10 ms·
California Forever
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- playday 3y ago[flagged]
- colordrops 3y agoCan't find much info on this other than that several billionaires are planning to build their vision of utopia. Sounds like something out of dystopic science fiction. Perhaps one day it will be surrounded with laser fences and guarded by robots.
- soligern 3y agoMeh, I like this group of billionaires.
- psunavy03 3y agoGiven what's written on the site, perhaps you could at least let the democratic process go a few steps down the road before assuming that what your Huffington Post betters told you to believe is actually true?
- colordrops 3y ago> Huffington Post you got me pegged for the wrong political party. and it aint red or blue.
- VirusNewbie 3y agoHow is it different than the Irvine company, which is incredibly successful?
- colordrops 3y agoI know nothing of them but a quick perusal of their website makes them look like not much more than a fancy real estate developer. In fact the imagery on the website furthers my point. Looks like modern apartment buildings and malls, very similar in feel to those in Demolition Man.
- VirusNewbie 3y agoDemolition Man was filmed in Irvine! :) They are one of the pioneers of 'master planned' communities, in that they owned almost all of the land that became the city Irvine. They carefully selected various lots for types of homes, which areas would be luxury homes, which would be industrial, which areas would be 'cheaper' homes and the like. It is a fancy real estate development company, but they're really building cities and reshaping them in a holistic way.
- zjp 3y agoI guess they're tired of having to pay people more just so the peninsula's NIMBY landed gentry can extract it all.
- mmastrac 3y agoVC feeds money to startups, startups pay huge salaries, salaries go to properties sold by VC, repeat.
- fragmede 3y agoDon't forget the intermediate step: startup employees rent housing in SF, rental income goes to local landlords who bought their property after working for VC backed startups in a previous generation
- ModernMech 3y agoYeah, we got $2 mil for our startup, and I cringe to think how much went to our collective rents and the office rent. Probably a good 80% of that.
- nostromo 3y agoAndreessen is a “yes in your backyard but not in mine” kinda guy. https://fortune.com/2022/08/06/marc-andreessen-billionaire-nimby-yimby-its-time-to-build/ https://fortune.com/2022/08/06/marc-andreessen-billionaire-n...
- spencerchubb 3y ago"yes in your backyard but not in mine" is functionally equivalent to NIMBY.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- deaddodo 3y agoYou literally just rephrased the entire meaning behind NIMBY.
- matt3210 3y ago[flagged]
- psunavy03 3y agoGo back to Reddit.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- justinzollars 3y agotake a drive through that part of Solano County.
- chrisfosterelli 3y agoThis is a common misconception. Corporate directors do not have any legal requirement to maximize profits. Directors' fiduciary duty is not only to shareholders but to the corporate entity itself. They are required to act in the best interest of the company, and companies can have many goals other than shareholder profit. Of course money is the lifeblood for any corporation, and a powerful incentive for decision making, but there's nothing legal that forces a company to squeeze profits at the cost of all else.
- impulser_ 3y agoThere are a lot of place just like this that already exist in the US. Travel to the Midwest you will find towns and cities with this vision already in place. Believe or not, but the majority of companies in the US respect the place they operate despite what you might think.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- justinzollars 3y agoA book I recommend is the Geography of Nowhere. This book addresses the question, what makes an ideal community? Are they legal to build? and why is America so boxy? It also talks about planned communities, and some cities in America that work, like Savannah, and Portland. tldr. we were great at planning cities up until the 20's then the depression happened, then WW2 happened. These two events killed off anyone in America who could build a city, the car was invented, and then horrible urban sprawl happened. Great book. https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/geography-of-nowhere-the-rise-and-decline-of-americas-man-made-landscape_james-howard-kunstler/252343/#edition=2257850&idiq=4982973 https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/geography-of-nowhere-the-rise-...
- cpr 3y agoJim Kunstler is a national treasure. Can't recommend his blog enough: https://kunstler.com/writings/clusterfuck-nation/ https://kunstler.com/writings/clusterfuck-nation/ .
- justinzollars 3y agoHe is awesome. He influenced where I ended up.
