“In other news, I think a Streetsblog Chicago could have stopped this crime from happening. Where art thou, oh Streetsbloggeth of Chicagoeth???”
– Peter Smith In response to " It’s Official: Chicago Parking Privatization a Massive Rip-Off"
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by Dave Snyder
Photo: plug1If the Geary Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project doesn't get some love from advocates and the general public, the project could be in trouble, according to several people closely following the process.
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bridgit vb
To JJM 63:
If a good infiltration base is laid with adequate gap space then these will certainly function better than the alternative. Another benefit is that the presence and proper use of these features can reduce the need for salt by creating a gradient for the melting water to flow into the planters.
If a city were to combine this with porous paving for pathways and streets [also have been tested for icy conditions in Wisconsin -see: The Wisconsin Asphalt Pavement Association (www.wispave.org porous asphalt mix design specifications) and the Wisconsin Ready Mixed Concrete Association (www.wrmca.com list of pervious concrete contractors). FilterPave (www.filterpave.com), porous pavement made from recycled glass was laid in Baraboo at The International Crane refuge walking paths and observation areas.] salt application can also be significantly reduced because there will not be any standing water to freeze and create dangerous conditions.
Also, still in accordance with piling regulations, the planter sites would be well suited for piling snow because it will allow for faster infiltration and reduces the burden on storm sewers.
Hope this provides a good starting point.
in response to Portland's Greenstreets Program a Sterling Best Practice Model
Robo
Not putting blame on anyone here, but...
I go thru there everyday (I live 2 blocks away) and routinely see other cyclists blowing the stop signs at Haight, even when there are cars stopped already, and even when I stop, wave my arms, whatever. Not all, but too many do this. Besides being dangerous, it's just plain rude and uncivilized. Cars and buses at this intersection usually stop, or at least attempt to. many cyclists don't even slow down to yield r.o.w.
It's really bad PR for cyclists when they're not civilised enough to yield to cars stopped in the intersection.
in response to Cyclist Injured in Crash on the Wiggle
LearnEnglish
Why do these folks assume that all materials related to route changes, etc. will be made available to them in Chinese, or any language other than English for that matter? How long have they lived in this country? Stop kowtowing to those who immigrate to this nation and assume that they can get by without learning English. Such political correctness measures have led only to the Balkanization of the U.S.
in response to Dec 5 Service Changes Catch Chinatown, Vis Valley Muni Riders by Surprise
Seth Andrzejewski
Agreeing with most of the comments above.
Politicians are experts at public opinion, business people are experts at perceived value.
in response to It’s Official: Chicago Parking Privatization a Massive Rip-Off
patrick
Chicago should have gone with a flat rate plus rev share. That way the city would have benefited from any rate hikes. They just made a bad deal.
in response to It’s Official: Chicago Parking Privatization a Massive Rip-Off
Richard
The real question here is how to capture the value from parking meters, road space, etc without resorting to selling off public property. There is something to be said for the profit motive- after all, Chicago will now have market-priced meters. And politicians won't have to roll back increases like the Oakland City Council did when faced with a chamber packed with rate hike protesters. But on the other hand, the City has now given away all control (and potential revenues) for a generation in exchange for a temporary budget boost. Where is the middle ground here? Can market pricing be sold to the public and implemented by politicians without giving total control to Wall Street?
in response to It’s Official: Chicago Parking Privatization a Massive Rip-Off
Andrew
With Pat.
Congestion pricing, anyone? Yet another aspect of driving that is ridiculously underpriced! It's funny how vehemently anti-socialist this country can be, but driving seems to be subsidized more heavily than just about any other institution.
in response to It’s Official: Chicago Parking Privatization a Massive Rip-Off
patrick
"a light-rail line to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport"
I hope that line goes somewhere else as well or I suspect their dreams of growth are going to go nowhere just like the line.
in response to To Thrive, Suburbs Might Become More Urban
patrick
I dislike wallstreet as much as the next person, but I'm with pat.
The program proves that there's tons more revenue available in parking if you are willing to charge market rates. It also proves that politicians are completely incompetent at maximizing the revenue and valuing parking meters. Morgan Stanley was able to increase revenue over 50% in 1 year. We should sign them up in San Francisco, without them we'll getting parking meter rates changed when hell freezes over. We just need to work out a better deal.
