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Guidos Python posted:Could someone do a write up on the water issue? I'm from Bakersfield and I see signs saying how farmers have had rates increased yet they only revive 25% of the water they were getting 4 years ago. There is only so much water to go around, and that amount has been lower than previously due to drought conditions and new environmental limits that prevent the state from completely drying up rivers. Someone has to choose between supplying cities with water or using that water to grow oranges and avocados in the desert. Those rates that that they like to complain about are still a tiny fraction of what it actually costs to ship water to their farm in the desert. withak fucked around with this message at 18:28 on Jun 28, 2013 |
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Jun 28, 2013 18:24
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BART alone isn't a good comparison with other transit networks because it is only a regional commuter rail system. For getting around inside of SF (or any other cities that it serves) it is practically useless. BART has four stops total in downtown SF, two in downtown Oakland, and one in downtown Berkeley. Muni, AC Transit, et al. are the systems that you actually use to get around inside of cities. VTA is a token system so that San Jose can say that they have public transit; a real transit system down there would attract too many poor people to the rest of SC County and the peninsula.
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Jun 28, 2013 19:17
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Zeitgueist posted:Another interesting choice in LA rail design is the Green line, which runs down the center of the 105 freeway to LAX airport. Or rather, near LAX airport. It stops about 100 yards from the property but does not go in. You have to switch to a bus for the rest of the trip, despite the fact that there is literally a turn-off built into the track for an LAX connection. Mysteriously, nobody with the City can quite explain why this connection never got built. We're also building a north-south Train along Crenshaw that will come just as close to the airport, but also not enter. As far as I'm aware, LA is the only city in the US with a light rail system that doesn't connect it to the airport. To get to Oakland Airport from BART you have to take a bus from the nearest station (~10 minute ride). They are currently building an honest-to-god, boondoggle-scale elevated monorail to replace the bus. The monorail will cost more and probably take longer in total because it will drop off at a station in the middle of the airport parking lot a few hundred yards away from the terminals instead of at the terminal doors like the current bus does. But hey, the economy was down and spending money building whatever is conveniently at hand is surely better than spending money on planning, right?
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Jun 28, 2013 19:24
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There is a food truck in SF that does a chicken tikka masala burrito. It is awesome.
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Jun 28, 2013 23:29
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Sword of Chomsky posted:Holy gently caress I have to try this. I always forget that there is amazing Indian food everywhere here as well. http://www.curryupnow.com/ I think it was these guys.
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Jun 28, 2013 23:39
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A real Californian would have had a vegetarian salad and a craft beer.
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Jun 29, 2013 02:48
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All Of The Dicks posted:BART union can have raises as soon as BART starts running past midnight. They have zero control over that.
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Jul 2, 2013 02:55
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Yeah but the union has no say in how late the trains run; they would probably be glad to add the extra employees to their membership. The main reason for the overnight shutdowns is that they don't have enough redundant track to do regular maintenance without shutting down. Staffing is a distant second. withak fucked around with this message at 03:07 on Jul 2, 2013 |
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Jul 2, 2013 03:05
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Best solution would be a second transbay tube between OAK and SFO. Or further south and tell the peninsula NIMBYs to go gently caress themselves. But that would require actual capitol expenditure, not just the minimum spending required to keep the system from falling apart this quarter. Things are already set up to be a mess once the Warm Springs and Berryessa projects are finished because they will be adding a lot more riders without increasing the transbay capacity at all (which is currently very close to 100%).
