1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910788514603321

Autore

Dyble Louise Nelson

Titolo

Paying the toll : local power, regional politics, and the Golden Gate Bridge / / Louise Nelson Dyble

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Philadelphia : , : University of Pennsylvania Press, , 2009

ISBN

1-283-89648-6

0-8122-0688-6

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (305 pages) : illustrations, maps

Collana

American Business, Politics, and Society

Disciplina

388.1/320979461

Soggetti

BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Development / Economic Development

Golden Gate Bridge (San Francisco, Calif.)

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. [215]-276) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- Contents -- Introduction. "Agency Run Amok" -- Chapter 1. A Bridge to Prosperity -- Chapter 2. A District Divided -- Chapter 3. The District and Its Enemies -- Chapter 4. The Defeat of the Golden Gate Authority -- Chapter 5. Rapid Transit Versus the Golden Gate Bridge -- Chapter 6. James Adam, Boss of the Golden Gate Bridge -- Chapter 7. Regionalism, Transportation, and Perpetual Tolls -- Conclusion. Subsidies, Suicides, and Sensitivity -- Notes -- Index -- Acknowledgments

Sommario/riassunto

Since its opening in 1937, the Golden Gate Bridge has become an icon for the beauty and prosperity of the San Francisco Bay Area, as well as a symbol of engineering achievement. Constructing the bridge posed political and financial challenges that were at least as difficult as those faced by the project's builders. To meet these challenges, northern California boosters created a new kind of agency: an autonomous, self-financing special district. The Golden Gate Bridge and Highway District developed into a powerful organization that shaped the politics and government of the Bay Area as much as the bridge shaped its physical development. From the moment of the bridge district's incorporation in 1928, its managers pursued their own agenda. They used all the resources at their disposal to preserve their control over the bridge, cultivating political allies, influencing regional policy, and developing



an ambitious public relations program. Undaunted by charges of mismanagement and persistent efforts to turn the bridge (as well as its lucrative tolls) over to the state, the bridge district expanded into mass transportation, taking on ferry and bus operations to ensure its survival to this day. Drawing on previously unavailable archives, Paying the Toll gives us an inside view of the world of high-stakes development, cronyism, and bureaucratic power politics that have surrounded the Golden Gate Bridge since its inception.