[www.marinij.com]

Disappointingly trite piece that repeats the same old MTC prop. The kernel issue is the US continues to slavishly follow the LA model of urbanism. Ergo everything remains to a great degree AOD not TOD. As in auto oriented development. Everything is designed to promote more autos moving faster. And to relocate and disperse what would be otherwise stand as transit magnet destinations to remote cocoon-like enclaves isolated from the other enclaves.

A Northbay example of the AOD would the apartment buildings sprouting to the west of 101 in Rohnert Park in the vicinity of Graton casino. Surrounded by parking lots and sinuous wide streets with huge and furiously moving auto traffic. Buildings far removed from sidewalks where buses or streetcars would stop.

A local example of the remote enclave would be the Sonoma County Civic Center relocated out of downtown to be next to 101 like a fortress. The Civic Center is one of the few inherent magnet destinations for transit in the Northbay in that it is not going to disappear and it is significantly trafficked by both employees and civilians. Retail centers like malls appear more sketchy over the long run.

So the real problem is a land use and planning mindset that is extremely hostile to pedestrians and at some point all transit users walk more than motorists and in more questionable venues. Why the hostility on the part of planners, architects and developers? Simple - pedestrians are so "pedestrian" - namely they are seen at the opposite end of rich, powerful, connected, the kind of folk who run everything.