Wannabe Planner Living in San Francisco Bay Area

[phildominator]

Hi all. Majored in Urban Planning at UCSD and consider urban planning more than just a hobby.

Unfortunately, the path of least resistance for my career wasn't urban planning. I've lived and worked in San Diego, New York, Shanghai and now San Francisco.

I am actively involved in chat rooms for other stuff and it just dawned on me -- there's gotta be one for urban planning...lo and behold, here I am.

New York is the world's best city in every way. I'd love to go to Moscow, Sydney, Barcelona, Rio De Janiero, and Mexico City.

Glad to be here and thank you to all the moderators for having this place.

[Jeff]

So what exactly do you do?? Welcome, regardless

[phildominator]

Sales/Account Management for an elevator company.

I interned with the City of San Diego Planning Department and Department of City Planning for New York - Manhattan before the non-planning world called.

[natski]

Hi from Sydney Australia!

[dandy_warhol]

welcome from New Orleans!!

[safege]

Welcome from Minnesota.

[Richmond Jake]

Welcome from a native of northern California, worked for a period of time in central California and the Bay Area, and has transplanted his sorry arse to the Florida panhandle. We all have a story to tell.....

[JNA]

Welcome from the Hoosier State.
Have family in California.

[BKM]

Welcome from inland Northern California.

[phildominator]

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome.

I started off studying Sociology at UCSD which eventually sequed into my first urban planning class. I was hooked after that -- I stayed an extra year and picked up Urban Planning as my second major.

Although I don't work in the planning industry, the urban planning section is the only section in bookstores I check out.

I love buying/collecting maps, aerial photos/postcards, Then & Now photobooks. Does anyone else do this?

I say I'm more interested in regional planning and infrastructure/business development. What is the region doing to 'roll with the times' and provide a conducive environment to be a thriving city?

Like Los Angeles, it has completely changed itself from a defense-oriented city into the logistics capital of the United States with their investments in LAX, railroad lines and harbor.

I love mixed-use streets/communities and public gathering spaces -- small plazas surrounded by mixed-use, not strip malls, thank you very much.

Here's one question I have for you all -- Does anyone hate street names that don't tell you where you are? Comparing Southern California to New York, how do the names Camino Ticino & Avenida de Toro tell me how far I am from Forest Glen Avenue & Saddlebrook Lane?

Isn't the point of naming a street to help one find a location? 20th St & 4th Ave, although mechanical-sounding, gets the job done.

Seeing empty parking lots and miles of paved sidewalk piss me off. Why do codes require the paving of sidewalks when there isn't a store within miles? Who's going to walk their dog there?

[BKM]

Seeing empty parking lots and miles of paved sidewalk piss me off. Why do codes require the paving of sidewalks when there isn't a store within miles? Who's going to walk their dog there?

Well, I like having the option for walking. Because, even in a harsh suburban environment, there are people that have to walk. The Southern and Midwestern version of strip commercial/sprawl (i.e., no sidewalks anywhere (Knoxville, TN, anyone? or my home town, Fort Wayne, Indiana?) is infinitely worse for the pedestrians that remain.

[Jaxspra]

Welcome from Missouri

[Bear Up North]

Welcome from NW Ohio.

Here in fertile NW Ohio we, too, are adjacent to a big bay. Maumee Bay is one of the largest natural harbors on the Great Lakes. See, we can compare ourselves to your little bay.

Welcome to Cyburbia.

Bear

[Salmissra]

Welcome, from Irving, TX!