Quote from: K-Dog on Sep 02, 2023, 09:42 AMThe truth is another pile of money bought some farmland to rip up into a suburb for the bay area and the state capital.  Commute by light rail.

Is there already a light rail line built along this 60 mile route?  If not, how much per mile to build it?  Where in San Francisco will it stop?  Will It stop in Silicon Valley?  How many people will actually ride it?

As you say, it's just another suburban subdivision, just bigger and more grandiose.  What are the 1000s of walk-to-work jobs that will be located there?  Will they pay enough to afford those cute little townhouse condos?  Doing WHAT?

RE

There is a direct train departing Oakland and arriving at Sacramento. Trains depart hourly, and operate every day. The journey takes approximately 1h 58m.



I'm guessing all a new burb needs is a station.

QuoteThe Capitol Corridor route is primarily financed and operated in partnership with the State of California. It is managed by the Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority (CCJPA), which partners with Amtrak, the Union Pacific Railroad, Caltrans and the communities comprising the CCJPA to continue development of a cost-effective, viable and safe intercity passenger rail service.

The train is led by Caltrans-owned F59PHI diesel locomotive No. 2005.  Manufactured by General Motors Corporation's Electro-Motive Division (EMD), it has 3,200 horsepower and can reach a top speed of 110 mph. As seen in this image, Capitol Corridor trains generally employ bi-level "California cars." Along with the locomotive, they wear a distinctive blue and yellow paint scheme.

The modern glass and stone Oakland station is located on the eastern corner of Jack London Square. Fronting a natural estuary leading to San Francisco Bay, Jack London Square was the heart of Oakland's port operations, linking the industries of shipping and agriculture, and it remains a working waterfront. Jack London spent much of his boyhood on this waterfront that now bears his name.

* Looking at Google Earth the city might need a new rail line to the existing line on the other side of the air force base. Currently the land is all cow pasture.

An already running rail line certainly makes the development more plausible.  The main thing I doubt exists with this plan is a way to make the cost of the housing match what the people actually earn.  Certainly there will be plenty of cute urban style attached townhouses 2 or 3 stories high with 3-4 bedrooms.  The price of said townhouses in today's RE market would probably be around $1M.

Taking up the same space with the same external architecture would be 2-3 story condos with a 1 or 2 bedroom apt on each floor for singles and couples with no children.  These units probably sell for $300-400K.  Rent on them probably $2-3K/mo.  With similar architecture to Greenwich Village in NYC, the corner lots might have 4-6 story buildings with 4-6 studio or 1 BR units renting at $1500-2000/mo on each floor.

Note with this scheme and street/building architecture there is ZERO parking on the street, and putting in a 1 car garage takes up nearly +the whole ground floor.  So, what's the scheme for getting these folks to the light rail station?  A self-driving EV fleet of Ubers?

Finally, where in the planned Utopia is the housing for the 50% of the population who can afford a max of $1000/mo rent, and often less than that?

RE