“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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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
david vartanoff
From a WashPost article it seems WMATA was refusing access to outside monitors/inspectors hired by the local oversight commission.
"Last week, an article revealed that Metro had barred independent safety monitors from walking along live subway tracks to assess compliance with safety rules. Since the ban began, two track workers have been fatally injured on the rails." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/08/AR2009110818459_pf.html
In press accounts of the lead up to the WMATA accident which killed several riders, it seems that a track repair was not rigorously enough inspected. If it takes the Feds to make WMATA shape up, then bring them on.
in response to Hesitation and Praise Greet Obama Administration's Transit Safety Plan
zsolt
The street repair article in the Examiner is significant. $250 million are needed not to make improvements, but just to “keep the average poor street conditions from deteriorating further”! This will be the battleground of the future when it comes to bike and ped infrastructure funding.
in response to Today's Headlines
Charles Siegel
Cap and trade worked for acid rain, and it could work for global warming. It is just a matter of setting an aggressive enough cap.
It is absurd to claim that cap and trade "privatizes" the atmosphere. Privatization charges people for using a resource that used to be part of the commons. By contrast, cap and trade only charges those who pollute the atmosphere, not those who use it.
Given how central energy is to the world economy, it is essential to use the least-cost solution, which is cap and trade. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emissions_trading
in response to The Copenhagen Moment
zsolt
On the one hand, it is of course nonsense. However there may be a time when many Americans will appreciate those "very ugly high-rise apartments".
I recently finished reading "Reinventing Collapse", which describes the collapse of the Soviet Union, and how the lessons can be applied to collapse scenarios in the U.S. (mainly due to energy shortages). It turns out that the SU government building those ugly high-rises, providing them to people for free (there are no mortgages there), and connecting them with public transit, was in large part responsible for Russia and other formerly Soviet countries weathering the downfall as reasonably well as they did. They are ugly, but they are indestructible, they don't wreck their inhabitants' finances and people can live in them with no cars.
Of course, in the U.S. we have none of this. The US has built this extremely fragile setup with suburbs and mortgages and cars, which will and does not fare well in any sort of recession or energy shortage.
It is a sign of the perversion of U.S. politics that attitudes to prolong this vulnerability are the bread and butter of the so-called conservatives.
in response to "Building Cities Shouldn't Be a Partisan Issue"
throgers
Here's my favorite:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/throgers/2526265717/
in response to Eyes on the Street: No Parking, San Francisco
brooke
Streetsblog should do a "No Pedestrians" slideshow as a follow-up. There are a ton of commercial parking garages throughout the Bay Area with glamorous anti-people signs. I'll start snapping shots.
in response to Eyes on the Street: No Parking, San Francisco
lauren Silverman
Really great photos.
Thanks!
in response to A Garden Bike Tour in Bayview
Charles
Very good idea; and very good eye.
Thanks,
Charles
SF
in response to Eyes on the Street: No Parking, San Francisco
Wes
I second Dalewood.
in response to Which is the Steepest Street in San Francisco? Hint: It's Not Filbert
Wes
If you think these are photo-worthy, you clearly haven't been to India. Worst. Streets. Ever.
in response to Space Hogs Where You Live
RachaelL
Andy- I'm pretty sure it *is* setup to email when there's a problem. At least a friend of mine certainly got an email when the card he associated with his Translink wasn't working. Perhaps a problem with your email address specifically? Or some kind of bad spam blocking?
in response to Muni's TransLink Readers to Get an Important Firmware Upgrade
Aaron Bialick
Drewl... so beautiful, so efficient.
in response to Portland's Greenstreets Program a Sterling Best Practice Model
Best viewed with VistaView 3D NavGoggles(tm)
Is there really anybody in the world who wants this autoplay Javascript and/or Flash slideshow nonsense?
If you have a gallery of images, give me a list of thumbnails
I can look at the ones *I* choose at a rate *I* choose.
Dancing auto-refreshing page "content" = junk = hello, adblock.
Enough, already!
Web 1.0: it worked.
in response to Transit in Trouble Where You Live
Scott Workman
Matt, I think they call that urbanite (impenetrable hardscape).
in response to Portland's Greenstreets Program a Sterling Best Practice Model
Erik
Jessica, if you don't already know about it, check out the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition: http://bikesiliconvalley.org/
in response to Will San Jose's New Bicycle Plan Mark Shift From Years of Car Privilege?
