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I feel like the East Bay gets glossed over a lot in these pieces about the growth of the Bay. The East Bay, unlike the north or south bay, has BART. The East Ba

I feel like the East Bay gets glossed over a lot in these pieces about the growth of the Bay. The East Bay, unlike the north or south bay, has BART. The East Bay has an easy commute to the city. The East Bay has the lowest housing and land prices close to the city. I could see parts of West Oakland being redeveloped in to high-rise office and residential parks, to match those on the opposite coast of the bay. Hopefully this might mean BART runs past 12.

colmvp 14y ago
Well one of the great things about Brooklyn is the fact that the MTA runs 24 hours (yes, it's less frequent in the early morning) and subway stations are widely distributed. Thus, I never had any hesitations about living in random faraway spots in BK to save some money.
potatolicious 14y ago
I don't think the BART could run past 12 even if they wanted. It's a system that's stretched to its very limits - for example, only a maximum of 3 cars can be out of commission (for repairs, refurbishment, etc) at any one time due to how over-committed their fleet is. The soonest replacements are still years away. There's also a substantial crime problem to be solved in the East Bay (and SF, to be fair). The West Oakland and downtown Oakland BART stops are in the middle of neighborhoods with very pronounced crime and poverty - similar to Civic Center or the worst areas of the Mission. These places are a fair ways away from becoming places where working professionals want to settle. Culturally and politically speaking, I do not believe either SF or the East Bay have a realistic chance of effecting a NYC-style crime turnaround, which was based around fundamentally conservative tactics that's very far from the politics of the Bay Area.
- scarmig 14y ago
  Just as a factual correction, downtown Oakland is far, far safer than West Oakland. And has fewer insane homeless people than San Francisco.
  - potatolicious 14y ago
    Indeed, you're right. Downtown Oakland is much better than West Oakland, and better than Civic Center or the war zone/train wreck known as 16th and Mission. That being said, the crime rate and homeless population is still substantial enough to be a serious hindrance to development. See downtown Brooklyn, where a similar situation/vibe exists - not the worst neighborhood in NYC by far, but also sketchy enough that the monied working professionals aren't interested. They built anyways, and now that neighborhood is in a weird limbo where the buildings have trouble attracting tenants, but at the same time generating enormous class and racial tension due to their mere presence.
- philsnow 14y ago
  BART reaches farther down the East bay though, all the way down to Fremont. Much lower crime down there, some good school districts. Complete suburbia, though.
epoxyhockey 14y ago
Hopefully this might mean BART runs past 12. This is impossible. Unlike NYC's subway, there is not a third set of rails (in enough places, at least) to keep the system online 24 hours a day, while being able to perform track maintenance. Washington DC's subway is the same way and will never be a 24 hour system. It would be a better use of time to invent a teleportation device, than to wish that many of the country's subways ran 24 hours a day. EDIT: typo

colmvp 14y ago

Well one of the great things about Brooklyn is the fact that the MTA runs 24 hours (yes, it's less frequent in the early morning) and subway stations are widely distributed. Thus, I never had any hesitations about living in random faraway spots in BK to save some money.

potatolicious 14y ago

I don't think the BART could run past 12 even if they wanted. It's a system that's stretched to its very limits - for example, only a maximum of 3 cars can be out of commission (for repairs, refurbishment, etc) at any one time due to how over-committed their fleet is. The soonest replacements are still years away. There's also a substantial crime problem to be solved in the East Bay (and SF, to be fair). The West Oakland and downtown Oakland BART stops are in the middle of neighborhoods with very pronounced crime and poverty - similar to Civic Center or the worst areas of the Mission. These places are a fair ways away from becoming places where working professionals want to settle. Culturally and politically speaking, I do not believe either SF or the East Bay have a realistic chance of effecting a NYC-style crime turnaround, which was based around fundamentally conservative tactics that's very far from the politics of the Bay Area.

scarmig 14y ago
Just as a factual correction, downtown Oakland is far, far safer than West Oakland. And has fewer insane homeless people than San Francisco.
- potatolicious 14y ago
  Indeed, you're right. Downtown Oakland is much better than West Oakland, and better than Civic Center or the war zone/train wreck known as 16th and Mission. That being said, the crime rate and homeless population is still substantial enough to be a serious hindrance to development. See downtown Brooklyn, where a similar situation/vibe exists - not the worst neighborhood in NYC by far, but also sketchy enough that the monied working professionals aren't interested. They built anyways, and now that neighborhood is in a weird limbo where the buildings have trouble attracting tenants, but at the same time generating enormous class and racial tension due to their mere presence.
philsnow 14y ago
BART reaches farther down the East bay though, all the way down to Fremont. Much lower crime down there, some good school districts. Complete suburbia, though.

epoxyhockey 14y ago

Hopefully this might mean BART runs past 12. This is impossible. Unlike NYC's subway, there is not a third set of rails (in enough places, at least) to keep the system online 24 hours a day, while being able to perform track maintenance. Washington DC's subway is the same way and will never be a 24 hour system. It would be a better use of time to invent a teleportation device, than to wish that many of the country's subways ran 24 hours a day. EDIT: typo