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Jul 2, 2013 03:17
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Apparently there has been no negotiation since Sunday night. I guess everyone just took today off. edit: I don't now which side is dilly-dallying at the moment, but the other side missed out big time by not getting out there photos and video of themselves sitting alone at a conference room table asking where the other side is for people to see on the news when they finally get home. withak fucked around with this message at 03:29 on Jul 2, 2013 |
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Jul 2, 2013 03:24
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The main reason is the maintenance time and lack of extra tracks. Systems that do run overnight are designed to do so but BART wasn't planned with that kind of expansion in mind. Staffing could be worked out a lot more easily if necessary, though I don't doubt that union resistance to potential part-time hiring instead of full-time is a factor. Keep in mind that BART is a regional commuter rail system, not at all comparable to Chicago's or NY's metro systems. It was designed to move workers from distant suburbs to downtown areas. It is a pretty poor way to get around over shorter distances. Anyway, I'm sure BART already has All Of The Dicks on speed dial when they need a planning consultant. vvvv They are only down 4-6 hours per night, cutting that by two makes a big difference. Can you do your job in 1/2 to 2/3 of the time that you do right now? withak fucked around with this message at 05:23 on Jul 2, 2013 |
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Jul 2, 2013 05:16
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I read somewhere a while that back single-tracking where required to run trains overnight while doing maintenance would result in a schedule with trains every 60-90 minutes. There is also a big safety issue with doing that because rail industry people really hate working alongside an active track and a live third rail. They would probably have to give the union free blowjobs to get them to do that every day.
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Jul 2, 2013 16:03
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http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/BART-talks-in-limbo-as-strike-paralyzes-commute-4641826.php Nothing like sending a half-million commuters a big "gently caress you" message for two days by not even bothering to negotiate. Both sides say that they are waiting for the other side to call back.
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Jul 2, 2013 21:02
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The average is of limited use because it includes everyone from electrical and mechanical people who have to maintain and fix the 30-year-old technology in a hurry when it breaks down (and who require a lot of training and experience), to the people who sit in glass booths and tell tourists how to use the fare gates.
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Jul 2, 2013 21:47
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The initial offer is long past. Right now most of the bay area can't get to work and both sides are relaxing at home saying that they are ready to negotiate as soon as the other guy gets back to them.
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Jul 2, 2013 21:53
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sincx posted:$71k base is specifically the average for "train operators and station agents," which I believe is the SEIU union. I saw another figure earlier (I want to say $86k?) if you include the other union, which has the maintenance and other technical employees. That makes a little more sense. For anyone who hasn't ridden BART, the trains are automated so a train operator's main task is to sit in the cab and hit the button to open/close the doors while the train is at the platform. They also have an emergency stop button that they can hit if they see an obstacle ahead of them on the tracks and a button to pull ahead slightly if the automatic stop doesn't happen at the right spot on the platform. withak fucked around with this message at 22:31 on Jul 2, 2013 |
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Jul 2, 2013 22:27
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The accident rate for maintenance employees has gone up something like 40% in the last five years. For those not familiar with workplace safety stats, this is a pretty ridiculous increase.
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Jul 3, 2013 15:01
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The union needs to fire whatever moron is doing their PR. On the news they are putting a senior BART press spokesperson talking against what looks like a union guy chosen at random who has only recently memorized his awful talking points and doesn't look at all comfortable on camera.
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Jul 3, 2013 19:29
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It is totally worth $7/month.
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Jul 6, 2013 04:58
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Yeah that is how negotiations work. If the initial offer doesn't offend the other party then you are doing it wrong.
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Jul 7, 2013 03:46
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Also the 23% was salary + benefits. The salary-only number came out to something like 18% I think.
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Jul 8, 2013 21:42
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GD_American posted:Why does the line take such a pronounced hook south of Bakersfield? Geography? The hook goes to where the destinations are. No one wants to take a train from Bakersfield out into the middle of the desert. Even Palmdale is a stretch. Past Palmdale it basically follows I-5 I think.
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Jul 10, 2013 21:26
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Zeitgueist posted:I think that line will never happen because it's essentially a weekend party bus for people in LA, there's not a lot of business reasons other than tourism, and I don't know that tourism alone could sustain that line. Unless I'm missing something. Yeah, the main financial backer for that line should be the Las Vegas Tourism Board or Chamber of Commerce or whatever.
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Jul 10, 2013 23:09
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On the other hand, train tracks can make effective barriers against poor people accidentally walking through your neighborhood. You can't have right or wrong sides without any tracks!
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Jul 11, 2013 21:45
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It is surreal flying into Vegas over residential subdivision that have been graded, had some streets built, then abandoned.
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Jul 14, 2013 19:44
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At least the signs might help keep drivers from dozing off. They are more useful than an unirrigated patch of desert.
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Jul 15, 2013 15:12
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Leperflesh posted:(But, what does this say about the worst CA papers, like The San Francisco Examiner (is that still printed, I haven't checked in years)?) It is.