Andy
Translink's "autoload" feature has trouble playing with credit cards, a fault that "blocks" its users from using Transit without notification. Three times now I've gone to board a bus or train and I was denied entry. Several Yelp reviewers seem to have had similar experiences:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/translink-corporation-berkeley
What's frustrating is that Translink does not e-mail you when it blocks your card. I use the card infrequently and in all three cases, the block was placed several weeks prior to discovering that there was a problem.
If Translink informed me of the block when it happened, I could have resolved the problem online instead of delaying my travel – as it did Tuesday when I was forced to ask a station agent to diagnose my card and then buy a regular BART pass. By the time I did all of that, I got to the platform just as the the doors were closing on the last SFO train before a "police action" delayed the entire system. I arrived, with baggage, ten minutes prior to the flight's departure (a gracious agent asked me to run to the gate while he hand carried my checked bag through TSA and to the tarmac).
Each of the three times I have had this problem, I called Translink customer service. They said there was a problem with the credit card I linked to the account. So once I've figured out how to get home, I've gone to their website and simply re-entered the exact same credit card information and successfully ran the transaction. There's no problem with my card. But there is a problem with Autoload: each time, I've hopped for my card to be automatically load $20 onto my card, I've discovered that I'm once again blocked.
The credit card thing needs to be ironed out. I've never had my card deny transactions. But more important, I can't believe that Translink isn't set up to auto-generate an e-mail when it blocks your card. I can tell from Yelp that I'm not the first to ask for it. So what's the deal?
in response to Muni's TransLink Readers to Get an Important Firmware Upgrade
zsolt
Point taken. It's more politics than business for sure.
in response to Transit in Trouble Where You Live
Ramón
Here are a few that you may have missed:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ramon_burgos_ruiz/3895769662/in/set-72157622155322005/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ramon_burgos_ruiz/3800262708/in/set-72157621718589812/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ramon_burgos_ruiz/3889195016/in/set-72157621718589812/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ramon_burgos_ruiz/2426103683/in/set-72157600039531860/
in response to Eyes on the Street: No Parking, San Francisco
mike
Looks beautiful! We have a ways to go to catch up but rest assured that SF is doing just that. Folks in the PUC, DPW, Planning, and MTA are working on a variety of projects. Here are some...
Lake Merced is complete:
sfwater.org/Files/Reports/SunsetSwalesProjectSummary5-10-07.pdf
Leland Ave is underway:
sfgov.org/site/sfdpw_page.asp?id=82253
Cesar Chavez is proposed:
sfgov.org/site/uploadedfiles/planning/City_Design_Group/CDG_mission_cesarchavez.htm
And a variety of smaller projects like bulb outs that allow stormwater to drain into landscaping are proposed around the city.
In the meantime, get your jackhammers out and break through some of the concrete in front of your place!
sfgov.org/site/sfdpw_index.asp?id=42766
in response to Portland's Greenstreets Program a Sterling Best Practice Model
Winston
I don't know what you're basing that on, Jeffery. I've never heard route cuts, layoffs or reductions in service due to a transit line or system being too busy. Show me one example of this.
in response to Transit in Trouble Where You Live
Jym
@mikesonn - I don't think it's "down talking" to be concerned about cycling reaching one demographic disproportionately more than another. Some of my white male cohort from 20 years ago are still getting around by bike, but far too many are under the impression that they "grew out of it." Plus, you know, 5/6ths of us are fond of female companionship (race unimportant) when we ride. ;^)
in response to SF Transportation Authority Launches iPhone App to Track Cyclists
Jeffrey W. Baker
Not really. In any rational business, an overflow of customers would cause expansion. In transit systems, it perversely causes contraction. Route cuts, layoffs, reduction of service hours, and deferred maintenance are the preferred responses of transit agency managers.
in response to Transit in Trouble Where You Live
Jym
=v= Interesting slideshow. Many are along the lines of a series of photos I've taken as part of a "My Face to the World" project. It's bad enough when people remove gardens and other opportunities for social interaction from the fronts of houses just to replace them with garage doors; but when they take it a step further and add a "No Parking" sign replete with threats of towing and other hostilities, well, that's not the best face to present to the world.