The project seems like a total success to me.
in response to It’s Official: Chicago Parking Privatization a Massive Rip-Off
Peter Smith
Moral outrage might be the wrong stance to take on this issue.
i agree completely.
i wish these liberals would just stop their bellyaching. if it wasn't for the magnanimous Mr. Daley and his beneficent partners, Morgan Stanley, the taxpayers of Chicago would never have known that they were sitting on a gold mine. and think, they'll be able to start captializing on that gold mine in a short 75 years -- that's only 3+ generations -- their great great grandkids will regain control of the parking meters. sheesh -- you'd think a polite 'thank you' was in order. guess not.
in other news, i think a Streetsblog Chicago could have stopped this crime from happening. where art thou, oh Streetsbloggeth of Chicagoeth???
in response to It’s Official: Chicago Parking Privatization a Massive Rip-Off
pat
Also there is always the hope that Morgan Stanley will choke its own revenue stream by discouraging driving through increasingly higher rates in an attempt to maximize profit. They are probably smarter than that though
in response to It’s Official: Chicago Parking Privatization a Massive Rip-Off
CBrinkman
Glad that it seems the cyclist wasn't seriously injured. Both Wiggle intersections on the Haight are dodgy. Thankfully neither was going so fast that death occured.
Slow speeds save lives.
in response to Cyclist Injured in Crash on the Wiggle
pat
Moral outrage might be the wrong stance to take on this issue. This is valuable information. An experiment in PPP happened in Chicago and now we have the results. The results tell us that much more revenue is available to municipal governments from parking and that there is a huge opportunity for greater efficiency in management. It also shows that investment in technology produces significant returns. So instead of an incipient feeling that PPP might not be the best thing for government, we have actual evidence. Generally, strong negative emotions won't serve your interests as well as a clear-head analysis of a situation.
in response to It’s Official: Chicago Parking Privatization a Massive Rip-Off
Phil
I like look of the "new" skyline and I hope this all gets built. Those of you who are afraid of tall buildings and "Manhattanization" should just move to Los Angeles where everyone likes to pretend that they live in small town and not a big city. Let San Francisco be the CITY that it's meant to be.
in response to New Draft San Francisco Transbay Development Plan Unveiled Today
the greasybear
Jamie, regarding a bicycle center, page 78 of the Draft Transit Center District Plan states the new Transbay transit center will have "a large bike station (accommodating about 500 bicycles)." Other than parking, I can't tell what, if any, other services that facility might provide.
in response to New Draft San Francisco Transbay Development Plan Unveiled Today
From SanLeandro
"In the Bay Area, parking regulations are a significant impediment to dense development. In San Leandro, parking minimums of more than two parking spaces for each new home made dense development a planning impossibility. When San Leandro re-wrote its downtown plan, it rezoned to allow 3,400 new homes, more than seven times the limit under the old zoning laws. The first development in the new Downtown Transit-Oriented Development Strategy, The Alameda, designed by San Francisco Architect David Baker, saves $3.9 million by eliminating a level of parking and produces 30 more affordable units, according to the report."
This is misleading because the ratio given is for single family homes, not apartment units. 3,400 single family homes are not being built in San Leandro's TOD. Almost all the new housing units will be apartment units. Right now the City of San Leandro permits up to 1.5 parking spots per apartment unit.
The Alameda is a 100 unit complex for low income residents that will come with 109 parking spaces The San Leandro TOD includes a 200 unit market rate complex, The Crossings, that will have 290 parking spaces. Both projects have approved.
Will then the TOD actually reduce car use? Under the TOD, the wealthier get more parking. These folks are more likely to get in their cars each morning and drive off to San Ramon or Fremont for work as they are to walk to the BART station and ride to their job. TOD residents will commute to where the jobs are, whether by car or public transit. The most rapid new job growth in the Bay Area over the past 20 years has not been in the downtowns of SF and Oakland serviced by BART.
Two more market-rate apartment complexes are planned as part of the San Leandro TOD. The too may have almost 1.5 parking spaces for each unit. This is called TOD because of its proximity to BART. The reality is that these developments continue to promote the use of cars and will bring even more cars into the center of San Leandro than is present today.
in response to New Study Quantifies High Personal Costs of Building CA Cities for Cars
Evan
I don't own a car, and when I talk to people about it (who always assume I'm doing it for the environment), I tell them it's economic, with an environmental bonus. I have the Caltrain Go Pass, Translink and use my friends' cars sometimes. I think combined, I spend about $750/yr on transportation, at most — and I take the train to Palo Alto from SF every day.
I can't even fathom having to spend $15,000/yr on getting around.
in response to New Study Quantifies High Personal Costs of Building CA Cities for Cars
Gary
Dear Ms. Taylor.
