Car sharing rare in San Francisco's lower-income areas

I posted a link to an article about this yesterday, and today the Examiner has also run with the story.  In both, it is mentioned that Supervisor Cohen demanded that car sharing companies look to expand southward into Dogpatch and beyond.  Seems like a reasonable demand, especially since, in poorer neighborhoods like the Bayview, where residents may not be able to afford a car on their own, car sharing could be quite a popular option.  I know for our household, where we only have one car, to be get to the nearest car share lot either in Bernal Heights or at 18th and Indiana can be quite a haul, and discourages me from using Carshare at all.

Looking at the comments in the Examiner article - and yes, I realize the Examiner is the paper that endorsed John McCain for president, and so some of its readers may not be the most liberal - I see a great deal of racism/classism being displayed by all of the commenters so far, and it disgusts me. 

exsfer writes:

"You have got to be kidding me!!    Please do a story 6 month's to 1 year after Zipcar starts in the Bayview and see how many of their vehicles are stolen and / or used in crimes."

Miles_Long writes:

"In case you haven’t ever walked thru Bay View, I highly suggest you give that a try and see if that is the caliber of people you want to loan a car to. I know you live in a world where all cultures and people are equally valued and are equally wonderful, but here in the real world there is this very un-politically correct reality that Bay view folk aren’t the greatest of people. I know that’s not the way it should be, but that is the way it is."

Freda writes:

"There's a reason for this."

Maria writes:

Is she serious?

to which Flemingrandolph replied:

It's hard to get inside the minds of people like her... Likely , yes!! Another planet/solar system.

And finally (so far, I'm sure), Pacifickid writes:

"Don't they just steal the car in those neighborhoods??"

Please head over to the San Francisco Examiner if you have something to say...