Bryan Goebel

Most mainstream news outlets have paltry coverage of the Livable Streets movement, and we devote a lot of space on Streetsblog criticizing them, but one local station did a cool story today about a Freiker program at a school in Los Altos. From ABC7News.com:

Texting Driver Gets Six Years in Prison for Causing Fatal Crash in North State (AP) Passenger Trapped, Dragged Under Muni Bus (KCBS) Body Found on I-880 in Fremont May Be Hit-and-Run Victim (BCN via CBS5) BART Fined for Safety Violations in Employee’s Death (KRON) MTA Considers Raising Parking Meter Rates (SF Examiner) Willie Brown: HSRC … Continued

The Municipal Transportation Agency has released a revised budget proposal for the 2009-2010 fiscal year that calls for eliminating up to nine bus routes, and scaling back service on as many as 29 routes, including some popular lines, in a series of cost-cutting moves that would help Muni close a $129 million budget gap.

Last Saturday, as I was pedaling through Golden Gate Park, alongside a glut of bumper-to-bumper cars, I kept thinking to myself, "Why did I come on Saturday?" It had been so long since I spent a Saturday in GG Park. The juxtaposition was disgusting to me: a gaggle of cars against the lush green of a national park. On the lower portion of JFK Drive, as it bends toward the Dutch Windmill and Ocean Beach, I watched the irate faces of a few impatient drivers, red with anger that a pedestrian dare cross the street in a park. "This is taking forever!" I heard one of them shout.

In 2005, with frustration and anger mounting over service cuts and fare hikes for AC Transit riders, who are mostly people of color, a coalition of riders, labor and environmental justice advocates filed a federal class-action lawsuit against the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), accusing the agency of racial discrimination in the way it doles out transit funding. It claimed the MTC has a long history of channeling funding to mostly white riders on Caltrain and BART at the expense of AC Transit bus riders of color.

The Municipal Transportation Agency Board of Directors will be asked to declare a fiscal emergency at its meeting next Tuesday, a move that will allow Muni to skip environmental reviews and implement service cuts and fare hikes this year to deal with a projected $129 million budget deficit.

AC Transit Riders Lose Discrimination Suit But Judge Agrees With Some Accusations (SF Gate) Muni to Upgrade Ticket Machines by 2011 (SF Appeal) No Surprise: Palo Alto Joins High-Speed Rail Lawsuit (Merc) High-Speed Rail, Carlmont Road Diet Subjects of Belmont State of City Address (Merc) Petaluma City Council Expands Power Over Planning Commission (Press Democrat) … Continued

District 2 Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier represents the Presidio, Cow Hollow, Marina, Pacific Heights and part of the Richmond District. She was originally appointed to her seat by Mayor Gavin Newsom in 2004, and comes from a well-known political family. Her grandfather, Joe Alioto, was mayor from 1968-1976 and her aunt, Angela Alioto, was President of the Board of Supervisors and a candidate for mayor.

Palo Alto “Cries Foul” Over High-Speed Rail Contract (Merc) How Much High-Speed Rail Does $8 Billion Buy? (MSNBC) Menlo Park to Abandon Plans for Dumbarton Transit Station (Merc) Bus Fares Rising in Yolo County (Sac Bee) San Joaquin County Planning for More Walkable Neighborhoods (Stockton Record) The Bikescape Podcast: Bike Bloggers Meet in Sacramento Community … Continued