Logistics for San Francisco Burners

[MacGlenver]

I'm about to accept a job offer in San Francisco, and will be moving from Atlanta in the next couple of months (before Bman 2013).

One of my concerns is that space is obviously at a much higher premium in the Bay Area than in Georgia (rent... jesus christ...). How do you San Francisco burners handle your storage and vehicles? Obviously a lot of burners have art cars, huge camps, and big 4WD vehicles to make it to the burn. I plan (hope) to have a 4WD car (maybe a Rav 4) and a medium size trailer, but I'm not sure how realistic that will be if I live in the city.

I know a lot of people rent storage in Reno or nearer to The Bay. I've priced out storage in the city itself and it is insanely expensive (compared to Atlanta rates). I'd rather have my burn gear a bit closer to where I live so that I can add to it/adjust during the year without making the 4+ hour drive to Reno. Any suggestions for a happy medium on distance and price for storage?

How about trailers? I highly doubt its realistic for me to park it anywhere in the city. I spose if I got a big enough storage unit I could back the trailer in and leave it. Else I may need to find a friend/family member's house in the area where I can park it permanently.

Thoughts? I know there are a million different setups for burners (some have deck parking for their car in the city, so its easy, some street park, some have theme camp storage in Reno or closer, some have family in the area where you can leave a trailer, etc.), so I know I may just have to find the right mix for myself, but any helpful hints or general guidance would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[misfit]

some live in the east bay, more affordable. in my richmond community we have 5 burner houses within 4 blocks and very resonable storage just 2 miles away for rv's and art cars. commute to the city is by bay bridge or the GG,,, 30 to 45 minutes depending on where in the city you work.

[MacGlenver]

some live in the east bay, more affordable. in my richmond community we have 5 burner houses within 4 blocks and very resonable storage just 2 miles away for rv's and art cars. commute to the city is by bay bridge or the GG,,, 30 to 45 minutes depending on where in the city you work.

East bay will be hard (I'm told). I'll be doing local consulting either in downtown SF, or in Silicone Valley (depending on which one I live closest to), so that may be a tough commute. Pretty torn between the downtown SF life versus more of a suburban lifestyle, but I guess that is getting off topic . Big changes coming for me. Maybe I can go on Ygmir's train ride the next time he has one

Glad to hear there is reasonable storage in east bay though. Maybe i can do a storage share or something with some others in the community.

[Dr. Pyro]

[quote="MacGlenver Maybe I can go on Ygmir's train ride the next time he has one [/quote]

Ygmir doesn't do trains. At least not the locomotive kind.

[nilasnake]

some people live in san jose and do the bay area rapid transit (BART) system for getting to work.

[MacGlenver]

some people live in san jose and do the bay area rapid transit (BART) system for getting to work.

Yeah, from what I hear, BART will definitely be on my list. Ideally I'd like to keep my commute to 30 mins, but we'll have to see how things shake out.

Sounds like the advice so far is that I should get storage somewhere outside the city to drop prices. Not sure about trailer storage yet. I doubt i'd want to just park it on the side of the road in some residential neighborhood in Redwood City or something, but I think that would technically be legal....

[Eric]

some people live in san jose and do the bay area rapid transit (BART) system for getting to work.

BART doesn't go to San Jose - it goes to Fremont on the East Bay side, the closest it gets on the Peninsula is Millbrae, which is quite a trek away. You can take CalTrain from San Jose to SF (about 90 minutes from SJ to SF), or some people switch from CalTrain to BART in Millbrae, since BART has multiple stops along Market St. in SF, while the CalTrain station is a bit out of the way (depending on where you work)

Back on topic, for storage you can also go a bit farther into the East Bay, like Walnut Creek or Concord. It will take longer to get there, but the rates will be less than closer to the bay.

[nilasnake]

thanks, eric, I just saw some rail lines and assumed.

[Eric]

thanks, eric, I just saw some rail lines and assumed.

It's a normal assumption - I've been here 20+ years and I still can't believe how stupid it is that BART doesn't circle the whole Bay Area (including Marin/Napa). Lot's of counties voted not to join in, so they don't get BART. Hell, it just reached SFO a few years ago.

10 million people in the "greater Bay Area", with transit options from 1972, when large parts were still suburbs or orchards...

[theCryptofishist]

thanks, eric, I just saw some rail lines and assumed.

It's a normal assumption - I've been here 20+ years and I still can't believe how stupid it is that BART doesn't circle the whole Bay Area (including Marin/Napa). Lot's of counties voted not to join in, so they don't get BART. Hell, it just reached SFO a few years ago.

10 million people in the "greater Bay Area", with transit options from 1972, when large parts were still suburbs or orchards...

I believe that the San Jose station has been approved so that soon Caltrain and BART will ring the lower bay between them..

Knowing what I do about BART makes watching the high speed rail thing interesting...

[pink]

For storage you're not going to need to get into constantly, you might look into an area east of SF, like Vacaville, Dixon or Sacramento, where it'd be cheaper than anywhere in the Bay Area. You might have to drive an hour or so, but if you're o ly going to your storage every month or two, it wouldn't be that big of an inconvenience.

And just think of how much easier getting to the burn will be!

[Elorrum]

I was commuting to SF from San Jose for temp work around 2001? I didn't have a very reliable car, so I tried a variety of methods with Caltrain and BART that were available then. Concord and Fremont were the nearest BART stations then. I ended up preferring Cal train from Mountain view, which was about a 20 minute drive for me. Then it was about a 50 minute train ride. It was a longer trip, but I chose time on the train as more relaxed than time driving. Commuting time, train cost, parking cost: I would try to calculate it all and see how much it really offsets the cost of living in the city. I was working 10 or more hr. days, and that plus the commute time, put me in a sort of limbo, where I needed to get to bed very close to the time I got home.

[Wrath]

Growning up on ranches & in suburbs only to spend the last fifteen years living downtown may contribute to bias, but I love San Francisco.

That being said there are places to park something huge, or something smaller with a trailer, in The City and get away with it.

Check out the Design District's ass end. There are people who park their RV's under signs which state "Don't live in your car here!" and have been for years.

While not a long term solution, it may help park that awesome find you had to buy before locating long term storage. Just be prepared to move it weekly.