“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"
Email sf-tips@streetsblog.org or send them anonymously. Tag your photos, links, and videos with "streetsblog san francisco".
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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Todd Edelman
It’s great that this meeting happened, and I hope that Secretary LaHood does all he can to decrease the number of deaths and injuries on US streets. But this term “complete” really bothers me, just like “safer”, “everyone” and so on… Language is a powerful thing. More on my blog.
in response to U.S. DOT Secretary Gets a Message on Pedestrian Safety
Ty
ANSWER supporting the Local 2 picket line
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/09/25/18623310.php
in response to Guest Commentary: Transpo Advocates Should Support Hotel Workers
Charles Siegel
"there are just as many contradictory articles out there."
Not true. The overwhelming majority believe that cap and trade will work. A small, extremist fringe opposes it.
Note that your link saying that cap and trade failed in Europe was from 2008. My link saying that it worked was from 2009. In fact, they initially set too low a target, and so it looked like it failed at first. Then they strengthened the target, and it worked. The recent evidence all shows that it works.
I think that fact also responds to your claim that WM is not worth supporting because it is too weak. Once the cap is in place, it is possible to strengthen it as new science comes in showing how serious a problem global warming is.
It will be much harder to respond if you kill WM and we do not even have a framework in place that we can strengthen. By the time we get a different framework in place, it will be too late to avoid catastrophic global warming. Getting WM in place and then strengthening it does give us a real chance of avoiding catastrophic global warming.
in response to The Copenhagen Moment
jasmine
Thanks for the update. It's really very help full update for the user.
in response to Does NextBus Own Real-Time Muni Data?
jamie
I would like to think this idea would get a friendly reception from my neighbors in Rincon Hill and nearby South Beach - we already have the SFpark meters operated by the Port running through 11pm along the waterfront after all and didn't kick and scream about it (though I'd like the extra revenues collected around South Beach to help fund the fund-needing Brannan Street Wharf project instead of going God knows where to fill the budget gaps at the Port). In case MTA folks don't know how to reach out, let them know I'm available at RinconHill@gmail.com to figure out when they'd like to speak at one of our meetings.
in response to MTA Parking Meter Study Outreach Moves Slowly, Despite Budget Woes
the greasybear
Brilliant--a Colbert-like figure for the livable streets movement!
in response to Streetfilms: Veronica Moss Goes to Times Square
Mr. Kim Gyr
Thank you!
As a Michiganian who has lived on both coasts here, and for 31 years in Europe, I am deeply concerned by our absolute dependence on petroleum, especially for food production! Where will any of our urban dwellers get food when all the petroleum is gone, and the fields of South Dakota prove to be too far from Portland, Los Angeles, New York and Miami to be able to deliver grain, meat and fruit etc. to them at affordable prices?!
Most Europeans live much closer to the land, because their cities existed before cars and oil arrived, and most of them have allotments for many to grow their own food.
Please look 60 years down the road for the end of oil, and 2,000 years down the same road for only 20 times the 5 generations that we have met in our own families. Will they thank or condemn us for our sprawling and profligate ways, when we could easily have made their lives so much more sustainable, while we still had the fossil fuels and climate to do it?
Please see my website at http://www.greenmillennium.eu for some ideas that I hope will spur debate!
in response to Portland's Greenstreets Program a Sterling Best Practice Model
Diane
They could bring in a lot of revenue just by ticketing the people on my street who park in their driveways and halfway-to-mostly block the sidewalk...
One of the things that was brought up at the Public Hearing was that a whole lot of opportunity to bring in extra revenue is lost by all of the parking violators who are NOT ticketed. That would seem to be a good first step.
On another facet of the discussion, I think it's important to really publicize Nolan's comment: "What I find is that people at first are very upset about the notion of paying evenings and Sundays," said Nolan... "The real question is what are we going to do about Muni? It is so important for this city. When it's put in that context, people understand the problem [and understand] the alternative could be much worse."
