Saving Life and Limb By Avoiding the Door Zone
Many urban cyclists have a tale to tell about a car door that swung out into their path and nearly knocked them from their bikes. Hopefully, the story ends there, with no injuries or further harm. Some haven't been so lucky, however, as they've been thrown from their bikes or hit when swerving into traffic. In addition to bearing the physical scars, the memories of collisions with doors has altered their riding habits or led to piqued anxiety.
February 25, 2010
SF’s Proposal to Reduce Blight Will Create a Tenuous Balance
Among several initiatives San Francisco has developed to put an aesthetically pleasing face on the economic downturn, such as Art in Storefronts, which brightens shuttered retail spaces with murals, a new effort to utilize empty lots for green space, called Green Development Agreements (Green DAs), would transform the way the city's development approval process works, a move some open-space advocates question.
February 22, 2010
Eyes on the Street: ‘Parking Lamp,’ Mosaic Steps and More of Your Photos
Here's a recent round-up of photos from our Flickr pool. Thank you as always and please do send more our way. A selection of others after the jump. Have a great weekend!
February 19, 2010
BART Loses More Federal Funding for Oakland Airport Connector Project
As transportation planners and transit agencies around the country celebrated the announcement of the $1.5 billion in Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery, or TIGER grants, yesterday, BART received more troubling news that could hurt the feasibility of its planned Oakland Airport Connector (OAC).
February 18, 2010
Newsom Upset at Muni Operators’ Rejection, Threatens Ballot Measure
On the heals of yesterday's vote by Transit Workers Union (TWU) Local 250 rank-and-file to reject the contract concessions negotiated by their President, Irwin Lum, and Mayor Gavin Newsom and senior management at the San Francisco MTA, Mayor Newsom expressed dismay and said he would support a November ballot initiative to force the issue with the union.
February 17, 2010
Transit Agency Representatives Push “Protect Local” Ballot Initiative
With the continued raids on voter mandated transit funding sources to plug holes in California's general fund, representatives from the state's many transit agencies and locally elected officials are pushing for a sweeping ballot initiative this November, one which supporters say would finally put an end to the raids, and force lawmakers in Sacramento to come up with solutions to their fiscal nightmare that don't come from the backs of transit riders.
February 17, 2010
San Francisco Takes Parking Spaces for Trial Sidewalk Extensions
With the success of San Francisco's Pavement to Parks trial plazas, the city is about to unveil its newest plan to use its streets for something other than cars when it converts parking spaces to public space by extending sidewalks into the street with durable wood platforms.
February 16, 2010
FTA Won’t Fund BART Airport Connector, $70 Million to Go to Transit Ops
In a stern letter to BART [PDF], Federal Transit Association (FTA) Administrator Peter Rogoff informed the agency that it would not be able to develop a suitable action plan by March 5th to comply with equity and race requirements for the $70 million in stimulus funds for the Oakland Airport Connector (OAC), a move that may kill the project.
February 12, 2010
Can Anything Be Done to Fix Muni?
In San Francisco it's almost as cliche to kvetch about Muni as it is to misquote Mark Twain about chilly summers, but what can possibly be done to fix a transit system that seems to have so many problems and almost no solutions that everyone can agree upon?
February 11, 2010