- fsckboy 3y ago> killed off anyone in America who could build a city, the car was invented, and then horrible urban sprawl happened if the car hadn't been invented yet, how do we know those purported to know how to build cities would know what to do with the cars?
- jmugan 3y agoI keep thinking that as people lose faith in regular cities they are going to want to live in a Disneyland. Reminds me of Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. Traveling into the general city outside the gates was a big deal.
- LeoPanthera 3y agoDisney has a history of attempting this. EPCOT was originally supposed to be a city you could live in. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EPCOT_(concept) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EPCOT_(concept) Later they built they town of "Celebration", but have divested most of it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celebration,_Florida https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celebration,_Florida What this "California Forever" proposal most reminds me of though is "Golden Oaks", which is Disney's latest attempt, less like a city, more like a large-scale retirement community. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Oak_at_Walt_Disney_World_Resort https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Oak_at_Walt_Disney_Worl...
- rgmerk 3y agoHaving visited Celebration, Florida, it actually looks pretty nice. However, I seem to recall reading that people ended up doing a lot of driving to big box stores to buy things at a reasonable price.
- janalsncm 3y agoI don’t see a problem with it. Cities are machines that need an overarching plan to be optimized. They don’t just happen. Expecting them to just happen is how you get a disaster like LA.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- darth_avocado 3y agoJust what we need, more cities where there’s no water sucking every last bit of what’s left.
- nekitamo 3y agoResidential areas are not to blame for California's water mismanagement. Agriculture with corruption are.
- bandergirl 3y agoOn the other hand, California feeds half the country and some of the world. Bringing more water in is in the interest of everyone.
- nekitamo 3y agoThe same crops can be grown cheaply elsewhere. Artificially subsidizing California agriculture with unsustainably cheap water undercuts growers in other markets. Stop giving insanely cheap water to large growers with inefficient water usage practices, and the market will quickly right itself and move production elsewhere. At a more sustainable price, with less ecological imbalance.
- amluto 3y agoFor some reason, the same utilities in California sell the same water for agricultural use for 1/20 - 1/10 the price as they sell it to residential or commercial users. To me, this screams inefficiency. I suspect that agricultural users are being charged too little, and so they have too little incentive to be efficient. (Or they are pumping groundwater and paying nothing.) And residential users are being charged more than the service really ought to cost. The only semi-legitimate justification I can come up with is that there are fixed costs associated with water users, and each residential user uses much less water than an agricultural user. But there are better ways to handle this.
- dontupvoteme 3y agoPeople eat avocados and Almonds but they don't feed them.. I'm rather sure that America/the world could easily survive a California without crops without much fuss.
- opportune 3y agoI understand why it is so, but it’s weird that this is framed as a way to help Solano county residents with their immediate term problems when it’s pretty blatantly intended to be a new technology hub. It mentions jobs but you know… not what kind of jobs, or how Solano county residents will fill them. I guess they had to scramble to hire some PR firm to spin their plans to Solano County residents and had to come up with something. But completely glossing over what they actually intend to do - attract techies and technology jobs - seems kind of like an insult to the intelligence of the people this is addressed to.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- 0xB31B1B 3y ago1) there are technology workers in solano county that commute to walnut creek or SF. 2) technology workers spend money at local restaurants. Workers in solano county that work in service industry jobs with 60 minute commutes to napa, walnut creek, or SF for high wages instead have well paying job opportunities within a 20 minute commute.
- teaearlgraycold 3y agoEverything a rural county can produce is a necessary input for a city. There will be some new jobs, cities have all kinds of jobs that a rural area doesn't need. And there will be some increased need for the existing jobs.
- nick0garvey 3y agoIf Solano county votes this down, it dies. They need to sell it this way.
- bbreier 3y agoI kind of tend to agree with your skepticism / consternation broadly, but it does give _some_ indication as towards the types of jobs: > This project can bring new employers to Solano, and independently create thousands of permanent, good-paying local jobs in construction, energy, services, and other industries. We are also interested in building trade schools and other educational paths that help Solano residents learn the skills they need to get those new jobs and build long-lasting careers
- sneilan1 3y agoQuote from the website: "Our goal is to build homes of different sizes and price points integrated in the same walkable neighborhoods, with homes, shopping, dining, and schools all within walking distance. We are also interested in exploring new paths to homeownership for Solano residents through down-payment assistance programs and other solutions" This sounds a lot like a community development project. This sounds very similar to other community development projects like Levittown. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levittown https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levittown I don't think the investors in this project are doing this out of the goodness of their hearts even though the brochure website seems to imply that. If I am not mistaken this is a money making venture. They will provide value however by investing and building up Solano.