I added a few "No Parking" signs of a different flavor to your pool. I hope that they're edifying in some way:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jym/149860557/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jym/1373047664/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jym/3408305161/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jym/3416925031/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jym/3425380555/
in response to Eyes on the Street: No Parking, San Francisco
zsolt
Oh wait this isn't SFGate.com. I would like to retract my comment.
in response to Portland's Greenstreets Program a Sterling Best Practice Model
zsolt
Let me get this straight... if we remove concrete from the sidewalks and plant trees and greenery, then where will San Francisco's motorists park their cars? Seems to me such projects are an attack on the working class. Shame on you.
in response to Portland's Greenstreets Program a Sterling Best Practice Model
zsolt
Um... joking right?
in response to Transit in Trouble Where You Live
Luke
I really like the idea of putting roads, and transit on equal footing economically (though I would add pedestrian and bicycle facilities, which tend to shine in comprehensive cost-benefit analyses), but I'm not confident that any political process will be able to really comprehend how deeply roads are actually subsidized. That would require a broad-spectrum analysis that would consider parking and land use patterns as well as easier targets such as construction costs.
in response to A Republican Returns to Congress With A Map to Transportation Reform
Jeffrey W. Baker
A few of these are images of success. Only in public transit is a surplus of customers considered a failure.
in response to Transit in Trouble Where You Live
James Figone
Thank you for this article. I continue to be amazed at how other cities are moving forward with very ambitious livable streets improvements. One of the treatments above looks like a wetland habitat and is quite striking in an urban landscape.
@Matt Garcia: I wonder how many people looking for sustainable way of life are considering moving to Portland vs staying in SF. It would be interesting to calculate the economic impact of livable streets improvements in terms of property values, health impacts and infrastructure expenditures.
in response to Portland's Greenstreets Program a Sterling Best Practice Model
Jeremiah Schaub
It seems that our problem in San Francisco is the huge amounts of water flowing down very steep streets. These catch basins require decent amounts of flat land to do any good. That said, any project that can reduce the amounts of water cascading down hills and flooding houses is a good thing. This could easily be done in some of our nifty pocket parks we're making - even call it habitat creation!
in response to Portland's Greenstreets Program a Sterling Best Practice Model
Charles Siegel
Okay, that makes some sense. We can go a step further and say that they should take the same approach to coal burning utilities: give them aid to convert to solar, or give their customers aid to buy energy efficiency upgrades.
But I don't think we should be all that harshly critical of senators who are "seeking more freebies for the biggest coal burners" because:
1) Utilities are required to pass the value of free emission permits on to their customers in the form of lower rates.
2) Utilities have essentially the same incentive to convert to clean energy, regardless of whether they pay a given amount for permits or get those permits for free and are able to sell them for that given amount. In either case, it makes economic sense for them to shift to clean energy sources that are cheaper than the cost of coal + permits.
in response to Coal-Burning Electric Utilities Still Commanding Dem Senators’ Attention
Elana Schor
You're right on when you say that free permits are intended for constituencies that are affected by carbon pricing. But think of a resident in a community where car ownership is effectively mandatory to get from home to work and/or school, where transit has not yet been developed and walkable development isn't widely available. They may be gasoline customers, but providing them transitional help (in the form of local grants to encourage the type of planning that cuts transportation-based emissions) would go a long way towards making more efficient transport options available in more places.
That's the reasoning, as it were.
in response to Coal-Burning Electric Utilities Still Commanding Dem Senators’ Attention
Charles Siegel
I am having trouble with the reasoning here.
When they say they want to "equitably distribute transition assistance" they mean that they want to give free permits to people who are hit by carbon pricing. Eg, if you live in a state whose utility relies only on coal, you would be harder hit by carbon pricing than someone who lives in a state whose utility relies heavily on hydro and nuclear. Therefore, they are giving free permits to utilities who rely heavily on coal during the transition period, and requiring the utilities to pass the saving through to consumers, so their customers are not faced with a sudden increase in electricity prices.
Applying the same reasoning to transportation, they would give free permits to oil companies, so their customers are not faced with a sudden increase in gasoline prices.