Excellent post. As a cyclist and healthcare worker, I was shocked to hear my colleagues complain when the city painted new bike lanes on the boulevard outside our hospital. They seemed to only see how the street paint might interfere with the car commute. I talked to some, about how -- once they got used to the new traffic -- safer and happier cyclists might mean the neighborhood's better tolerance of the ambulances and our hospital's presence and expansion in the community. Your idea that we must continue to build solidarity is right on. Thank you.
in response to Guest Commentary: Transpo Advocates Should Support Hotel Workers
david vartanoff
Success! Private entity manages to 'steal' public dollars legally. Isn't the point of government the return of wealth extorted from workers to the unproductive bankers? Seriously, anyone who expected an honest deal here was missing the point of the exercise. Pols who cannot or will not arrange to tax those who actually have money use these 'lottery' payoff frauds to plug budget gaps while giving away public assets for decades.
in response to It’s Official: Chicago Parking Privatization a Massive Rip-Off
the greasybear
It's really quite simple: either Bay Area job and housing growth is steered into areas well-served by transit and easily accessed by bike and foot, such as the Transbay district here--or we continue to witness autopian sprawl into the Central Valley, ad infinitum. Aesthetic biases against tall things just don't cut it anymore.
in response to New Draft San Francisco Transbay Development Plan Unveiled Today
ZA
Where are the people? Now a worker living in the perpetual overcast west of Twin Peaks can lunch in the shadows of steel giants near the Bay.
in response to New Draft San Francisco Transbay Development Plan Unveiled Today
concerned citizen
Bulb-out planter or biofiltration bed or infiltration trench users beware. Same pollutants that kill the fish in the oceans are now in the planters. Protect yourself before entering or doing any maintenance or planting work in the planters. For those who live across or near a bulb-out planter or biofiltration bed, check your home or structure to make sure there is no settlement or soil erosion caused by the water percolation.
in response to San Francisco Starts Building Green Streets For Stormwater Management
taomom
We got rid of our van and downsized to just one car for our family. Our van was paid off but the maintenance costs were increasing. We figure we are saving $4000 a year (maintenance, insurance, gas) by not having it. We joined City Carshare but by using bikes and Muni we have yet to use it.
I agree that public transit combined with bicycle infrastructure is a much healthier, less expensive (and, given the expenses involved, more likely) way to revolutionize American transportation than converting the entire present fleet of cars in the US to electric. It will, however, require denser land use patterns and transit and bicycle infrastructure created on the double.
But it doesn't mean electric cars don't have a positive role to play. Every car in America doesn't need to be replaced because Americans have twice as many cars as they need. I know families that have four cars, one set aside for a teenager who is still too young to drive! However, there are those who, for various reasons, will insist on a personal vehicle and will still have the money to pay for one. I would much rather see those folks in small electric cars than in large, pollution-spewing SUVs. Electric engines are so much more efficient than internal combustion engines that even if the electricity is powered entirely by nasty, horrible coal, the environment is still a big winner.
Oil is amazing stuff. One gallon of gasoline contains the energy of over two weeks of human labor. (And it costs only $3.00?) Squandering it on grossly inefficient internal combustion engines to propel 5000 lbs of metal to the grocery store and soccer field is probably the worst use we could put it to. (Okay, stripping off mountain tops for coal is another bad use.)
in response to New Study Quantifies High Personal Costs of Building CA Cities for Cars
Spokker
You have to protect yourself out there. Nobody is going to do it for you.
in response to Blaming the Pedestrian, Again
mattymatt
What exactly does Judson do?
in response to Dec 5 Service Changes Catch Chinatown, Vis Valley Muni Riders by Surprise
jamie
I probably pay $1,000 a year (basically car insurance and some gas) .. granted, I barely drive my car since I live downtown in the Rincon Hill neighborhood and can walk, bike, or transit around town pretty easily ... I think I've driven 300 miles over the last year? When this car dies, I'll probably join the car-free crowd with a ZipCar membership for those times when other transportation modes just aren't practical.
in response to New Study Quantifies High Personal Costs of Building CA Cities for Cars
jamie
How about a bicycle center on that cleared off piece of property on the NE corner of Howard and 2nd Streets? Something similar to the McDonald's Cycle Center in Chicago ( http://www.chicagobikestation.com/ ). I can't take credit for suggesting it ... that credit goes to Mike Grisso of the Redevelopment Agency who mentioned it during a presentation at a Transbay CAC meeting I attended. I've been trying to slip it into conversation about this area every chance I get ... what do you think? Do we need a bicycle storage, lockers, showers, and rental center ... or is it really not needed and the land would be better used as a plaza of sorts near the Transbay Transit Center?
Anyway ... happy to see the draft published and looking forward to hearing others' ideas.
in response to New Draft San Francisco Transbay Development Plan Unveiled Today
Alexei
Hum. Four way stop. Wonder if either one stopped.
in response to Cyclist Injured in Crash on the Wiggle
Peter Smith
Here's a link to the crash site on Google Maps Street View.
