John Hamilton
Recent Posts
Oaklavia Opens Streets to Celebrate the Renewal of Lake Merritt
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Oakland celebrated improvements to Lake Merritt in style on June 9th, closing the streets ringing the city’s historic centerpiece to cars–and opening them to cyclists, joggers, skaters, street performers and families. The 3.3-mile Ciclovía-style event coincided with the dedication of Lake Merritt Boulevard, a multimillion dollar project that has brought bike and pedestrian improvements to the lake’s southern flank, along […]
First-Ever Sunday Streets Event Transforms Downtown Berkeley
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Some 40,000 people flooded downtown Berkeley on a brilliantly sunny day in October, as the city became the latest in the San Francisco Bay Area to host a “Sunday Streets” event. Organizers closed 17 blocks of Berkeley’s Shattuck Avenue to cars––and opened them to pretty much everything else. Cyclists pedaled, hula hoops turned, children frolicked, […]
Streetfilms: Thousands Play in Oakland’s Streets at First-Ever ‘Oaklavia’
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On Sunday, June 27th, downtown Oakland opened two miles of its streets to fun and activities—zumba dancing, circus arts, BMX bike competitions and performances from local musicians. Walk Oakland Bike Oakland (WOBO) partnered with the East Bay Bicycle Coalition, Oaklandish, Oakland YMCA, Cycles of Change, and other civic organizations to create the East Bay’s first […]
Streetfilms: San Francisco Celebrates Bike to Work Day 2010
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San Francisco set a new record for Bike to Work Day this year. Bicyclists accounted for 75 percent of the morning roadway traffic on Market Street, a big increase over last year. Throw in sunny skies, some new shiny green bike lanes, just-installed bike corrals, door zone warnings, and other infrastructure, and you realize there […]
Streetfilms: Making Muni Faster and More Reliable by Consolidating Stops
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A common complaint among Muni riders is that the bus simply stops too often. It turns out they may be on to something: according to transit experts and the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), which operates Muni, consolidating some bus stops is one of the cheapest and quickest ways to speed up Muni. That’s […]
Streetfilms: Making Muni Faster and More Reliable by Speeding Up Boarding
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Some of the most important changes for Muni are also the simplest ones. That’s the message of a five-part Streetfilms series on ways to speed up and enhance Muni service that we’ll be presenting in the coming weeks, and it’s certainly true of the first film, on speeding up boarding, which we’re presenting today. The […]
Streetfilms: Making a Better Market Street in San Francisco
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For decades, planners and transportation specialists have debated how San Francisco’s most important street could be re-visioned to make it work better for transit, pedestrians, cyclists, shoppers, and those living on or near it. Now, as the Better Market Street Project moves forward with trial traffic diversions, the Art in Storefronts project, music and programming […]
Streetfilms: San Francisco 350 Climate Action
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350 parts per million. That’s the level of atmospheric carbon dioxide beyond which many scientists warn the earth’s climate may begin to spiral out of control. At higher concentrations, they say, heat-reflecting ice sheets will disappear and permafrost will melt, releasing vast amounts of additional greenhouse gases and driving sea levels higher in a vicious […]
Streetfilms: Walk to School Day in San Francisco
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A generation ago, nearly half of all U.S. kids walked or bicycled to school. Today, less than fifteen percent do, with the majority arriving at school in private automobiles. It’s no coincidence, then, that studies show more than a quarter of San Francisco’s children are overweight. But a new program hopes to change that trend, […]
Streetfilms: Scraper Bikes and the “Bike 4 Life” Ride
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Born in the streets of Oakland, scraper bikes have become so much more than just a colorful trend of tricked-out bicycles. Scraper bikes have become an Internet phenomenon via YouTube, a practical means of greening urban space, a social movement, and a rallying cry for young people organizing against violence in their community. Tyrone "Baby […]