to ban books because "they're turning the frogs gay!!!!". Another "fun" failure mode is Switzerland, widely hailed for it's direct democracy, and it took until the 1990s for universal women suffrage to be enacted across all levels (and it literally took a federal court enforcing it, voters refused it in the last canton). Balance needs to be found, and that is not easy.
- DoreenMichele 4y ago
  There's lots of ways political processes go bad places. Years ago, while taking college classes, I researched the Solano County rail plan. The incorporated cities got together and decided which cities would each get a stop. The military base (largest employer in the county, bringing in a billion dollars annually) had no representation. After they picked which cities would get a rail stop, then they hired a consultant to pick the best sites for each of those cities. Of course, the consultant did what they were paid to do. They aren't the best sites for the people or the county. Only one of the three really makes sense. One of them has already been built, a stop that could potentially cost them Travis AFB due to encroachment on the base. Another is planned for a protected wetland. It will likely never have much development around it and will likely sink into the marsh like Venice.

sofixa 4y ago

It's funny how "too much democracy" can actually legitimately be a problem. What people want might be going against what people actually need, or what serves better more people. It's a frequent thing in the US, with e.g. transit routes - something might be popular on paper, but that doesn't make it the best solution for most future users, or weird elected positions like sheriff/DA/etc. that have to make promises to get them elected instead of actually doing their job the way they're supposed to according to laws and job description, or school boards where instead of you know, actual education experts deciding what kids will study, parents meddling to ban books because "they're turning the frogs gay!!!!". Another "fun" failure mode is Switzerland, widely hailed for it's direct democracy, and it took until the 1990s for universal women suffrage to be enacted across all levels (and it literally took a federal court enforcing it, voters refused it in the last canton). Balance needs to be found, and that is not easy.

DoreenMichele 4y ago
There's lots of ways political processes go bad places. Years ago, while taking college classes, I researched the Solano County rail plan. The incorporated cities got together and decided which cities would each get a stop. The military base (largest employer in the county, bringing in a billion dollars annually) had no representation. After they picked which cities would get a rail stop, then they hired a consultant to pick the best sites for each of those cities. Of course, the consultant did what they were paid to do. They aren't the best sites for the people or the county. Only one of the three really makes sense. One of them has already been built, a stop that could potentially cost them Travis AFB due to encroachment on the base. Another is planned for a protected wetland. It will likely never have much development around it and will likely sink into the marsh like Venice.