- bagels 3y agoRedlining is awful, but it's sad that is really the only topic of discussion in that article. I'd like to know more about how they turned out, how they were received at the time, etc.
- DoreenMichele 3y agoThe wikipedia link above (that I assume you are talking about) says in part: Built after World War II for returning white veterans and their new families, the communities offered attractive alternatives to cramped central city locations and apartments. This is not accurate. World War II was the de facto end of The Great Depression and to their shock they were able to produce "more guns and more butter" because unemployment rates had been as high as 30 percent in the previous decade. There was a tremendous need for housing. During the Great Depression, some people lived in the basement of their house and rented out the house to try to not lose the house. Others moved every thirteen months because if you could pay your rent on time and in full for twelve months in a row, you could get the thirteenth months free. Levittown was the birth of the modern suburb and it helped resolve a massive need for new housing. It was so successful, we are still haunted by this ghost of Christmas past. The entire country turned its collective will away from the newly finished war and towards building new housing. They created new policies and financing mechanisms and to this day it is challenging to build anything in the US other than suburban-style single family detached homes because our entire financing and policy infrastructure and collective subconscious supports the idea that a home in the 'burbs is the ideal home. So we have grown 1950s-style suburban homes to be ugly homes on steroids, a la McMansions, and can't manage to build much else and then we wonder why there are so many homeless. We are victims of the overwhelming success of Levittown. I'm aware that racism tended to exclude people of color. I don't think this had much to do with it being the suburbs. If we had built towers of apartments in downtowns, I imagine redlining would have still kept out people of color. Racism is not why they were suburbs. Them being suburbs is not primarily why people of color were excluded. Racism is people being shitty and they were going to be shitty in this particular way in that particular era regardless of the style of home which helped fill the overwhelming need this country had for additional housing and it finally had the means to build some of that for at least some people.
- hitekker 3y agoThe AI art seems pretty quickly generated. If they had paid someone to edit it or draw it, this piece wouldn't look so rushed.
- ChatGTP 3y agoNothing like a Tuscan village with windmills to solve all the problems.. The AI art definitely gives it a beautiful dystopian / 1984 vibe.
- candiddevmike 3y ago[flagged]
- tqi 3y ago> What's their plan for unsheltered folks? Or is the exclusion of them the plan? Are you say that would be reason not to build this?
- prawn 3y agoI find it a bit of a weird comment. As my city (outside the US) releases land bordering the outskirts of the suburbs for housing development, no one says "What's their plan for unsheltered folks?" They're releasing land for developers to increase housing stock and hopefully improve housing affordability. Creating shelters. That's reasonable and realistic behaviour. They mention potential schemes for residents becoming home owners (rent to own, something like NRAS in Australia, etc). Maybe there's an opportunity for charities or government entities to speak with them about a mix of affordable stock, but usually that's done as a trade off for concessions. And not going to appear in the first brochureware site.
- tqi 3y agoYeah agreed. Choosing not to build this also lacks a plan for unhoused people, so I'm not sure why this is an argument against it.
- mullingitover 3y agoThere’s one weird trick to avoiding unsheltered folks in your area: build shelters (or ideally, affordable housing). Major metro areas in California hate it!
- DoreenMichele 3y agoThere's an even weirder trick: If you don't want homeless people everywhere, build enough housing of the right type where more people can afford housing instead of being expected to stay in the shelter system. Strangely, the major issue homeless people all have in common is not drugs or mental health issues. It's -- drum roll please -- a lack of housing. And studies show this strongly correlates to a lack of housing stock and a lack of affordable housing. (Tip: Simply building more housing of pretty much any kind helps bring rents down. Something having to do with market forces. Supply and demand. Yadda.)
