Year: 2009

A bicyclist was seriously injured this afternoon after a woman driving an SUV struck him at the intersection of Haight and Pierce Streets. According to eyewitness accounts, he remained conscious after the crash, and was taken to the hospital by the Fire Department.

The San Francisco Planning Department will release the Draft Plan for the new Transbay Terminal and development project after the Planning Commission meeting tonight at 5:30 p.m. According to Planning's Joshua Switzky, the plan will be presented to the commission but there will not be extensive discussion about its details until future public hearings.

California residents living in sprawling suburban developments could save billions of dollars every year if they lived in denser, urban zones and along transit corridors, according to a study released today by smart growth and transit advocates TransForm. Analyzing four metropolitan areas--Southern California, the San Francisco Bay Area, San Diego, and Sacramento--Windfall for All found that shifting populations in those regions to denser development along transit corridors would save save $31 billion per year, or $3,850 on average per household [Report Summary PDF].

When the MTA Board approved wide-ranging changes to Muni service at its meetings this fall, most of the public comment was from residents who didn't want rerouted bus lines to pass by their homes, and merchants who opposed articulated buses running in front of their shops. As Streetsblog's coverage noted at the time, the absence of Muni riders at the meeting was striking, perhaps indicating a lack of proper notice.

Any proposal to fund new U.S. infrastructure investment by taxing financial transactions -- such as Rep. Pete DeFazio's (D-OR) bill taxing Wall Street oil speculators -- would require international participation to prevent the trades in question from migrating overseas, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said today.

President Obama may be optimistic about continued U.S. economic growth as 2009 ends, but the reality on the ground in urban America — which an estimated two-thirds of the population calls home — is undeniably, disturbingly bleak. Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter (Photo: PennLive) That was the message delivered today by two economists and a bipartisan … Continued

Senate environment committee chairman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and fellow lawmakers yesterday pressed the Obama administration to take a more active role in ending the current political stalemate over federal transportation funding, but the sense of urgency they sought emerged only intermittently during an 80-minute session on infrastructure.

Despite the growing national attention to the dangers posed by distracted driving, full accountability for drivers who kill or maim pedestrians while fiddling with electronic devices is likely a long way off. As today's post from Streetsblog Network member Sustainable Savannah notes, law enforcement officials too often seem to see things from the perspective of the person behind the windshield:

More headlines over at Streetsblog Capitol Hill.