The odds are that in WWIII it will be lost and then will be able to be rebuilt like a actual modern city with proper infrastructure. All those amazing buildings that we see in the Star Trek movies and shows probably weren't built while Nimby's were still there. http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/21st_century
A 2:15 Alarm, 2 Trains and a Bus Get Her to Work by 7 A.M
101–110 of 323 posts
Re: A 2:15 Alarm, 2 Trains and a Bus Get Her to Work by 7 A.M
#102San Francisco has more than twice the area of Manhattan, with half the population. The San Francisco Bay Area CSA has about the same population as Switzerland, with 2/3 of the area of Switzerland. Both have similar GDPs. If someone wanted to live in Germany, and commute to work in Zurich, with Swiss salaries and German cost-of-living, their commute would be about 1h15min. The housing and infrastructure problems in th…
True. But a non-political solution to affordable housing could be coming soon in the form of rapid transit via Hyperloop. Hyperloop could put deflationary pressure on housing prices. If Hyperloop actually materializes, and their route transit times are anywhere near what they say they will be, then real estate prices should decline in the bay area, or at the worst level out. I doubt people will continue to pay crazy…
Hyperloops are a promising whizz-bang idea, but it's not like we haven't developed technology for mass transit. Subways, light rail, and dedicated bus ways all work rather well. The California high-speed rail is obscenely expensive mostly for political reasons, not logistical ones.
Furthermore, a Hyperloop might get you from city to city, but then local transit is needed for those last couple miles.
Re: A 2:15 Alarm, 2 Trains and a Bus Get Her to Work by 7 A.M
#103I paid about 30% of my salary in 2014 for a SRO [0] in San Francisco with a 10 minute commute. I decided that the quality of living was not worth the potential future earnings for staying in the bay area. In Tulsa I pay about 14% of my salary to rent a large apartment with a 4 minute commute. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_room_occupancy
But you make a lot less in the absolute terms. So you save less, you can afford less of cool stuff. Most people in the world want to move in the opposite direction.
Re: A 2:15 Alarm, 2 Trains and a Bus Get Her to Work by 7 A.M
#104Earlier quoted context omitted.
California building codes are pretty extreme from what I've seen, they go as far as measuring the pull force required to open a door for example. This seems like a place where a little deregulation would go a long way.
Building codes aren't the problem, it's zoning. If a developer had an empty acre in SF or Palo Alto, or permission to replace low rise housing with skyscrapers, they'd build. The cost of building probably does have an effect on the margin, but it is so much less of a factor than restrictions on what can be built.
A recent article about building in Millbrae mentions developer fees of 26k per unit being build. I'm all for deregulation to make it easier to build, but the code compliance and fees are also part of the problem.
http://www.smdailyjournal.com/news/local/millbrae-bart-stati...
From the National Association of Home Builders, it looks like "average" is approximately $9,400 per unit in "fees". Not sure if that's apple to apples with the Bay Area, but in either way that fee just seems kind of crazy. Rows A-C, summing fees, on the Construction Costs table here: https://www.nahbclassic.org/generic.aspx?genericContentID=24...
Re: A 2:15 Alarm, 2 Trains and a Bus Get Her to Work by 7 A.M
#105San Francisco has more than twice the area of Manhattan, with half the population. The San Francisco Bay Area CSA has about the same population as Switzerland, with 2/3 of the area of Switzerland. Both have similar GDPs. If someone wanted to live in Germany, and commute to work in Zurich, with Swiss salaries and German cost-of-living, their commute would be about 1h15min. The housing and infrastructure problems in th…
True. But a non-political solution to affordable housing could be coming soon in the form of rapid transit via Hyperloop. Hyperloop could put deflationary pressure on housing prices. If Hyperloop actually materializes, and their route transit times are anywhere near what they say they will be, then real estate prices should decline in the bay area, or at the worst level out. I doubt people will continue to pay crazy…
The Elon Musk Reality Distortion Field is proving to be as effective as the one surrounding Steve Jobs (praise be unto him.)
Re: A 2:15 Alarm, 2 Trains and a Bus Get Her to Work by 7 A.M
#106this woman needs a car drive it as far into the city as possible then park it and use transit
And sit in traffic for an hour instead of relax on a train for 2? Ew.
What this lady needs is a sweet GSXR-1000 to split all the way to paradise. I don't know why more people don't take advantage of the fact that lane splitting is legal here, it's a fantastic way to cut commute time in half. Plus you get free or super cheap parking pretty much wherever you want.
Re: A 2:15 Alarm, 2 Trains and a Bus Get Her to Work by 7 A.M
#107[deleted]
Re: A 2:15 Alarm, 2 Trains and a Bus Get Her to Work by 7 A.M
#108San Francisco has more than twice the area of Manhattan, with half the population. The San Francisco Bay Area CSA has about the same population as Switzerland, with 2/3 of the area of Switzerland. Both have similar GDPs. If someone wanted to live in Germany, and commute to work in Zurich, with Swiss salaries and German cost-of-living, their commute would be about 1h15min. The housing and infrastructure problems in th…
True. But a non-political solution to affordable housing could be coming soon in the form of rapid transit via Hyperloop. Hyperloop could put deflationary pressure on housing prices. If Hyperloop actually materializes, and their route transit times are anywhere near what they say they will be, then real estate prices should decline in the bay area, or at the worst level out. I doubt people will continue to pay crazy…
Hyperloop routing will be deeply political, same as any other transit system.
The stations have to go somewhere, the tunnels have to go somewhere, etc.
Re: A 2:15 Alarm, 2 Trains and a Bus Get Her to Work by 7 A.M
#109With self driving cars I see this happening even more.
Yes, but with a self-driving car you'll be able to sleep during your commute.
Is that really good sleep, though? I've slept on trains, buses, planes, cars where I wasn't driving, and that sleep is never the same quality as sleep in a bed.
Re: A 2:15 Alarm, 2 Trains and a Bus Get Her to Work by 7 A.M
#110>Ms. James pays $1,000 a month in rent for her three-bedroom house, compared with $1,600 for the one-bedroom apartment she had in Alameda. She was forced out of her original apartment but unless she had a new situation that required her to have more bedrooms with a lower budget, some part of this extremity was her choice. I think NYT should've chosen a better example if the point they were trying to get across is "te…
This really stood out for me too. Her commute is awful, but it seems more like a conscious compromise that she herself opted for (Larger house, cheaper budget, longer commute), given her work situation (able to work from home) and personal lifestyle choices (likes to take her time, takes the stairs at the station, gets off the train a stop early to have a leisurely walk on her commute).
Maybe it was the style of writing in the article, but it didn't give me the impression that Ms. James is unhappy with her choice to move.