Comments on: A Tale of Geary Street

By: Rescue Muni » Blog Archive » Curbed SF on Geary BRT

Rescue Muni » Blog Archive » Curbed SF on Geary BRT — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 17:37:57 +0000

[...] almost a century ago when the Municipal Railway first opened the A and B lines up Geary in 1912. So it really does not make sense to oppose restoring a small subset of the service that was [...]

By: Busway Down Geary Likely Next Big Project for San Francisco « the transport politic

Wed, 06 May 2009 16:41:36 +0000

[...] along the corridor; buses there currently serve more than 50,000 riders a day, and the street once had a streetcar line. A few days ago, the authority released its draft alternative analysis for the corridor, and the [...]

By: SFCTA Moves Forward With Geary BRT Alternatives « Transbay Blog

SFCTA Moves Forward With Geary BRT Alternatives « Transbay Blog — Wed, 06 May 2009 15:48:49 +0000

[...] who dream of one day rebuilding the B-Geary line, figuring that it would be worth the investment, might not be swayed by the TA’s stated [...]

By: The Northwest Subway « Transbay Blog

The Northwest Subway « Transbay Blog — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 23:38:31 +0000

[...] ride could take them directly downtown? We don’t know, either. And, to be frank, there are other corridors where the transit capital dollars would be a better investment. This entry was written by Eric [...]

By: Another Tale of Geary Street « Transbay Blog

Another Tale of Geary Street « Transbay Blog — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 04:10:34 +0000

[...] you’re a transit geek (you know who you are) who cannot get enough of the transit history of Geary Street, you’re in luck: the Market Street Railway has published an excellent piece that discusses [...]

By: theo

theo — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 01:30:44 +0000

It’s a shame that people like Bob Davis are always first to blame environmentalists — exactly what infrastructure projects have they blocked lately? Bay Bridge? T-Third? Airport BART? High Speed Rail? The Cal stadium expansion? Slow them down, sometimes. Block, never.

The complete absence of American “can-do” spirit within my lifetime is exclusively the fault of the right-wing activists who took over the Republican party with Reagan and took over California’s state finances with Prop 13. They’d rather have a few nickels in their pocket than spend anything to promote the public good (if they believe in it at all).

Just look at the High Speed Rail proposition. Who’s opposed?
Taxpayer groups… and the California Chamber of Commerce.

In any year from 1850 until 1980, the Chamber of Commerce would have been the biggest backer of high speed rail, since infrastructure investment is critical to state competitiveness. Now, they’re opposed. Ideology, pure and simple.

And I don’t need to explain where “taxpayer groups” — the rump end of Howard Jarvis’s Orange County revolt, the most prominent of them named after him — are coming from.

It’s a damn shame. There’s no chance of national greatness in this country until we have a generational change and age these people out of politics for good.

By: Bob Davis

Bob Davis — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 08:10:50 +0000

Somewhere in the past 40 years it seems that Americans have lost the “can-do” spirit that won World War II, built the Calif. Aqueduct and the Interstate Highway system. Are we heading into a situation analogous to “The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”? Have we gone into a state where “paralysis by analysis” is the norm, and we get “can’t step on anybody’s toes”, “keep your backside covered”, “vote no on everything” and similar points of view that remind me of the term from about 40 years ago: “nattering nabobs of negativism”. Back in 2001, I visited the Golden Spike Historical Site in Utah, and thought that if we tried to build a transcontinental railway today, CP and UP would still be doing environmental reports, the various native tribes would be taking their cases all the way to the Supreme Court, and the Friends of the American Bison would be conducting protest marches.
I’ll throw in something from “up the river”: Back in the 80′s, when the original segments of the Sacramento RT Metro light rail line were under construction, a local newspaper would go into great detail when a downtown store went out of business, blaming the failure entirely on the rail project. I don’t know why their editorial policy was so dead set against light rail, but it seemed to be a crusade by their staff. Well, the tracks got built, the trains started running, and the newspaper is no longer published.

By: kramanujam

kramanujam — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 00:55:18 +0000

I agree with David. Everyone in the city screams about how a line is needed on Geary, but has anyone considered the disruption and backlash of Geary merchants?

The Geary Merchants and NIMBY types would throw a fit if we even attempted to build something sensible down that corridor, if it were shallow. Like the Central Subway or not, Chinatown is far more receptive to subway service (and whatever disruption accompanies it) than the Geary merchants.

The truth of the matter is: you have to sacrifice aesthetic, time, and convenience for a sensible mass transit route. I very much doubt that the Geary crowd has the patience or the sense to permit that sort of disruption.
A deep subway using tunnel-boring machines would be the only way to pacify the Geary crowd and get something sensible to the Richmond.

By: david vartanoff

david vartanoff — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 23:47:20 +0000

Much as I wish we had built Geary already, one piece of history is missing here. Geary residents/merchants watched Market Street tturned to s#&* by the BART construction. Few who saw the destruction of the small businesses were willing to have that in the Richmond. And frankly, much of Third Street was similarly hammered–Muni’s early propaganda promised short concentrated construction blitzes, the reaity was a project several YEARS longer than promised and much of Third impassable for months at a time. Ask the Bayview residents.

The only sane way to do Geary will be tunnel boring machine/very quick station boxes. Given Muni r BART’s track records, I am dubious.even if we had the money.

By: Zig

Zig — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 00:05:34 +0000

Andy-I will read the article you’ve linked and agree that part of the issue is investment but I am convinced another issue is the process we have created with extreme levels of participation and democracy and how heterogeneous our population and interests as groups have become within cities, states and nationally (and of course it should be noted that China is autocratic)

I read an op ed piece (and I can’t recall who the author unfortunately) were the author was comparing American of old where the Empire State building was planned and built in something like 13 months during the Depression and similarly how fast things like the Hoover Dam and the Golden Gate bridge were built and compared to the fiasco like the Bay Bridge new span or and the Freedom Tower which is still being squabbled over 7 years after 9/11

Its totally depressing and if the people who make decision get there way more money will be poured down the hole of BART to San Jose and Livermore while we crush onto buses