Friday, August 07, 2009

Rob Anderson: All-purpose bogeyman

And the hits keep on coming. Bring it on! Yesterday C.W. Nevius calls me a "curmudgeon" in the Chronicle and today remedial reader Matthew Baume gives me the back of his hand on SFCurbed, the real estate blog, over the Geary BRT issue.

Baume apparently didn't notice that I wasn't the author of the article, which was written by Thomas K. Pendergast in the Richmond Review about a recent BRT meeting in that part of town. I reprinted it because I didn't see any account of the meeting in the mainstream media. I'm no longer committed to opposing the Geary BRT, but I am still skeptical. Like a lot of people, I'm waiting for the EIR on the Geary BRT before I make the call.

Some at the meeting were rightly concerned that the Geary BRT project was part of a city development plan to line the boulevard with highrises as per the Planning Department's false and destructive "transit corridors" theory that holds that we can build unlimited amounts of housing along major city streets.

According to Pendergast's account, the Geary BRT's project director denied that charge, but Baume links a bunch of pro-density articles that will only confirm neighborhood fears about the city's intentions. If Baume is any indication, the real estate/development community sees the Geary BRT project as a big opportunity.

The SF County Transportation Authority's Geary BRT website is here.

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