- RagnarD 3y ago[flagged]
- dang 3y agoPlease don't do regional flamewar or ideological flamewar (or any other flamewar) on HN. It's not what this site is for, and destroys what it is for. If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and taking the intended spirit of the site more to heart, we'd be grateful.
- raminf 3y agoMore from the SF Chronicle: https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/flannery-renderings-solano-county-city-18341474.php https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/flannery-renderi... Read somewhere the land acquired was 2x the size of the City of San Francisco.
- convolvatron 3y agothis just popped up at the NYT https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/31/business/california-solano-county-city.html https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/31/business/california-solan...
- fowkswe 3y agoNot quite: https://www.calculateme.com/area/acres/to-square-miles/50000 https://www.calculateme.com/area/acres/to-square-miles/50000
- nostromo 3y agoI understand the skepticism and all, but I’ve seen something similar-ish work in South Lake Union in Seattle. It was a wasted neighborhood, with parking lots, old motels, fast food, and a Hooters. Two billionaires that I’m not super fond of, Paul Allen and Jeff Bezos, put a bunch of money on the line to make a pretty nice, walkable area, with restaurants and parks and whatnot. I’m glad they did. Who knows if these people can pull this off - it wouldn’t surprise me if they don’t - but I wish them the best.
- physhster 3y agoI'm sure California and its legendary NIMBYs will do everything they can to stop it.
- xeromal 3y agoJust wrap them up in enough environmental lawsuits to let the founders pass away from old age.
- andbberger 3y agothe legendary NIMBYs are the ones funding this
- dalyons 3y agoWell technically it’s not in _their_ backyards. It’s over the hills in some fields.
- eduction 3y agoAre you? California, legendary NIMBYs included, built the most prosperous and popular state in the nation, with its largest and fastest growing companies, with more innovation and scientific discovery than any other part of the country, with by far the best public university system in the country, and with maximal tolerance for immigrants and people with uncommon religious beliefs, sexual and gender inclinations, and approaches to work and life generally. It was historically flexible enough about development to accommodate more people than any other state. I wouldn’t be so cynical as to think that greenfield development in a place where basically no one is now will not win over a substantial part of the population (even if some of the supporters would oppose the project if it was in their own metaphorical backyard). As an ex Californian I know as well as anyone how easy it can be to take the state’s many unique strengths for granted when you live there. But believe me, you miss a lot of it when you leave, and you also realize most other states face similar problems, or will, including with nimbyism, homelessness, addiction, you name it. California is great and retains the capacity to surprise. And I think one of the strongest pieces of evidence for that is even the critics building this development away from everyone else in the state still called it California Forever.
- 7e 3y agoCalifornia is dying. Climate change is killing it. It’s not a growth state, unless perhaps you’re counting the homeless population.
- AYBABTME 3y agoHow is climate change killing California? If anything I would think it's one of those places that will benefit in the overall (despite some setbacks).
- commonlisp94 3y ago> Climate change is killing it. How so?
- dimator 3y agohttps://www.statista.com/statistics/187834/gdp-of-the-us-federal-state-of-california-since-1997/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/187834/gdp-of-the-us-fed...
- 7e 3y agohttps://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/03/us/california-population-decline.html https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/03/us/california-population-... Dollars don't live in cities, people do.
- 8f2ab37a-ed6c 3y agoQuite nice up in NorCal by the ocean, you should check it out sometime.
- fragmede 3y agoIt's like that one bar - nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded.
- beanjuiceII 3y ago[flagged]
- ModernMech 3y agoMy ideal community is a college campus. I know there's a lot not to like, but they've ruined regular cities and towns for me. Perfectly manicured lawns and open green spaces. Everyone has a purpose. Housing and facilities are planned to meet needs. Walkable environment where cars are often times banned. Wifi everywhere. Health services are provided for all residents. Maker spaces are still a thing on campuses providing access to fabrication equipment, 3d printers, etc. Libraries with access to any book or journal article you could want. There's a strong sense of community and comradery - even strangers feel connected to one another. Even the police are nicer, as they try to build a lot of good will with the community. It's easy to meet people and engage in activities and hobbies. You can walk to a show put on by the local orchestra or drama group, go to a game played by the local team, eat food prepared by the local culinary students, or visit an art exhibition featuring world-famous or local artists. Or you can get involved in any of these activities by playing music or sports or making art! And that's not to mention the world-class lectures and research that happen all the time. When I graduated and went into the "real world" I was isolated and alone. Everything felt so chaotic and unorganized, and a huge step down from the kind of close community I was used to. In the "real world" everything seems centered around commerce and consumerism instead of people. I was unable to find anything like I had experienced in college, so I just went back and never left.