This is what the cyclist would have seen just as he was about to enter the intersection (minus the bus in the picture). It's a small downhill.
p.s. i vote for a timestamp on each post tacked onto the end of the date stamp.
in response to Cyclist Injured in Crash on the Wiggle
Peter Smith
i have an idea -- how about take advantage of technology and a captive audience by putting an electronic billboard on every bus? many buses already have some type of electronic display for street names. can it be updated with standard service messages?
in response to Dec 5 Service Changes Catch Chinatown, Vis Valley Muni Riders by Surprise
Luke Shepard
Poor Shane Price. He just moved from New York, where maybe cars are a little more aware of those sorts of things.
in response to Blaming the Pedestrian, Again
CarFreeInBigD
I calculated about 6,600/yr for myself:
http://carfreeinbigd.blogspot.com/2009/01/investing-in-rail-better-job-creation.html
in response to New Study Quantifies High Personal Costs of Building CA Cities for Cars
Peter M
Exactly what outreach are they even claiming to have done? All of the changes except the 2 Clement terminal were decided on months ago (In what, April?) and they're not putting the brochures on the buses until TWO WEEKS before the changes? Are there any notices up yet on stops along the affected routes? There definitely weren't any at the 21 Hayes stops that are going to be eliminated that had their bus shelters removed today.
in response to Dec 5 Service Changes Catch Chinatown, Vis Valley Muni Riders by Surprise
Sprague
Thank you, Streetsblog, for providing such a broad array of articles and films. I don't have a comment on this specific article but I am glad that one can always find interesting and informative pieces and discussions at Streetsblog.
in response to Streetsblog Capitol Hill Q&A: Four Questions For Rob Puentes
taomom
It was a very odd piece. At first he seemed to be admiring bicycle riding as an expression of individuality. And then it took a strange turn. Kids at Stanford only have ten minutes between classes to travel distances often a half mile or more, so his longing to return to the "ideal natural gait" is nuts, unless he wants to see the students all jogging or all late to class. And then he claims that somehow bicycling is a refutation of the Jeffersonian ideal? He needs to stand on El Camino where he can shed real tears rather than crocodile ones over how much our society has disassociated itself from the values of Mr. Jefferson. Why did the New York Times print this?
in response to Today's Headlines
patrick
I like the look of that skyline.
in response to New Draft San Francisco Transbay Development Plan Unveiled Today
Peter Smith
and that Vernon piece is excellent, even though he ends up despising bicycles. so, yes, 'very odd' seems about right.
i could see how someone could be put off by some of the chaos that occurs on stanford's bikey campus.
but, Vernon didn't mention that a lot of Stanford is very spread out, and so walking for 20 minutes at a time, several times a day, and often much more than that -- to get to classes/home/work/etc., or wait on the terrible transit/bus system, is not desirable.
can bikes be 'deleterious' the way horses can? no.
can relying on walking and motorized transport, like shuttle buses and cars, be deleterious? of course.
props to the bicycle kids of Stanford!
[we still need to do a bicycle-friendly ranking for all schools in the US -- a la the US News rankings. word.]
in response to Today's Headlines
Nick
These must be the dark days of transit in SF. I was hoping to be sharpie-marking in some new bike lanes on my bike map by this time of the year. Instead I'll be crossing out routes on my MUNI map.
in response to Dec 5 Service Changes Catch Chinatown, Vis Valley Muni Riders by Surprise
Whit
From a Muni rider standpoint, I think I was waiting for details about eliminated stops and such, but talking with my fellow bus stopmates, it was obvious that if they didn't read the proposed changes signs taped to the telephone poles (which faded and bled via rain and fog within a week of posting), they had no idea what was going on. Maybe it's because more and more people self-select the news they want to read/hear? I don't know... But I wrote to my supervisor and Muni, and it seems to have done no good.
in response to Dec 5 Service Changes Catch Chinatown, Vis Valley Muni Riders by Surprise
Peter Smith
someone tell the rich people of Tiburon that those who are stealing your cars are very likely not rich, and therefore, are likely arriving via foot/bus/bike/ferry.
but have fun -- i'm sure the authorities will find all sorts of good uses for that data.
in response to Today's Headlines
Elizabeth
@Commuter40 - If you want to win the iTunes gift card, then you do have to enter your email address into the Personal Info tab. For the raffle we will query emails that have entered an eligible trip. We wont spam you, try and figure out who you are, or follow you around town...it is simply a way for us to contact you to give you your prize if you won. If you don't want to be entered in the contest, then the email is completely optional. For a full list of contest rules please visit http://www.sfcta.org/content/view/668/379
in response to SF Transportation Authority Launches iPhone App to Track Cyclists
mikesonn
Why don't they use the same speed and lack of notice for the parking meeter changes?
in response to Dec 5 Service Changes Catch Chinatown, Vis Valley Muni Riders by Surprise
Akit
Muni's outreach is really terrible for all these massive changes and hardly any media agency gave any real coverage (this should have been front page material or first story of the night on the TV).
