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Well, like the article says - Google Bus just became the physical target for their anger. What they're upset about is tech workers' wealth raising the cost of l

by smtddr 13y ago

Well, like the article says - Google Bus just became the physical target for their anger. What they're upset about is tech workers' wealth raising the cost of living in SF. Google is a big name even outside of tech, so Google's buses in SF are the "low hanging fruit" to vent anger towards. For the record, I do agree that tech salaries are very high and the fact that most of them like to live in SF displaces everyone before them. I don't know how to fix this problem or even exactly who's at fault, but I definitely see how difficult this would be if I was not in tech trying to live in SF and watching landlords raising rent all around me and my current landlord trying to find ways to get me to leave. I think this problem is worth talking about and a solution should be pursued. I can't help but think a lot of this could be eased by having better public-transportation in the bay-area for everyone, maybe tech companies should all get together and help fund & extend BART faster into areas that may help techies not feel like they have to live in SF. I live in the East Bay because BART is less than 20mins away from my house. So a quick drive, ride on the train while watching Anime on my kindle then suddenly I'm on market-street. Good enough for me. Outside of commute hours, SF is about 45mins away from me by car. Close enough for anything I'd want to do in SF without actually living there. BART stops at Palo Alto, Mountain View, Redwood/FosterCity, Danville, Milpitas, San Ramon and San Jose might help people spread out more instead of concentrating into SF. Is that hyperloop project still planned?

mjmahone17 13y ago
Palo Alto and Mountain View would need to 1. Want those BART stops. If they're anything like the suburbs of Boston, however, you will get a ton of pushback from "higher-class" suburbanites not wanting the "riff-raff" from the city, who can't even afford cars, able to easily/cheaply get to their cities. 2. Allow re-development such that they have enough density/low-cost housing to support the number of BART riders needed to justify those new stops. Without this, there won't be any new housing for people to spread out to. 3. Have a consistent enough transit system from the BART stops, so that you can actually access the areas more than a 30 min. walk from the BART stops 4. Build up paths to allow people to walk to and around the BART stops. I've noticed in Palo Alto and Menlo Park, there often aren't sidewalks: if you want to walk on a major East-West route, you'll be doing it in the same lane as cars going 45.
- muzz 13y ago
  yes, #1 is exactly the reason why BART didn't go very far down the peninsula when it was originally built. the extension to Millbrae and SFO was added decades later and at a huge cost.

by smtddr 13y ago

mjmahone17 13y ago

Palo Alto and Mountain View would need to 1. Want those BART stops. If they're anything like the suburbs of Boston, however, you will get a ton of pushback from "higher-class" suburbanites not wanting the "riff-raff" from the city, who can't even afford cars, able to easily/cheaply get to their cities. 2. Allow re-development such that they have enough density/low-cost housing to support the number of BART riders needed to justify those new stops. Without this, there won't be any new housing for people to spread out to. 3. Have a consistent enough transit system from the BART stops, so that you can actually access the areas more than a 30 min. walk from the BART stops 4. Build up paths to allow people to walk to and around the BART stops. I've noticed in Palo Alto and Menlo Park, there often aren't sidewalks: if you want to walk on a major East-West route, you'll be doing it in the same lane as cars going 45.

muzz 13y ago
yes, #1 is exactly the reason why BART didn't go very far down the peninsula when it was originally built. the extension to Millbrae and SFO was added decades later and at a huge cost.