Month: February 2009

Bill Brand, a former longtime reporter for the Oakland Tribune, was the victim of last night's crash involving an N-Judah train at 2nd and King Streets. We don't know many details but Brand was walking when he was struck shortly after 9 p.m. He's reported to be in critical condition at San Francisco General Hospital.

Advocates are calling for all livable streets supporters who have the time to turn out to the Board of Supervisors' Land Use and Economic Development Committee meeting today at 1pm to voice their support for a two-way Hayes Street, as was called for in the Market and Octavia Plan. 

As the two chambers of the Congress haggle over the stimulus plan (see The Transport Politic's handy comparison of transpo-related spending in the House and Senate bills), we'll take a moment to step back and look at the bigger picture, courtesy of Streetsblog Network member blog Where. They have a post entitled "Against Transportation" that poses these questions:

Deal Reached on Senate Stimulus Bill (NYT, HuffPo) House, Senate Versions Differ on Transit (Transport Politic via Streetblog Network) LaHood Says Stim Money Will Go to States, Not Cities (Reuters) Editorial: Transit Cuts Will Hurt California Riders (Sac Bee) Two Pedestrians Struck by Muni Vehicles (SF Examiner, SF Gate) Other Departments “Robbing” Muni Budget (SF … Continued

Nearly five years after the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a resolution calling for a study of alternative future configurations for the remaining Central Freeway, the MTA Board of Directors agreed this week to consider doing it in the Eastern Neighborhoods Transportation Implementation Planning Study (EN TRIPS).

The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition (SFBC) is spearheading a new initiative it has dubbed "The Great Streets Campaign," which seeks to catalyze numerous stakeholders and policy makers to transform our city streets for people.  They just sent around a job announcement for the campaign director, which you can download here (PDF).

Senator Jim DeMint, the South Carolina Republican who said that directing stim funds toward bicycle and hiking infrastructure will not help the economy or create jobs, has gone too far. He and Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn, another pro-highway Republican who is no friend of bicyclists, have just proposed an amendment that would kill all stimulus funds for bike and hiking trails.