[prostoalex]

> pay enough so that living here isn't a financial disaster

Higher salaries and higher employment levels seem to correlate with higher, not lower, housing prices.

> solve transport problems making san jose and sf essentially separate cities

How would you even address that? It's run by public agencies controlled by three counties (San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara). You need to get financial commitments from all three counties, railroad unions, state agencies like CalTRANS, etc. They're bringing BART to San Jose, so maybe things are already slowly progressing in that regard.