Hi Bob,

On Fri 2037-Aug-07 06:54, Bob Ackley (1:300/3) wrote to Richard Webb:

 BA>> Of some interest is that the last time I crossed the San Mateo
 BA>> Bridge (30 or so years
 BA>> ago) I noted that the roadway was about ten feet above the rooftops
 BA>> of Foster City (a development built entirely on crud dredged up from
 BA>> the bottom of the bay and piled on top of what had been mud flats -
 BA>> that sort of fill turns to mud and jelly during earthquakes, not the
 BA>> sort of thing one wants to build anything on). 



 RW> YEp, and bet those houses sold for high dollars too.  WOnder if it
 RW> still survives.  IF so I bet they can't rebuild anymore there, at
 RW> least if the authorities are smart.

BA> If the authorities were smart they'd never have allowed to
BA> development to be built in the first place.

True, but at the time everybody in government thought the
laws of physics etc. could be repeals if you threw enough
money at it.  OR, if you threw enough money at them.

BA> A couple of decades ago a very high rent development was built on
BA> the (shale) hills overlooking Oakland and a good part of the SF Bay
BA> area.  The winter of 1962-63 had *much* more rain than is usual for
BA> the area and most of that development slid down the hill into other
BA> people's back yards.  'Solid shale' is an oxymoron.

OF course, but nobody thought about that either.  AGain,
throw enough money at the politicos and you too can
contravene the laws of physics, at least you think you can.

BA> That was the year that the main highway between Alameda and Contra
BA> Costa counties (runs through the Caldecott Tunnel under the East Bay
BA> hills) was under construction east of the tunnel.  They'd clear cut
BA> the hillsides on both sides preparatory to widening the highway. 
YEp, and after the clearcut, no roots to hold all that in
place.  sOMething oldtimer farmers and ranchers could tell
you was a bad move.

BA> The hills on both sides slid onto the highway,
BA> and the earth movers and bulldozers needed to clean up the mess were
BA> underneath 17 feet of mud.  Traffic was detoured for months...

OF course, but nobody thinks about all this.  THe laws of
physics, etc. are suggestions when it comes to politics.

THis is what I never understood about the whole Katrina
mess.  WE understood that all that commercial activity took
place inside the bowl which is NEw ORleans.  sUpporting all
that commercial activity requires cheap labor.  bUssing the
cheap labor in is expensive, so allowing the cheap labor to
live nearby and providing good local public transit was part and parcel of
the economy.

So, when the big one's coming, we don't have a real workable evacuation
plan which moves that cheap labor out of harm's
way.  That's why an Amtrack train leaves NEw ORleans after
the storm, with water levels rising, mostly empty.  PEople
are crammed together in the superdome, and law enforcers
step aboard an amtrack train that was waiting to receive a
load of passengers and told the engineer to get the ***{at}{at}$
train moving now.

Regards,
           Richard
--- timEd 1.10.y2k+