- davidmurphy 3y agoAgreed. High end cafeterias, run by Bon Appetit Management Co (et al) are also part of the appeal. Don't want to have to cook all the time, nor go to fast food, et al. Having a default place on site is crucial.
- hermannj314 3y agoThe ideal housing is an overpriced community of highly aspirational young people that effectively violates federal housings laws by pretending elderly people and families with young children don't exist? I dont see how it scales outside of a college community.
- ModernMech 3y ago
- afteraibot 3y agoAny time you can upgrade a town I'm ok with it.
- guiomie 3y agoI welcome competition to the towns between SF and San Jose. They are very expensive to live in, and the amount of municipal taxes I pay for bad public schools is scandalous. I suspect bad governance that managed to get away with it because of tech money and the good times rolling.
- 8f2ab37a-ed6c 3y agoAnd they are slowing down, or stopping entirely in the case of San Jose, when it comes to building new housing: https://www.axios.com/local/san-diego/2023/08/22/new-apartment-construction-declines-california-oregon-washington https://www.axios.com/local/san-diego/2023/08/22/new-apartme... - at this point just about anything is better than the status quo
- davidmurphy 3y agoGreat. Build Baby Build!
- silcoon 3y agoImages: let’s make California like Italy
- floren 3y agoHaving spent time in both: yeah sounds good.
- parker_mountain 3y agoWhat's the transit story? The commute from Solano to the Bay is already miserable. While this seeks to keep jobs in Solano, people are going to want/need to get to SF. There's already train lines, but they're slow and underfunded. I really hope they expand the transit story
- 8f2ab37a-ed6c 3y agoI imagine that part will be hard given that it will require the surrounding region bureaucracies to play ball, and we know how well that went when it was attempted for CA's High-speed rail.
- xgl5k 3y agoBased on the map in the SF Chronicle article, the southern part of city is a stone's throw from Pittsburg Antioch Bart. Might be wishful thinking, but hopefully this is what brings bart to Solana county. https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/solano-fairfield-new-city-investors-faq-18334384.php https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/solano-fairfield...
- DoreenMichele 3y agoThis is the beginning of our decades-long collaboration with Solano’s residents, elected officials and agencies, as well as the many Solano stakeholders, including Travis Air Force Base, labor, business, agriculture, educators, police, fire, conservation, and many others. For some decades now, the federal government has periodically made noises about closing Travis AFB. It could serve its mission from anywhere on the West Coast and, last I checked, it was one of two Superfund sites in Solano County. In IIRC 2018, Amtrak opened a new train station near Travis AFB in line with Solano County's rail plan which was cooked up by the incorporated cities getting together and dividing up the political pie, then hiring a consultant to "pick the best sites for new stations* for each city in question. In other words, it was not the consultant's job to pick the best rail station sites for the county as a whole. Furthermore, Travis AFB, not being an incorporated city, had no representation at this meeting. Encroachment is a major factor in deciding to close military installations. Their already built station makes it more likely that Travis will eventually be closed. It is -- or was when I lived there -- the single largest employer in the county to the tune of a billion dollars annually. This will gut the economy of the county, leave it with a Superfund site to clean up that will be challenging to redevelop and likely create a new Superfund site wherever they decide to relocate the functions of Travis. Other than that minor detail, it sounds like a nice little plan. I wish them luck.
- resonantjacket5 3y agoIf Travis AFB is closed, maybe it'll turn into a civilian airport? Similar to how John Wayne Airport was converted from Santa Ana Army Air base.