That reminds me of a study done years ago where people were presented with two rolls of toilet paper - one a white, soft, fluffy brand, and the other a recycled brand. When asked which they would prefer, everyone said the fluffy one. But when it was explained that the whiteness comes from bleaching with chlorine, etc., and that it is made from virgin trees, and that the second roll was made from 100% recycled paper, some 85% of the people said they'd rather use the recycled brand because it was better for the environment.
in response to MTA Parking Meter Study Outreach Moves Slowly, Despite Budget Woes
juliapangolin
This app seems cool, but it's completely unnecessary. If the CTA wants to improve conditions for cyclists, I can tell them all the need to know (with no young white male bias): implement the bike plan, improve pavement quality on the most heavily trafficked routes (wiggle, valencia, market, etc), ticket drivers who block bike lanes and otherwise endanger cyclists, and improve bike facilities on BART and Caltrain.
in response to SF Transportation Authority Launches iPhone App to Track Cyclists
bike Greg #5
I'm so glad I don't depend on MUNI to get anywhere.
in response to Derailment Shuts Down Muni Metro Service in Twin Peaks Tunnel
patrick
"In Europe, cap-and-trade has failed to deliver on climate change."
here's a couple articles that supports the claim:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/11/business/worldbusiness/11carbon.html?_r=1
Your second link starts with:
"The flaw in the Waxman-Markey bill is not the too-many offsets that domestic polluters are (potentially) allowed to purchase in lieu of actually reducing their own emissions. The flaw in Waxman-Markey is the too-mild 2020 target — a 17% reduction from 2005 levels — which will be so easy to achieve with various low-cost clean energy strategies that it’s hard to see why polluters would avail themselves of the higher-cost offsets option"
His basic argument is that the bill is so weak the inclusion of offsets is irrelevant. He also fears that the already weak bill will be further weakened. That seems to support the argument that the bill is not worth supporting.
Providing links doesn't prove anything, and there are just as many contradictory articles out there.
Cap and trade is unnecessarily complex and easily watered down with loopholes, can be gamed by traders and speculators, and gives control of the system (and lots of money) to the same people who are largely responsible for the current economic crisis.
As I said earlier, a cap and trade system can work, but a tax and rebate system is much simpler, can work at least as well, and loopholes are much more obvious and therefore easier to block.
in response to The Copenhagen Moment
Peter Smith
i like the idea that this app could catch me and everyone else salmoning up 4th street from the Caltrain station -- should help us two-way these streets, or at least get us a contraflow lane.
in response to SF Transportation Authority Launches iPhone App to Track Cyclists
taomom
Pay for health care with a tax on high fructose corn syrup and nutrition-free junk snacks. Obesity, diabetes and health care costs will all drop simultaneously.
Though I'm heartened to see a gas tax proposal, to say we can't ask Americans to drive less is lunacy. The major oil fields of the world are depleting, we've used most of our own supply up, and we will shortly be at the economic mercy of those who still have any left. In addition, burning fossil fuels is on target to render most of our major cities under water, fifty percent of all species extinct and widespread human starvation across the planet. And we can't ask people to drive less? A hundred years from now, if any civilization is left to reflect on human capacity to evaluate information and stave off danger, they'll have to conclude that all of us in 2009 were stark raving mad.
in response to Introducing the Samuelson Gas Tax Increase: A Penny Every Month
Nick
The past 3 working days have resulted in 2 days where there was a complete shutdown of the subway system during the morning commute.
It wasn't reported widely, but Friday morning the subway was completely shut down from around 7:10AM until around 8AM. No explanation was given why they couldn't move any trains in or out of the tunnel. I heard a vague explanation of a "control issue." Does anyone know exactly what happened Friday as thousands of us had to explain (yet again) why we were late for work?