How can they notify the public with just a little more than a month's notice about route changes?
Even I was shocked that there was little reaction to the changes in a blog posting I did 13 days ago:
http://www.akit.org/2009/11/why-are-citizens-not-angry-at-munis.html
in response to Dec 5 Service Changes Catch Chinatown, Vis Valley Muni Riders by Surprise
Whit
It would be nice if these colorful MTA brochures actually told us which stops were getting cut and if some are getting moved, where to!
in response to Dec 5 Service Changes Catch Chinatown, Vis Valley Muni Riders by Surprise
jamie
I can't help but bristle every time I see the words "extensive outreach" associated with the current MTA folks. I'm hopeful about the Entrips thing ...
in response to Dec 5 Service Changes Catch Chinatown, Vis Valley Muni Riders by Surprise
Greg
This is what happens when you do 1/2 a plan. We're basically implementing cuts from the TEP, but NOT the improvements that were part of the whole plan. So of course there are going to be problems.
That's what happens when you rely on cuts only to balance a budget made unbalanced by other agencies and the state stealing your income, and not finding a local replacement for it.
in response to Dec 5 Service Changes Catch Chinatown, Vis Valley Muni Riders by Surprise
John Murphy
My comment should not have (but did) imply that they knew what they were doing. I doubt you could get an answer from MTA about how that route is used. The 48 isn't as interesting as the 22, but riding it from West Portal to Caltrain is enlightening. People get on in WP and travel either to Noe Valley or to BART. Noe Valley ships people to BART or (very few to) Caltrain. The Mission sends people to SF General. The bus practically empties out at SF General and I expect a quick ride, but we pick up parents with kids on the bottom of Potrero Hill and take them up the hill. Finally we dump off people at Caltrain. A few people from PoHill stay on, I think they are transfering to the T at 3rd St.
What's ironic is that the service "cut" really kicks ass for rich people in Noe Valley who take the Caltrain (though a lot of peninsula workers in Noe Valley are already on the Google/Apple Bus). We also suffer no cuts on the 24 or the J, only minor reduction in the 35, and increased service on the 44 which I take to the Academy of Sciences.
The 35 is in large part a redundancy of the 24. Yet the 26 goes away. Granted there are spots on the 35 route where even stout young folks would not want to walk from the Castro to Diamond.
in response to Dec 5 Service Changes Catch Chinatown, Vis Valley Muni Riders by Surprise
mikesonn
I was referring to the study, not Streetsblog. But you are right, this is anything but new news.
in response to New Study Quantifies High Personal Costs of Building CA Cities for Cars
wheelchairgirl
I don't see how this has improved things for pedestrians all that much. Nor is it going to make things any better for getting businesses to go to Mid-Market. All this does is create a concrete corridor for buses and cyclists, neither of whom are apparently stopping at local businesses because they're too excited about 50 seconds' faster times to someplace *else*.
Meanwhile, Mission is worse and didn't get any improvements to cope with that, the 8th st intersections are a nightmare, and Folsom is a zoo likewise. And pedestrian safety at those intersections is down because of all the confused drivers, and Market remains a scary ghetto. This isn't helping mid-Market in the least; this is helping commuters from elsewhere get through faster.
Call it an advantage for commuters if you like, but don't tell me this is helping mid-Market any. Nor do I see how it's helping pedestrians. One or two car-less intersections isn't making up for less safety at other intersections, and no improvements to ped access have been made.
in response to MTA: Market Street Pilot is Improving Conditions for Muni, Bicyclists
Mark
Well, let's not be too quick to give MTA credit. If you do all of your transit planning while you're looking at a map in a central office and you never actually visit the route, you still might get something right every once in a while. But as anybody who's been to the Glen Park J stop can tell you, it's clear that the TEP people have no idea what they're doing.
And let's not forget that the MTA sets a very low threshold for rapid transit projects that benefit suburban users (10000 daily riders gets you $100M) while imposing different standards on urban users (>30000 is insufficient for funding.)
in response to Dec 5 Service Changes Catch Chinatown, Vis Valley Muni Riders by Surprise