It's a toll road-owned and operated by a special district separate from the state of California or the cities of San Francisco or Sausalito. The tolls are user fees, not taxes. It's as close to a privately operated highway as exists in the United States. The three bridges they operate generate around $100 M in tolls per year. These dollars are used to maintain the bridge, and subsidize bus and ferry service If you don't like them spending 200 M on a suicide barrier; don't support their enterprise and either swim, canoe, or sail across the bay.
HRE wrote:
Charles d wrote:That's fine if it's privately funded. People can spend their money however they like. It's when public funds get thrown at it - my money and your money - that it becomes a problem.
The bridge is a public facility so any money spent on it will be public money. You don't like the idea, that's fine and you have the right to express that opinion. But it doesn't mean anything more than that unless you're in a position to decide if the net will happen or not. Other people obviously think t's a reasonable idea. I kind of do but as I said earlier, it does seem an awfully high price for something as simple as a net, even a really big one.