Here's a tip for those who need to get downtown when this happens. Don't wait for a MUNI shuttle bus to arrive. Take a train in the opposite direction to a BART station, and then take BART downtown. It's surprising that at least there were some MUNI officials who were suggesting this to the huge crowd gathered outside West Portal Station last Friday.
in response to Derailment Shuts Down Muni Metro Service in Twin Peaks Tunnel
taomom
I love her longing for the "sassy" Expedition and watching the video billboard of the car commercial in the car-free plaza. Both must have been impromptu? Good eye for irony.
in response to Streetfilms: Veronica Moss Goes to Times Square
Jim T
OK, it is comedy. Jokes on me.
in response to Streetfilms: Veronica Moss Goes to Times Square
Jim T
Wait, this ISN'T comedy?? This must be comedy! Well, if she's serious, then I think she can't be doing anything but HELPING us out with this video, because it is just fantastic to see Times Square this way. And I expect most people will feel that way.
in response to Streetfilms: Veronica Moss Goes to Times Square
EL
Actually, the statistics do back up my point. Bicyclists are involved in 15% of all injury collisions in SF. Can anyone say with a straight face that cyclists receive 15% of citations issued by SFPD? Or is it your assumption that the cyclist is never at fault?
in response to Today's Headlines
commuter40
This is great, can't wait to try it. One question though, in relation to the iTunes gift cards -- obviously you can identify whoever has downloaded the app from the iTunes store, but how will you know if they use it once if the data you're collecting from it is anonymous?
in response to SF Transportation Authority Launches iPhone App to Track Cyclists
mikesonn
Don't feel left out T-Third, the Central Subway is on the way to screw up your service also!
in response to Derailment Shuts Down Muni Metro Service in Twin Peaks Tunnel
zsolt
Statistics don't back up your point. If there's an area that needs more enforcement and traffic design improvements in order to make things safer for pedestrians, it's the area of motorized traffic.
in response to Today's Headlines
mikesonn
Funny how this is slow moving, but the fair increases and now service cuts to MUNI were on the fast track. Maybe I should just make a tag line: "Transit first?!"
in response to MTA Parking Meter Study Outreach Moves Slowly, Despite Budget Woes
tim
Is there an android version of this, or alternatively some source code that could be ported over by enterprising geeks?
in response to SF Transportation Authority Launches iPhone App to Track Cyclists
CBrinkman
Good question about the GG Park rhinos to charge for parking. And let's go ahead and start ticketing all the median/illegaly parked cars in the Mission on Sunday. Think of all the pollution and traffic those illegal spaces generate every week. It would be a declining revenue source but it would help clear up traffic on Sundays.
in response to MTA Parking Meter Study Outreach Moves Slowly, Despite Budget Woes
EL
Given Philly's experience with fatal collisions caused by bicyclists, is the SFBC & SF Streetsblog ready to support SFPD cycling enforcement as a pro-active measure to improving safety? They can start at 12th and Market.
in response to Today's Headlines
Hart
I love Portland's bioswales!!!! Like beautiful little swamps on each block. Native plant love!
in response to Portland's Greenstreets Program a Sterling Best Practice Model
Seven
Thanks for the article. Any update about parking meters in Golden Gate Park? I haven't heard anything, and my inquiries to Supervisor Avalos and Mirkarimi have gone unanswered.
in response to MTA Parking Meter Study Outreach Moves Slowly, Despite Budget Woes
Charles Siegel
Patrick writes: "here's a copy of a written version released by the creators of the video"
There are many errors in that article. Here are just two:
"In Europe, cap-and-trade has failed to deliver on climate change."
for a response, see http://climateprogress.org/2009/08/14/european-trading-system-report-lessons-us-cap-and-trade-bill/
"the bill sponsored by Reps. Henry Waxman (D., Calif.) and Edward Markey (D., Mass.) has many of the same flaws and adds massive "offsets" that blow away the "cap" in "cap-and-trade."
for a response, see http://climateprogress.org/2009/05/27/domestic-international-offsets-waxman-markey/
in response to The Copenhagen Moment
david vartanoff
While fear of current FRA crashworthiness regs spreading to 'isolated' transit systems is legit, the WMATA refusal to allow inspectors/monitors from the commission supposedly authorised to oversee safety to do their work needs to be addressed. CA's PUC may not make perfect decisions, but BART can't tell them to go away.