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Jul 16, 2013 00:58
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Obdicut posted:I've been told by some of my Chinese-Californian friends that you can get better Suggested revision above.
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Jul 16, 2013 15:49
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The rental market in SF is insane. If you are looking at a place close to a Google/Apple/Facebook shuttle route then you are hosed unless you can compete with the people offering six months or a year's rent in advance. It isn't unusual for a building to have new tenants paying 2-3x (or more) above other tenants who have been there 10 years or more.
withak fucked around with this message at 20:11 on Jul 16, 2013 |
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Jul 16, 2013 20:08
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Xaris posted:I would loving love to live in SF if I could find a 1B that allows dogs (nothing does right now as it's 100% renter's market and isn't going to change for the forseeable future) under 2K but it ain't going to happen. Try Oakland!
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Jul 17, 2013 00:10
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I moved from SF to Oakland last year. I wanted a bigger place and in SF that would have meant a 50-100% rent increase (after being in a rent-controlled place for only 5 years) while the place in Oakland is a lot bigger and 15% less. Also I work in Oakland and a 15-minute bike commute is immeasureably nicer (and cheaper) than an hour on Muni and BART. Also there are now 100% fewer gutterpunks making GBS threads by my front steps. From watching craigslist, they rented my old place for about 40% more than what I was paying when I moved out. withak fucked around with this message at 02:09 on Jul 17, 2013 |
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Jul 17, 2013 02:02
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SOMA rent data is skewed because that is where the majority of new, high-end residential development has been lately. It is expensive but if you can afford it then you are probably getting a brand-new apartment or condo for that money, and probably within walking distance from work. Other places you are paying a little less for space in a hundred-year-old dump or in place with a soft story that will kill you when the big one hits.
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Jul 19, 2013 02:01
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Hope you like living in a 3BR apartment with three other people.
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Jul 19, 2013 04:34
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Last year sometime there were faux-local Bank of America ads on the sides of Muni shelters referring to "the Muni" and "the BART". They fooled no one.
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Jul 19, 2013 22:03
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Oakland is a pretty big place, if you don't want to live in the equivalent of Richmond or Vallejo then you don't have to.
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Jul 20, 2013 04:36
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duodenum posted:I'm not sure who would win the brewery wars, but Stone in the South vs Sierra Nevada in the North would be a brutal slugfest. Individual beers are a matter of opinion, but on average the North wins handily.
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Jul 20, 2013 19:40
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Jerry Manderbilt posted:What does Bakersfield and Fresno's air look like?  http://www.bakersfieldnow.com/news/local/Air-quality-takes-toll-on-people-with-respitory-problems-137463723.html
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Jul 20, 2013 22:43
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Geared Hub posted:Welp, looks like I'm moving from Burbank to.... the Bay Area. Works at the Presideo and the rental market within walking distance is pretty up there. I guess I'll get a place up towards San Rafael and commute down the 101 to work. Getting from a ferry terminal to the Presidio will suck. To work in the Presidio you either have to live there or be willing to drive there from wherever every day.
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Jul 21, 2013 03:12
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Leperflesh posted:29 Sunset, 43 Masonic, and uh... I want to say, 18 46th Avenue. Off the top of my head, without checking a MUNI map, and based on 10+ year old mental MUNI maps, but there are busses in SF that go to the Presidio. But yeah, don't try to do it from a ferry ride, the ferries drop you off down town. Those go to the Presidio but none of them connect to ferry terminals. From Pier 41 you are looking at at least one cross-town transfer. It probably isn't any faster than walking straight there (maybe 45 minutes?). The quickest way is probably to take the ferry then bike. edit: There is an abandoned streetcar tunnel that runs under Fort Mason. If they opened that sucker up for bikes then you could probably ride from Pier 41 to the Presidio in 15 minutes without even having to go uphill. withak fucked around with this message at 05:23 on Jul 21, 2013 |
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Jul 21, 2013 03:42
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rope kid posted:I think most people were waiting for the bottom to become reasonable; it never did. Yeah the "bottom" was still way above a lot of people's price range.
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Jul 21, 2013 19:01
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