I think the transitional aid for utility customers does make some sense: it is not the fault of people in Ohio that their utility chose to rely on coal. But I don't think we want to say the same about gasoline customers.
in response to Coal-Burning Electric Utilities Still Commanding Dem Senators’ Attention
Matt Garcia
This is the kind of thing that I wish San Francisco was actively working on more. There is so much impermeable hardscape in this city and it's very frustrating to see damaged concrete sidewalks replaced with (shocker) more concrete. I don't know much about the issue but it seems like the problem is an intersection of private-owner's responsibility for the sidewalk in front of their property and DPW not even having enough money to repair already-damaged sidewalks (much less dramatically change walkways that are undamaged).
And while there are programs out there for individuals to change their property (plantsf.org etc.) there just isn't enough being done on a city level to improve the way our landscape handles stormwater and sewers polluting the Bay. It just seems as though it would be so beneficial to our city in the long run if we had effective and sustainable stormwater management in the form of permeable softscape.
Sigh. Time to check those Portland job listings...
in response to Portland's Greenstreets Program a Sterling Best Practice Model
dude
this is all wonderful, but the image above with the caption "the holy trinity..." reveals another thing about Portland -- not always the best land use or development pattern. I suppose that will change over time, but Portland has a lot of great street design mixed in with some fairly suburban-style older development.
in response to Portland's Greenstreets Program a Sterling Best Practice Model
William A. Rutledge
This is great, I can't wait to use it. I am glad that Andy voiced his concerns about the demographic data. While I'm sure that no individual person at the TA is interested in compromising bike trips, institutions have a worse track record (no pun intended). Just look at how an EIR was used to slap an injunction on the Bike Plan.
I wonder if they considered using a service like EveryTrail, similar to MMR. I noticed that REI was able to develop their own app from the EveryTrail API. It would give users with any GPS device the ability to upload and share trip information. I think you can even draw your trip online, further increasing accessibility. Perhaps in a future collaboration?
This reminds me of a Berkeley Transportation study that used cell phones to track traffic habits. I can see how that type of technology wouldn't work for street travel. The under 30m radius you get with iPhone GPS is perfect. Besides, as ground breaking as that study was, the tech behind it is already dated.
At any rate, good job Andy & the TA guys.
in response to SF Transportation Authority Launches iPhone App to Track Cyclists
mattpaul
@greasybear would love to support 1st gen / 2G iPhone users - I was a longtime user myself - but an application of this nature really requires GPS data. The 2G iPhone is only able to estimate your location via cell tower & wi-fi triangulation which simply isn't of sufficient accuracy.
@Jerome battery life was a concern of the development team as well - that's why we took steps to minimize battery usage, remind you that the app's running and ensure that we don't drain your iPhone to unusable levels. There should be plenty of juice in there to track your rides!
@dopatch, @mikesonn glad to hear you found CycleTracks easier to use than some of the other options out there! We definitely spent a lot of time streamlining the user experience
in response to SF Transportation Authority Launches iPhone App to Track Cyclists
zsolt
I like it. He makes some good points (none really new). I haven't heard him on buses, but I do hate buses as well.
in response to Streetfilms: Bill Lind, a Conservative Voice for Transit
Billy Charlton
I'm glad we're getting so much interest!
@jass - this is for developing a model, not for the "direct" data. Without getting too technical, that means we'll be able to extrapolate route-finding behavior to locations that are picked up less frequently in the sample.
@Techi - this is quite different from the bike counter program: we're not counting bicycles, we're measuring what routes bikers use. So ghost-riding in neighborhoods you don't live in won't help us. But I'm guessing you were just making a funny.
And yep, we know we're only tracking iPhone users, which is one more reason it's important that people fill out the user demographics. Personally I'm not too worried that iPhone users like/dislike hills or parking lanes more than your average biker, but we're going to keep an eye on those demographics just in case.
in response to SF Transportation Authority Launches iPhone App to Track Cyclists
mikesonn
dogpatch, good idea. I have seen another guy ride down Stockton with me to the Caltrain the last couple days. And totally agree about mapmyride, I used it for a couple weeks and the hassle was just getting to be too much.
in response to SF Transportation Authority Launches iPhone App to Track Cyclists
dopatch
i will say too that its way easier to use than mapmyride
in response to SF Transportation Authority Launches iPhone App to Track Cyclists
dopatch
i downloaded the app last night and used it twice this morning. once for an errand and once for the commuter. it was easy to use, quick to upload data, and the blue route wasn't too spotty. i like that it locks itself while you ride so you don't accidentally stop it.
i think there should be an option to add how many riders you see on your route since there were three other riders on my commute (which is common). i didn't ask if they had iphones...
in response to SF Transportation Authority Launches iPhone App to Track Cyclists
Jerome
The problem is that no tracking app on the iPhone has been really useful so far: they draw the battery too much.
in response to SF Transportation Authority Launches iPhone App to Track Cyclists
taomom
Okay, I downloaded this app and will try to remember to keep my phone charged up enough so I can use it. (My phone is often below the 20% mark.) Given my age and gender, I should be a nice outlier data point.