in response to Bay Area Transit Agencies Eye Federal Oversight Proposal with Caution
Sprague
I agree that $9 million sounds like a hugely inflated price tag for this project.
in response to MTA Board to Vote on Moving Bus Turnaround to Make Way for TOD
Jym
=v= The entity calling her/him/itself "poor people drive cars" speaks fluent A.N.S.W.E.R.ese. It's not oil war, it's "war and occupation." Uh-huh.
in response to The Land of the Free (Parking)
Jym
=v= Chris Carlsson echoing Stalin? Now I've heard everything.
It is indeed disheartening to encounter global warming denialists at Critical Mass, but then again it was Hallowe'en night and maybe "idiot teabagger" was some sort of conceptual costume.
in response to The Copenhagen Moment
Drunk Engineer
"Meh, I don't see this as being a problem as long as it isn't an unfunded mandate."
But of course it would be a huge colossal unfunded mandate. Just read the article. It states the agencies which fail to meet the new Federal "safety" rules would lose out on funding. That would totally screw over the older established systems like NY, which still rely heavily on older (but otherwise safe) equipment, track, and stations.
Even worse, they are proposing to follow the FRA operating model, which for decades has prevented Amtrak, Caltrain, and other operators from utilizing modern (i.e. foreign) trainsets because they are "unsafe".
Mark my words. If this plan goes through, it will make the Obama legacy 100x worse than anything Bush ever inflicted on public transit.
in response to Bay Area Transit Agencies Eye Federal Oversight Proposal with Caution
Daniel Jacobson
The CPUC is by no means a perfect oversight organization--it accounts for a lot of wasteful spending, specifically in light rail projects. The CPUC regulates that new rail projects (streetcars, light rail, etc.) cannot run in mixed traffic and must have their own separated ROW, thereby driving up costs and slowing down the engineering process if an agency wants to go through the complicated waiver process. Meanwhile, virtually every other state allows light rail and streetcars to run in mixed traffic without millions of over-engineering (see: Portland, Denver, Houston, etc.). Hopefully we can adopt the new federal standards and cut the red tape and money-wasting regulations.
in response to Bay Area Transit Agencies Eye Federal Oversight Proposal with Caution
Ben
Meh, I don't see this as being a problem as long as it isn't an unfunded mandate.
in response to Bay Area Transit Agencies Eye Federal Oversight Proposal with Caution
Nick
So does this mean we have to wait 42 months for this project to potentially move forward?
A few months ago, they announced plans to finally build a supermarket with housing on top at this location (which neighborhood residents were thrilled about as Ocean Avenue lacks a basic grocery store). I could be mistaken as they are planning on redeveloping the Kragen site next door as well.
If they plan to reroute busses onto Phelan behind the old firehouse, are they abandoning the idea of future bike lanes on Phelan? Sad if they spend $9 million on a study and still forget to plan for anything related to bike infrastructure.
in response to MTA Board to Vote on Moving Bus Turnaround to Make Way for TOD
zsolt
I can't believe this is happening. This sounds bad on all fronts. Your tax dollars at work, people.
in response to MTA Board to Vote on Moving Bus Turnaround to Make Way for TOD
zsolt
Yeah, some good points in this discussion. Cap and trade sounds like a good idea, it is admirably capitalist and free-marketist and it certainly sounds good that market forces will drive emissions down once you put a value and a cap on it. Given the current political landscape, on the policy level it is probably the most viable and workable option.
However to me the operative phrase in what I just said is "given the current political landscape", as I share several commenters' deep cynicism on how this, or any other thing nations might agree upon, will work out in reality. After what we have seen just the past few years (bailouts, cash-for-clunkers, Goldman bonuses etc.) I don't think that there can be any doubt except in those most naive/fanatic among us, that this is a fundamentally flawed and unfair system, that very little will change in the way the bullies are allowed to conduct business, and that it is easier than ever to circumvent any checks and balances, if only the money is right. Dominance and greed (quite different from profit), are the determining factors in every big business, which is exactly why everyone who's "in" will fight transparency with all they have.
in response to The Copenhagen Moment
Jessica Roberts
I live in a bike-friendly co-housing community in Portland and we petitioned the city to put in greenstreet curb extensions outside of our buildings. They did, and it has really beautified the corner. I feel pretty lucky.