- DoreenMichele 3y agoPretty sure that won't replace a billion dollars in lost revenue annually. Random article I googled up that seems to suggest, no, one small airport won't replace a billion dollars annually for the county. Florida Tech adds that, in 2013, US airports generated around $10 billion in aeronautical revenue. https://simpleflying.com/how-airports-make-money/ https://simpleflying.com/how-airports-make-money/
- ChrisArchitect 3y agoWanna talk about this? Lots of discussion on this from the numerous news stories about it in the last week https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37266398 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37266398 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37279521 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37279521 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37269147 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37269147
- ChrisArchitect 3y ago[dupe]
- dang 3y agoThanks! Macroexpanded: A company backed by SV has purchased 52,000 acres to build a new city - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37285804 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37285804 - Aug 2023 (20 comments) Silicon Valley elites revealed as investors behind $800M Bay Area land grab - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37279521 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37279521 - Aug 2023 (118 comments) A mystery company has purchased thousands of acres to build a new city near SF - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37279223 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37279223 - Aug 2023 (2 comments) The Silicon Valley elite who want to build a city from scratch - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37266398 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37266398 - Aug 2023 (205 comments) Shadowy Company Buys Land Near Travis AFB - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37146306 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37146306 - Aug 2023 (4 comments) 'Mystery company' buys land worth $800M near Travis AFB, raising concerns - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36816387 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36816387 - July 2023 (170 comments)
- MongoTheMad 3y agoThe next California City!
- deaddodo 3y agoCalifornia City was largely a fraud. There are a dozen planned cities in California that succeeded to counter the CC story. Irvine, CA would be a prime example.
- cc101 3y agoI'm struck that many of the comments here are reactions founded in lack of hope and shallow cynicism. Something has killed enthusiasm and ambition for a better future in many of us. We did it to ourselves. It is our own responsibility to imagine a better future and to find in ourselves the ambition and commitment to make it real. Seize the moment.
- RankingMember 3y ago> Something has killed enthusiasm and ambition for a better future in many of us. The billionaires backing this aren't doing it for "a better future". I think the mixed/cynical feelings on this are understandable given that billionaires are rarely (ever?) doing anything with a primary goal of the betterment of humanity, whatever their expensive PR may say. That leaves a lot of room for speculation as to their real motives, i.e. how they'll get a return on this investment.
- cc101 3y agoDid you somehow remove my comment?
- RankingMember 3y agoEven if I had such powers, I would not use them to remove your comment. :)
- cc101 3y agoThank you for your courteous reply.
- rgmerk 3y agoOne thing their website looks rather short of is discussion of transport links other than roads. I know that public transport is currently considered a scary hellhole by the Bay Area HN crowd, but it seems to me that train links to the rest of the Bay Area are a no brainer for a major new community not that far from it.
- convolvatron 3y agoculturally here - only poor people use public transportation. I don't think this is a place that expects to have a lot of poor residents
- janalsncm 3y agoWell it’s a cycle. Public transport is underfunded (somehow people think it needs to be profitable like a business rather than a public service like a school) which leads to degradation of quality which leads to decreased ridership which leads to funding cuts. All this while the infrastructure ages and doesn’t keep up with the places people need to go. On top of all this, almost all American cities are built for cars. They are too spread out for public transport to be efficient. That said, buses are an underrated public transportation method, which although much less sexy than a metro, are adaptable and have far less overhead than a subway line.
- rgmerk 3y agoAnd it’s worth noting the promotional material specifically talks about walkable communities; that usually means public transport as well.
- MichaelZuo 3y ago> (somehow people think it needs to be profitable like a business rather than a public service like a school) If more then half the voting population thinks transit needs to be profitable or at least break even, then they will. How will you convince others to take it seriously if your opposed to a clear majority?
- Fricken 3y agoHere's a letter signed by Marc Andreesen, one the major investors in this project, to the mayor and city council of Atherton, where he resides: >I am writing this letter to communicate our IMMENSE objection to the creation of multifamily overlay zones in Atherton … Please IMMEDIATELY REMOVE all multifamily overlay zoning projects from the Housing Element which will be submitted to the state in July. They will MASSIVELY decrease our home values, the quality of life of ourselves and our neighbors and IMMENSELY increase the noise pollution and traffic. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/08/marc-andreessens-opposition-housing-project-nimby/671061/ https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/08/marc-andre...
