****Golden Gate County, the New San Francisco County****

[Chrysopylae]

When thinking about rich Bay Area cities don't forget South San Francisco. While it doesn't sport the sprawling mansions you might associate with Atherton and Menlo Park, it does have a well-managed government and a city master plan that has assured money in city coffers, financing for city infrastructure, and a level of service that San Francisco has been hard pressed to achieve. Their parks have remained open, their streets repaired and their city services available on a more consistent basis than many of their contemporaries.

And as long as the topic of citizenry acting at a local level is on the table, how about the NIMBYism in San Francisco that has kept Muni railcar service out of the Geary street corridor? A machine-bored underground line from Union Square to Point Lobos, with a cross line from Stonestown to the Presidio would have a long list of benefits to both City and greater Bay Area residents.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

This is the most balkanized connurbation I've ever lived in.

Conversation overheard in Europe:

"Where are you from?"

"I am from Cupertino."

"Where is that, I've never heard of it."

"Oh, it's near San Jose."

"Is that in Costa Rica then?"

"No, not THAT San Jose, the one that's near San Francisco."

DOH!!!

Whether living in El Cerrito, Oakland, Sunnyvale, Berkeley, Los Altos, San Mateo, unincorporated San Mateo County ... or ... San Francisco ... my answer would have been ... SAN FRANCISCO!!!

(Of course, I voted yes).

[krudmonk]

As if the capital of Costa Rica is that famous, either...

[Radical347]

Originally Posted by AuntDianesArk

I live in Marin, and I HATE the idea!

You would.

[Radical347]

Originally Posted by goonzy

2. Bart all the way Mountain View(stops in every major town along the way)

I would love to see this -- however, let's not stop at Mountain View. How about all the way to Santa Clara? BART (the Fremont/Warm Springs Line) is being extended down to Milpitas & San Jose, then through San Jose and up the other side to Santa Clara. http://www.vta.org/bart/documents/other/bart_fact.pdf (broken link)

If this actually gets finished, it would make sense to close the loop between Millbrae & Santa Clara. Or rather, it wouldn't make sense not to.

[mysticaltyger]

I don't know why anyone in San Mateo or Marin would want that. San Francisco's government is hopelessly bloated and corrupt.

[goonzy]

Originally Posted by BayAreaHillbilly

This is the most balkanized connurbation I've ever lived in.

Conversation overheard in Europe:

"Where are you from?"

"I am from Cupertino."

"Where is that, I've never heard of it."

"Oh, it's near San Jose."

"Is that in Costa Rica then?"

"No, not THAT San Jose, the one that's near San Francisco."

DOH!!!

Whether living in El Cerrito, Oakland, Sunnyvale, Berkeley, Los Altos, San Mateo, unincorporated San Mateo County ... or ... San Francisco ... my answer would have been ... SAN FRANCISCO!!!

(Of course, I voted yes).

I agree. I have friends who go to college from other parts of the country and their amazed at the fact that other cities around the bay don't identify with the core city of the area witch is San Francisco. SF Bay Area residents tend to catigorize themselves into 4 different factions. While in most other major american cities every one identifies with the major urban core city.
The SF Bay is divided into Wine County(NORTH),Silicon Valley(SOUTH), East Bay(EAST) and the Golden Gate(WEST).
North Bays major city is Santa Rosa
East Bay major city Oakland
West Bay major city San Francisco
South Bay being San Jose.

So knowing this I know that we dont have a chance into uniting the SF Bay Area into one county or get them all under one regional government. SO I got to go for the next best thing witch is uniting the West Bay San Francisco Golden Gate side of the bay. And hopefully later the rest of the bay area could join us.

[topgear]

No thanks.

[goonzy]

Novato to Mountain View, we can do it, we need unity and cooperation. We need to stop viewing ourselves as different and distinct entities and we need to realize that we our geographically united. We share this peace of land and this beatiful bay, and instead of having 4 different counties with their own rules and systems and ways of doing things. We need to unify into one 1 county so we can have regional planning on issues such as transportation, job markets, bay pollution and air pollution(pollution doesn't respect county lines), housing and so on and also merging will be cost effective because we will get rid of duplication of services provided by county governments and get rid of the barriers that stop cities in different counties to work together even though they might be neighbors. For the future and progress of San Francisco and the surrounding areas, we most unite and start acting like 1 unit. I know Oakland and the East Bay will never join us. They are so concerned about home rule, they been fighting efforts of unity since the start. And San Jose and silicon valley have to much economic power to even think about joining with us.
So its up to San Francisco and its immediate suburbs to unify in the name of progress and growth. Its time for the Marin and San Francisco Peninsulas to unite. Its time for the Golden Gate to unify and take its place as the modern Constantinopole. The Gate Keepers of paradise .