California

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Comment by Stephen Baker on December 1, 2008 at 2:21pm

Very good idea, Karen, about working from home initiatives. It goes against the grain of most infrastructure deals: It adds efficiencies and lowers cost, presumably making it cheaper for companies to add workers. But instead of building new stuff, we'd just be using what we have more efficiently--except for the broadband build-out, which Jeff Jarvis has been agitating for.

Comment by Karen Auby on December 1, 2008 at 2:14pm

Stephen, that’s very true. Many companies are pretty spread out in the valley. Perhaps the bigger employers could have shuttles and the cities could beef up light rail and bus service. I like the zipcar/rental bike idea. Commuters could pay a fee to have access to transportation to and from the train stations. On another note, I was thinking about this over the weekend and I think the Obama administration could significantly impact the economy and the environment by supporting working from home initiatives. Perhaps incentivizing companies that create hot desking or hoteling office configurations so people could come in to the office but are not wasting space with a dedicated cubicle. People work whenever and wherever they are so it makes sense to support. Perhaps free high bandwidth wifi everywhere? or bandwidth requirements for home internet service? I'd guess they have some quality requirements for telephone and electrical. I live in San Jose and I only have one option, cable internet. So I have to pay whatever Comcast charges to get internet service

Comment by Stephen Baker on November 27, 2008 at 9:55am

Karen, you'd also need transport from the stations to wherever you're going, wouldn't you? If you go from San Jose to Palo Alto or Mountainview, you'll need shuttles of some sort. And to get people out of their cars, it would have to be fabulous service. I'm also wondering if there could be some sort of utility cars available, like zipcars or the rental bikes in Paris.

Comment by Karen Auby on November 26, 2008 at 4:24pm

As a South Bay native, I've been waiting for BART to come to San Jose. Improving public transportation and infrastructure in Calisfornia, including the high speed rail linking NorCal and SoCal should be high on the list. It will create jobs, streamline expenses from car travel, take pressure off the aging highway system and have a lasting impact on California's carbon footprint. Most people I know would love to get out of their cars if public transportation were more pratical.

Comment by Stephen Baker on November 25, 2008 at 6:24pm

The Golden Gate Bridge was built during the depression and, in a sense, was an economic stimulus project. The difference, according to Wikipedia, was that the Bank of America bought $30 million of bonds in order to aid the local economy. (Now, by contrast, it's the big banks getting most of the dough.) But here's the question: Which projects would most benefit California's economy and people? Which ones, looking back 25 years from now, would be regarded as smart investments?