In a region where a studio apartment can run you more than a mortgage payment in most of America, it's nice to be reminded that some things in the Bay Area are still gloriously, stubbornly free.

Residents across the East Bay and San Francisco were treated to a spectacular light show this week — a vivid double rainbow arcing over the interior East Bay and skies over the city that looked, as more than a few people put it, downright electric. No $35 ticketed "immersive experience" required. No reservation. No surge pricing.

Look, we spend a lot of time in this space talking about what's broken — the budget deficits, the bureaucratic bloat, the transit headaches. And we'll keep doing that, because somebody has to. But every once in a while, the Bay Area reminds you why people put up with it all. Why they wake up at 5:30 a.m. and grind through a BART commute that eats their entire evening. As one East Bay commuter put it: "Got to wake up at 5:30, get ready then BART/Muni to your job at 8. Then BART/Muni back to be home at 7:30pm. Then you get 90 minutes to cook dinner and shower before you got to do it all over again. Tis life in the East Bay."

That's real. And yet — double rainbow. Right there, no charge, hanging over the same hills you commute through every day.

There's a lesson buried in there somewhere about value. City Hall could learn it. You don't need a $4 million feasibility study to deliver something beautiful. Sometimes the best things a region offers have absolutely nothing to do with government programs, subsidies, or five-year strategic plans. They just happen, naturally, when conditions are right.

So if you missed it, set a reminder to look up more often. The Bay Area's best amenity has always been the Bay Area itself — the light, the water, the hills, the sky. No line items required.

Now if only Muni ran as reliably as the weather cycle.