Quote:
Originally Posted by aerogt3
People on this forum are so unrealistic. Big shiny new towers, brand new airports, and massive transit projects (without ridership to pay for it) COST A LOT OF MONEY. Money SD does not have. It is a small city with a metro population of 3M, and you guys are bitching that it doesn't have things that even cities like SF and LA still lack.
SDfan, people in SD drive cars to work and prefer an added lane for 500M to bring their commute from 25 minutes to 18 minutes as opposed to spending billions on a system that will get them to work in 45. Aside from a handful on forums, no one actually wants to give up an hour or more of their day to make the switch to transit to work. I ride my bike to work, but I can cross a population area of 1.5 million people in 15 minutes by bike..... No system built in SD could ever take me from downtown to eastern Poway in 25 the minutes it took me to drive. Hence, extra lanes. No one wants to waste their day making 3 10-20 minute bus rides with 5-10 minutes for each connection. Outside a few point to point link between the densest living/working centers, there is no conceivable or affordable system that could be even REMOTELY competitive with cars or motorbikes.
The plaza is a PRACTICAL solution. It's cheap, quick, and accomplishes PART of the objective. If everything were done your way, it would cost $10M, and be done in 4 years. This was done in a week.
Puzzlecraft.... Embarcadero..... sure there is a lot of potential and the site is a POS right now. But where is the MONEY??? If buildings are put up, who is going to occupy them and pay the rents? Who will buy the condos?
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aerogt3,
1. People drive cars and "prefer" highway expansion because
there are no other options. You can't brush this issue away by saying "well, no one takes the train to work" when
there is no train for them to take. Yes, few people commute on transit now, but that's not because people wouldn't use it - it's because people don't have the option - and why? Because "common sense" people (aerogt3) wouldn't invest in something that "wouldn't be preferred" because obviously since it doesn't exist it shouldn't be considered as an option altogether (so mind-numbing, but so San Diegan).
2. Your are so right aerogt3, the plaza is practical,
quick, and
cheap. This city is by no means able to pay for anything, not even to fill a pot hole. But I'm not sure if you were around - say 6 months ago - when one of this city's heavy philanthropists was willing to bank roll an extensive renovation of same, said plaza. Yet, San Diego's politically active "preservationists" were successful in giving us what we have now -
painted asphalt. You know, they should have just saved us some money and left the black tarmac color instead of painting it, because there really is no difference between the two.
And what are we preserving anyways? Oh yeah - that's right, the cabrillo bridge - an "icon" of San Diego. A hollow, plaster-wrapped bridge built to fool turn of the century tourists into thinking that this city had history. Surprise, surprise, it's fooling us even into today! Does no one else see the hilarity in all of this?
I mean, really? My chest of drawers is from 1920, I think I'll have to have it claimed historical by SOHO to leave it protected for generations of underwear to come!
3. Is it really too unrealistic to ask for better infrastructure? I mean, I don't think we're asking for a bridge to nowhere. San Diego isn't some backwater town (as much as the political and NIMBYist sentiments seem to indicate it is). We have a metro of 3 million, 5 million when you include Tijuana (which I'm sure you wouldn't aerogt3, something tells me you're less inclined to think outside the box, let alone over the border). Yet we have one of the saddest air transport situations in the country. And why? Well, I'm not going to get into the history of commercial aviation in this region, but I will sum it up by saying it's pretty much the same story as the plaza, and mass transit, and community development, and... the list goes on!)
4.
I'm not bitching, I'm lamenting. Because no one else seems to notice all the stupid shenanigans that San Diegan's put themselves through. No community is perfect, but 🞵🞵🞵 🞵🞵🞵🞵 - San Diego really has a lovely way of putting off or putting down what is necessary for it to grow, let alone, survive.
It's just. Sad.
And not to attack you (any further) aerogt3, but I just see what you have to say and I can easily add it to the larger problems that have kept San Diego from realizing it's full potential.
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