One other remarkable thing about this program is that Portland has dedicated very little money to stand-alone/infill traffic calming projects (as opposed to corridor projects). Also, from the DOT's point of view it is just a cost outlay. The partnership with the Bureau of Environmental Services has been great because they actually see a net financial benefit from these projects, so they have a real incentive to free up funding. I encourage advocates to explore this type of partnership and bring in brand new funding sources that aren't competing against other DOT priorities.
in response to Portland's Greenstreets Program a Sterling Best Practice Model
JJM 63
Does anyone have experience with them in snow and ice country? I'm in upstate NY, and wonder how they would fair after being buried with snow and salt by snowplows.
in response to Portland's Greenstreets Program a Sterling Best Practice Model
ZA
My tuppence:
Irrespective of what method you choose, the heretofore zero-value waste of carbon dioxide (and many other GHGs, incidentally) from our human practices, needs to attain a value for our dominant commercial system to recognize and begin to emit it wisely.
Any system needs to have: transparency (the record for government agencies and committees is as patchy as board rooms and shareholder AGMs); accountability (who did what, when); validation (how much longer are we going to delay our OCO ( http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/oco/main/index.html ); enforcement (there is NO Chapter 11 for the global climate); and flexibility so that we can continue to experiment and evolve solutions as we invent them.
Europe's ETS offers BIG LESSONS for America's attempt at cap-and-trade which unfortunately Congress seems to be ignoring. We can be certain that if climate legislation follows the American tradition of environmental law, it's going to be flawed, protect vested interests, and maybe offer enough opportunities to change the dominant way of doing things that the protected parties become increasingly obsolete within a generation.
Problem is: we literally don't have much more than a generation to work with now.
Hard-nosed reality: we privileged people of the Internet and our convenient electricity get to decide how many poor people without a voice here aren't going live through this.
in response to The Copenhagen Moment
patrick
"I prefer reading to watching videos"
The value of information has nothing to do with the form it is presented. But here's a copy of a written version released by the creators of the video:
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20090624_Cap-and-trade_does_more_harm_than_good.html
Any cap and trade system that includes offsets (such as the system proposed in congress) can, and very likely will, result in increased pollution.
A cap and trade system can work, but the system currently proposed is nowhere near being system that can work. If only the primary producers were allowed to bid on the initial carbon allowances, no offsets, and only a small amount of secondary market trading went on, then the system can possibly work. It's still much more complex and wasteful than a simple tax or fee, but it could work.
If the current plan is the only politically viable option, then it's better to wait and generate political support for a good system, than to move forward on the current horribly flawed plan.
in response to The Copenhagen Moment
patrick
Well said arguments, and definitely a reminder to me about the best way to discuss transit issues with those who appose funding transit.
I don't dislike buses, many people do. Everybody who rides a bus would also ride the rails, the not everybody who rides rail would ride a bus.
It took me 2 years to get my girlfriend to ride the bus home from work. She dislikes it greatly, but does it to save $150/ month in parking fees.
in response to Streetfilms: Bill Lind, a Conservative Voice for Transit
Charles Siegel
"Did either of you watch the video? Or done any research. Cap and trade is an easily gamed system, that can potentially result in more pollution than doing nothing at all."
I have read a lot about carbon taxes and cap and trade. I prefer reading to watching videos.
It is completely untrue that cap and trade can potentially result in more pollution than nothing at all. In a cap-and-trade system, there will only be emissions up to the level of the cap.
If you have a cap that decreases over time, then emissions will decrease over time. If the cap for 2050 is 80% less than current emissions, then emissions in 2050 will be 80% less than current emissions.
