We Built This City on ... Water and Marsh?

02/06/20 • 15 min

When Nicole was growing up, her grandmother always told her: Don't live anywhere built on fill. Her uncle also had strong memories of watching the Marina burn after the 1989 earthquake — when parts of the ground liquefied, causing buildings to collapse and gas lines to break.

Nicole wants to follow her grandmother's advice, but she needs to know a few things: "What neighborhoods and cities in the Bay Area are built on filled land? And what are those cities and neighborhoods doing to mitigate the risk of liquefaction?"

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Credits

Reported by Kelly O'Mara. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Jessica Placzek, Katie McMurran and Rob Speight. Additional support from Julie Caine, Paul Lancour, Don Clyde, Carly Severn, Christopher Cox, Bianca Hernandez, Kyana Moghadam, Suzie Racho, Ethan Lindsey, Vinnee Tong and Holly Kernan.

Additional Reading

Credits

Previous Episode

You're Really, Really Curious About BART

We get a lot of BART questions from our listeners, so this week we're answering a slew of them with long-time transit reporter Dan Brekke.

How did they build the underwater tunnels for BART?
In its nearly 50 years of existence, why has BART taken so long to extend into Santa Clara County? And only normally protruded into San Mateo County and never expanded into any of the North Bay counties?
Why are there news kiosks in the BART station that are closed? Why doesn't BART let people run these news kiosks? What is the history?
At the West Oakland BART Station there are ads right next to the third rail. How on earth do they change those out without getting electrocuted?
Why does it seem like the escalators are constantly broken?
Why does BART announce elevator status all the time?

Our question askers this week were Briana, Brad Meyer, Jay Quigley, Mark, Dan and Eric.

Additional Goodies

Credits

Produced by Jessica Placzek and Olivia Allen-Price. Featuring KQED's transit editor Dan Brekke. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Jessica Placzek, Katie McMurran and Rob Speight. Additional support from Julie Caine, Paul Lancour, Patricia Yollin, Carly Severn, Christopher Cox, Bianca Hernandez, Kyana Moghadam, Suzie Racho, Ethan Lindsey, Vinnee Tong and Holly Kernan.

Next Episode

Bay Area, I Love You

This week the Bay Curious team asked locals to help us make a collective love letter to the Bay Area. We talked to people whose families have been here for several generations, people who just arrived and some who recently left. We heard all kinds of reasons for why you love it. We present to you, your stories and our love letter.

Credits

Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Jessica Placzek, Kyana Moghadam, Katie McMurran and Rob Speight. Additional support from Julie Caine, Paul Lancour, Don Clyde, Carly Severn, Christopher Cox, Bianca Hernandez, Kyana Moghadam, Suzie Racho, Ethan Lindsey, Vinnee Tong and Holly Kernan.