Rebecca Solnit on San Francisco

[David Morris]

Bart needs a loop, from what I hear, to really connect to the exurbs.

On Tuesday, March 5, 2013, Phillip Greenlief wrote:

> the public transit works well, but has some tics to it - like: BART shuts
> down at midnight ... ack. the MUNI train that runs in the city runs all
> night - but if you commute from outside into the city at night (which is a
> very nice alternative to driving - essential, in fact) then you had better
> not plan on closing the bars ... not a problem for me, but for lots of
> people it really pisses them off.  i bike to BART on days when i teach in
> SF and works like a dream.
>
> Phillip Greenlief
> 1075 Aileen Street Apt B
> Oakland, CA 94608
> 510-501-7110
>
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com <javascript:_e({}, 'cvml',
> 'fqmorris at gmail.com');>>
> *To:* Phillip Greenlief <pgsaxo at pacbell.net <javascript:_e({}, 'cvml',
> 'pgsaxo at pacbell.net');>>
> *Cc:* Ian Livingston <igrlivingston at gmail.com <javascript:_e({}, 'cvml',
> 'igrlivingston at gmail.com');>>; Robert Mahnke <rpmahnke at gmail.com<javascript:_e({}, 'cvml', 'rpmahnke at gmail.com');>>;
> Prashant Kumar <siva.prashant.kumar at gmail.com <javascript:_e({}, 'cvml',
> 'siva.prashant.kumar at gmail.com');>>; pynchon -l <pynchon-l at waste.org<javascript:_e({}, 'cvml', 'pynchon-l at waste.org');>
> >
> *Sent:* Tue, March 5, 2013 7:50:59 PM
> *Subject:* Re: Rebecca Solnit on San Francisco
>
> Oakland, indeed most of surrounding SF is suburban sprawl. And, shitty as
> they are, they are very expensive too.  And they are shitty.  Unfortunately
> US City/regions are too young to know better than letting or stopping sprawl.
>  And zoning (always made by the squatters against newbies) keeps the rich
> in their Big Lots,  undisturbed  by the rabble.  At least SF has a not bad
> extended public transit system.  Better than lots of cars, but worse than
> walking.
>
> On Tuesday, March 5, 2013, Phillip Greenlief wrote:
>
>> it's also too late for (most) cultural diversity - most people of color
>> (due to economics) have been driven out of SF - and now it's happening in
>> oakland - to some extent, not as widespread as SF.
>>
>> Phillip Greenlief
>> 1075 Aileen Street Apt B
>> Oakland, CA 94608
>> 510-501-7110
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------
>> *From:* David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com>
>> *To:* Phillip Greenlief <pgsaxo at pacbell.net>
>> *Cc:* Ian Livingston <igrlivingston at gmail.com>; Robert Mahnke <
>> rpmahnke at gmail.com>; Prashant Kumar <siva.prashant.kumar at gmail.com>;
>> pynchon -l <pynchon-l at waste.org>
>> *Sent:* Tue, March 5, 2013 7:30:34 PM
>> *Subject:* Re: Rebecca Solnit on San Francisco
>>
>> On Tuesday, March 5, 2013, Phillip Greenlief wrote:
>>
>>> look, it's already too late - SF has been gentrified. the alarm should
>>> have gone off 20 years ago. i don't care what the buildings look like, the
>>> majority of art spaces pre-2000 are gone. period. the buildings don't even
>>> exist anymore. a lot of small, family run businesses have disappeared -
>>> which includes every kind of retail or food service. there are zoning laws
>>> that keep certain kinds of businesses out of SF (there is a limit, for
>>> example, on how many fast food restaurants can operate in SF), but the
>>> independent shops are disappearing quickly, and have been over the past 15
>>> years.
>>>
>>
>> SF isn't too late, if NIBYs don't rule.
>>
>> Too late for Bohemia? Yes.  Too late for a populace beyond the 3%?  Yes,
>> unless government steps in, and not just for the poor.  SF has lots of 2 &
>> 3 story residential areas that could use more density.  And the hills of SF
>> allow for view corridor over everything.
>>
>> But remember NYC.  Now mostly for the very right, but politics and old
>> density keep certain hoods vital.  Old urbanism still rules in the hoods of
>> NYC.
>>
>> Montreal might be an ideal City Model, with dense nodes situated along
>> very good train/transit lines.
>>
>> Politics rule, and are local. And US urban design is mostly non-existent.
>>  But Green urbanism is Old-City, plus some towers.
>>
>> Little known fact: Florence, a small fortressed walled city, very dense
>> with very wealthy merchant-kings palazzos, enacted a law to eliminate most
>> of the residential personal watchtowers because they were urban kudzu.
>>  Moral:  limit tower density.  A simple thing. Many ways to do so.
>>
>> Real good urbanism has been the rule in Yurrup for centuries.  US
>> urbanism is OK in the Original Colonies, but the developments to the West
>> were Wild, even the Near West.  Boomtown, if all goes well.
>>
>>
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