A carbon tax is the simplest and best method of controlling emissions. Cap-and-trade is the only politically feasible method of controlling emissions.
To avoid the worst effects of global warming, we have to control emissions within the next few years. If cap-and-trade is stopped, action will be delayed for many years, and we will have no chance of avoiding catastrophic global warming.
People who work against cap and trade are working for catastrophic global warming.
in response to The Copenhagen Moment
Steve B
@Matt -- One thing Portland is also good at is not creating enough jobs for both lifelong Portlanders and the newcomers (myself included) who are attracted by the city's livability.
We are by no means an SF-scale city, but our mixed land-use is pretty good. The city celebrates the concept of a 20-minute-neighborhood: everyone living in the city should be within a 20 minute walk or bike ride to grocery stores, restaurants, post office, etc. There is still a lot of work to be done until we can say this is the case for ALL of Portland's neighborhoods, but it's inspiring coming from larger cities that don't have this concept on the table.
in response to Portland's Greenstreets Program a Sterling Best Practice Model
taomom
I'm reluctant to debate the merits of cap and trade versus a carbon tax because the decision will not be made rationally on anything close to the merits of either. I tend to think that a carbon tax is simpler and would be more effective, and that cap and trade is a scam that will put profits into the hands of the usual suspects. However, I don't know if you've noticed, but just about everything passed by Congress is a scam of some sort; in fact, passing a law without pork, earmarks or lining the pocket of some lobbyist or campaign contributor is nigh impossible. So a carbon tax will not be passed precisely because a more inefficient, profiteering scheme is available. (See health care for a recent example.)
But, at the very least, cap and trade will give energy companies an excuse to raise energy prices, even if they just pocket it all as extra profits. At this point just about anything that raises the costs of fossil fuels is valuable because higher costs are about the only thing that make Americans give some thought to using energy more wisely. We are running out of time on climate change. The permafrost is melting, releasing methane into the atmosphere. If we refuse to do the simplest, most efficient and fairest thing (carbon tax with money returned to low and middle income folks to insulate and weatherize their houses), then the more loathsome thing (cap and trade with profits for the most despicable) will have to do. We have to remember that the poorest among us on this planet are going to be a great deal poorer when the world's agricultural productivity drops by half, and that starvation is a hard, hard death.
On a happier note, Chris, have a great time in Copenhagen. Take lots of pictures of beautiful bicycle infrastructure.
in response to The Copenhagen Moment
poncho
speaking of moving buses... when does the transbay terminal close and the temporary terminal open? is it still on schedule for early 2010?
in response to MTA Board to Vote on Moving Bus Turnaround to Make Way for TOD
patrick
Did either of you watch the video? Or done any research. Cap and trade is an easily gamed system, that can potentially result in more pollution than doing nothing at all. It also gives control of the market to the same people who were, at least in part, responsible for the current global economic crisis: traders and speculators. It provides an opportunity for them to make tons of money by creating speculative bubbles in the trading system. Are you aware Goldman Sachs is the most likely organization to run the trading exchange? They will make billions of dollars merely by taking transaction fees. The same guys who made billions of the collapse of AIG and the recession in general.
A simple fee or tax, with a rebate to consumers is the simplest and cheapest way to price carbon emissions.
in response to The Copenhagen Moment
Joshua Weinberg
How on earth can it cost $9 million to move the bus loop!?
in response to MTA Board to Vote on Moving Bus Turnaround to Make Way for TOD
pat
You know you are really working against your agenda right? The quickest way to slow resource extraction, pollutive emissions and the destruction of forests is to price these things. The reason they are being abused so terribly right now is because they are completely free. Cap and trade attaches a price to pollution and so disincentives the production of pollution. When it shows up on the bottom line people try to find ways around it. Ways like not producing waste.
Honestly it is eerie how well your sweeping accusations leveled at technocrats echo Stalin. It also gives me a headache the amount of generalizations in your writing.
in response to The Copenhagen Moment