This little topic came to me while reading about the current brou-ha-ha going on over the proposed affordable housing project here in San Francisco. Over at Ocean and Phelan Ave, near the San Francisco City College, there is a proposed apartment complex intended as affordable housing (how its going to remain that way I'm curious since it won't be covered by the Rent Ordinance, but thats another topic). The complex will have 71 unit. It will also have five regular parking spaces, one car share spot, and one handicap spot.
For a minimum of 71 people.
Let's think about how this would affect nearly any neighborhood in San Francisco. It would not be good. Yet, the Planning Commission seems ready to let it through.
Why? Because San Francisco believes that poor people will not have cars because... well they are poor. Also because there is this belief that people will ride Muni. This ignores reality.
A good part of why it is believed that the poor won't have cars is that they can't afford car insurance. Has anyone noticed that there is a problem with uninsured drivers in this state? Well there is. According to L.A. Business Journal, its bad and getting worse. As of last year, it was almost 20 percent, and given the economy its expected to rise.
Yet the hope of many in the transit community is that people will abandon their cars and rely exclusively on transit. Yet they fail to explain how this hope will translate into reality, especially in light of recent cuts to Muni and both BART and Muni operated severely into the red?
What sort of fantasy are we living in here? Oh wait. Its not a fantasy. Its Monday in San Francisco.
1 comment:
I miss SF, but only for the opportunity to mock their seriously skewed vision of all things.
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