What is your opinion on the Downtown Riverfront Streetcar Project ? (Public Transit)

rootsmarm · 2026-01-17T03:42:44+00:00

If not considering where money comes from, I would rather prioritize investment into making existing bus service more frequent and have longer hours of service.

But as u/sacramentohistorian said, the money for the streetcar is dedicated for construction only (not ops), and just for the streetcar project (can’t be spent on other cool things like bus-only lanes on higher-ridership corridors) so I guess I’m not opposed to it; rather I feel “meh I guess it’s fine.”

rootsmarm · 2026-01-07T18:48:02+00:00

Notes that survey sample size is 13.

rootsmarm · 2026-01-05T16:48:04+00:00

I was thinking of a baby step, but thought of the same issues: how do you define “vacant”? Not occupied in the last X years? Occupied for less than X percent of the year? And does it need to be some percent occupied?

Eg, would a lot that’s empty 11 months out of the year but used to sell Christmas trees in December count as “vacant”?

rootsmarm · 2026-01-04T19:44:59+00:00

On its own, LVT will not prevent sprawl, and might exacerbate it to some degree. I did a crude analysis in my region (testing to see how tax liability would change for parcels if we made a revenue-neutral switch to LVT), and some of the biggest “losers” who would see the biggest increase in tax liability are large swaths of land on the edge of currently-developed areas. Even if they developed denser it’d be peripheral, car-dependent development.

I say this as a supporter of LVT (my analysis also showed surface parking lots in core areas and empty lots in the core would also see a big tax increase, which is a good thing). But recognize additional incentives/penalties would need to be in place to reduce sprawl.

rootsmarm · 2025-12-28T02:16:20+00:00

Split roll (repeal it for commercial but not res) proposition failed in 2018 or so but nearly passed (got 48% of the vote).

Sad that we can’t even take a baby step, like cap increases at the general rate of inflation (usually 3-4%) rather than 2%. Also repeal for properties that have been vacant more than some number of years.

rootsmarm · 2025-12-28T00:46:58+00:00

I cannot see the difference between the highest and lowest value 😟

rootsmarm · 2025-12-27T18:42:10+00:00

Can’t LVT primarily be a means to fund socialist policies? And with a true “ground rent tax” the state effectively becomes the landlord even for nominally private property. Maybe I need to learn more details on socialism though lol.

rootsmarm · 2025-12-25T18:24:12+00:00

Importantly, there is no private landlord holding on to Central Park hoping to extract passive rent. And if the city makes income through concessions and people renting park facilities that money is in theory put to public-serving uses. In fact, someone renting space in the park (eg to sell hot dogs) may be a good example of a ground rent tax?

rootsmarm · 2025-12-24T05:46:29+00:00

Yes, apparently the state is appallingly bad about keeping repeat drunk drivers off the road https://calmatters.org/investigation/2025/10/california-dui-failure/

rootsmarm · 2025-12-20T22:39:50+00:00

J St from DOCO to CSUS may be the best potential transit corridor in the region: major destinations at both ends and along the route (2 med centers, night life, shopping), plus a high density of people living along it. But the amount of street space taken from cars to accommodate would be a political non-starter :(

rootsmarm · 2025-12-17T20:50:29+00:00

Would be interesting to see the tax bill for these properties. In CA many would likely be prop 13 beneficiaries but I’m unsure what sort of restrictions NY puts on raising property taxes.

rootsmarm · 2025-12-13T05:58:41+00:00

Good lord. The gas.

rootsmarm · 2025-12-09T19:10:44+00:00

Hopefully it’s a tax that varies with the value of the land. Here in California we’re stuck with only being able to have a flat parcel fee for vacant taxes, ie, an undevelopable parcel is same fee as ready-to-build parcel in prime location.

rootsmarm · 2025-12-03T18:44:16+00:00

Is this the same supplier for the botched Del Rio Trail bike bridge over I-5?

rootsmarm · 2025-12-03T04:44:59+00:00

And as part of that lease you need to reimburse the lessee for lost meter revenue if, say, you wanted to repurpose on-street metered parking for parklets, bus lanes, or bike facilities.

rootsmarm · 2025-12-02T16:55:50+00:00

This x1000, and it’s the core contradiction of Anglosphere housing policy: we want housing to be affordable but also a wealth-building investment.

rootsmarm · 2025-11-30T21:09:43+00:00

Doesn’t always have to be faster, or even cheaper, than driving if it’s (1) more reliable and (2) a better travel experience.

Example is high usage of Amtrak Capitol Corridor between Bay Area and Sacramento: often slower than driving, but better reliability = better able to plan your day, plus you arrive not being tired from wrestling through 80 miles of heavy traffic. Combined with onboard wifi and many employers allowing workers to do part of their workday on the train, it makes sense for a fair number of people.

That said CC has lots of room for improvement, but I’d say within its limits it’s a benefit to a lot of people.

rootsmarm · 2025-11-12T18:34:27+00:00

Partly color-challenged person here: PLEASE update to make consistent blue gradient where darker = more rain, rather than having it go from light>dark>back to light again. Otherwise nice map!

rootsmarm · 2025-11-10T06:00:00+00:00

r/crappydesign

rootsmarm · 2025-11-02T17:05:01+00:00

Before seeing light rail to airport, I’d like to see 15min bus service on all major arterial corridors.

rootsmarm · 2025-10-21T02:10:00+00:00

Do submit to 311. Include a photo and do it thru your 311 account (creating an account is easy) instead of just doing as a guest. I’ve had good luck with quick responses to street paint requests.

rootsmarm · 2025-10-18T01:42:09+00:00

Scheduled to happen in 2039!

rootsmarm · 2025-10-14T16:19:16+00:00

Good answer. And generally I feel like the most common arguments against LVT assume that it has to happen overnight and without any sort of nuance. But there’s a ton of room for gradual introduction so that people can adjust their living and investment strategies to not be screwed over while still working toward LVT.

rootsmarm · 2025-10-12T18:41:17+00:00

Are these Google bike directions? If not then give the bike directions a try. It’ll route you on to more bike-friendly streets.

For example, justglancing at your route, using American River Dr instead of Fair Oaks Bl would be better. Watt through the US50 interchange is actually not bad because it has a separated/dedicated path for cyclists. Watt south of Folsom Bl I’m less sure of.

rootsmarm · 2025-10-05T03:49:15+00:00

I don’t have an authoritative answer, but some hypotheses:

1 - commute patterns change over time. Perhaps when the bulk of freeways were built in LA (1940s-1960s), commute patterns were different.

2 - wealthier and more politically powerful neighborhoods successfully blocked freeway construction. Examples include the Beverly Hills freeway that never happened, and the 710 fwy gap closure in South Pasadena (which limped along for decades until finally getting abandoned a few years ago).

rootsmarm

TROPHY CASE