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- statop 3y agoDo you live in the bay area? “T.T not enough housing!”, except traffic is out of control and we’re just building more massive apartment buildings along every inch of freeway we can. No one seems to be making any plan with anything close to a spec or goal. The reality is that not everyone can live here. Should we cut down all the trees and cover Kauai in skyscraper apartments so more people can live there? I don’t think so. Even this project is kicking the can (eventually Corusucant). But at least they aren’t coming into someone’s community, that THEY PICKED because of the way it is, and saying oh no no, we need to build an ADU and multi family dwellings everywhere! Go start something new.
- fragmede 3y agoIf only there were some sort of solution to cars clogging the road. Instead of one person in one car, we could (somehow, I haven't solved this part of the problem yet) have multiple people in a single, larger vehicle, and that single vehicle could go nearby to the places people need to go to, and they could walk from there to their destination. It's totally radical, I know, and could never work, definitely wouldn't be working in many other places in the world. I'm not sure what we'd call this transportation option, but I'd have it open to the public so that everyone could use this to get around the city. Note that it needs to be a city to have the density to support such a "transportation for the public" option, which involves, you guessed it, building denser housing.
- Vonter 3y agoThe story of how Irvine went from a 93000 acre ranch in the 1960s to one of the largest cities in California is fascinating. Donald Bren, the sole owner of the Irvine Company, is now the wealthiest real estate developer in the US. It might have some parallels with how Solano county will evolve, assuming this plan goes through. The Big Plan: History of Irvine and UCI, From Ranch to Global Community https://youtube.com/watch?v=aCROhdTBZ70 https://youtube.com/watch?v=aCROhdTBZ70
- vecinu 3y agoIsn't Irvine full of strip malls, copy/paste corporate restaurants / chains and lack identity or urban planning (With public transit, lots of parks, walk-ability)? I fail to see why we would hail Irvine as a great city when it's just a money maker for the Irvine company as a generic suburb. They just happened to develop land that was in high demand due to its proximity to the coast, what else does it have going for it?
- RestlessMind 3y ago> full of strip malls, copy/paste corporate restaurants / chains and lack identity or urban planning (With public transit, lots of parks, walk-ability)? That sounds like ideal American suburb which a lot of Americans seem to prefer. If not, by now we would have seen it getting decayed. > as a generic suburb What's wrong with generic suburbs? > They just happened to develop land that was in high demand due to its proximity to the coast Seems to fit description of this new place too (proximity to SV and SF)
- ProfessorLayton 3y agoA lot of what's wrong with generic suburbs is that they're not paying enough to cover their expenses (Prop 13 in CA) and the infrastructure that supports them is indeed decaying. Of course a lot of people prefer their expenses get subsidized.
- VirusNewbie 3y agoIrvine decided to put a 'strip mall' next to every major development so almost any house in irvine is a 10 minute walk from a grocery store and a handful of fast casual restaurants. They've also created a very popular 'urban-esque' area by the Irvine Spectrum, where numerous automotive HQs are, Amazon has a large presence, all within walking distance of a huge number of mid rise apartments. >I fail to see why we would hail Irvine as a great city It's one of the most popular places right now to move to. It may not be your preference, but it seems it's popular enough to have prices go through the roof.
- YeBanKo 3y agoIs it the guys that were discussed here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37266398 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37266398 After digging a little more into their lawsuit I am rooting for their success.
- nojvek 3y agoI really really love the illustrations. Soooo pretty. Walkable cities with great public transport and amenities close by are happy cities.
- kozzz 3y agoIndeed if they would picture the actual multistorey blocks they are planning to build the article would not look that pretty
- esop 3y agoAn earlier utopia where my grandmother and her 8 siblings grew up. Her father is the namesake of Andersen Road in the Montezuma Hills. Her husband was a merchant seaman, captain, on the Sacramento Delta. Site for the Rio Vista Museum: https://riovistamuseum.com/historical-slide-show/ https://riovistamuseum.com/historical-slide-show/
- dingosity 3y agoBuilt next to an Anheuser-Busch brewery? Has anyone here every been near a large industrial brewery? It's not exactly the smell you want to smell every day. But you do you, rich people.