In a year and half of iphone use, this is only my second app. The other is an electronic metronome. My children think I'm pathetic.
in response to SF Transportation Authority Launches iPhone App to Track Cyclists
mikesonn
I think the SFCTA is fully aware of the limitations of this data. Obviously it won't get the non-iPhone demographic, but it will provide some data, any data, more data then what is currently available. And they will have to take it with a grain of salt.
So far out of my two trips, one only half recorded my route and this morning it recorded nothing. I'll keep using it though as it'll show the SFCTA that I bike every day. This isn't a one time, there is my route type deal - they need to be told not only where you bike, but how often.
in response to SF Transportation Authority Launches iPhone App to Track Cyclists
taomom
Peak Oil will make the need for parking moot, except for lots and lots of bike parking. (In Copenhagen, they are putting in 7000 new bike parking spots at the train station.) Rather than demanding the city be designed to accommodate massive car use, people will begin to organize their lives so that work and errands can be performed conveniently without a car. This is actually one of the prime benefits of living in a city. The fact that daily life in San Francisco truly can be conducted without using oil will be one of things that keeps San Francisco economically viable in the decades to come.
For families, Bakfiets are wonderful things. If you live up a hill, get one and put an electric assist on it. If you own a van or a SUV, I suggest selling it soon before it loses all value. If you haven't heard of Peak Oil, or you think I'm absolutely bonkers, it's time to do some research.
As a quick primer: The US imports 70% of its oil. The US passed its peak oil production in 1970 and has been in decline ever since. World oil supplies are declining 5 - 6 % a year. The easiest oil--the cheapest to exploit--has all been found and much of it pumped. Mexico, the second largest supplier of crude oil to the US, will become an oil importer in less than five years. Chinese and Indian usage of oil is increasing 10% a year. Turning Canadian tar sands into oil requires massive energy and is incredibly bad for the environment. Electric cars will be introduced, but with Peak Credit and deep economic malaise few but the very rich will be able to afford them. (There are some do-it-yourself kits out there to take a car, rip out its internal combustion engine, and electrify it. If you're good at that sort of thing, go for it.)
in response to Some Bay Area Developers Ditch the Extra Parking Spaces for More Units
Leicester Self Build
Report: After MN Collapse, Bridge Repair Got Just 11% of D.C. Earmarks
Thanks for sharing
in response to Report: After MN Collapse, Bridge Repair Got Just 11% of D.C. Earmarks
Alexei
I do agree with StuartH that people's real needs should be considered, and cars will play a significant role in people's lives for the foreseeable future, so let's not adopt car-unfriendly policies for their own sake.
That said, there are some things that are obvious: unlinking parking spots from condos, for example, as well as removing parking minimums (there are plenty of old houses in the Richmond without parking, and someone wants to build a new one I don't see why they shouldn't be allowed to).
I do agree with the idea of increasing the parking permit fee to 'market rate' (ie when there are a few free spaces on the street because people don't pay). What are they now-- $70? I think several hundred dollars would not be out of order. The proceeds can benefit public transit, which will help people give up their cars-- the carrot and stick approach. Everyone wins-- non-drivers get better service and drivers get better traffic and easier parking. I think most drivers would happily pay a dollar a day if it meant an easier time finding a space, and less traffic to contend with.
in response to Some Bay Area Developers Ditch the Extra Parking Spaces for More Units
jass
This is amazing, and I hope other cities do something like this.
The downside is that iphone owners are not a good sample of the general population. I hope that limitation is taken into account. Further, the people who download this program will generally be those more active in the cycling community. Your average citizen has no interest in finding this ap.
In LA for example, many cyclists are migrant workers who have no other form of transportation available. They certainly do not own iphones, and if they did, would probably not know about the availability of this ap.
in response to SF Transportation Authority Launches iPhone App to Track Cyclists