Community, Advocacy and Labor

Streetsblog receives a matrix of responses to its critique of the 23rd and 29th Avenue over-crossings in Oakland

"Why wait five or six years before doing anything with the space?" was the question Brad Leibin, an‎ architect at David Baker Architects, was asked to help solve about an affordable housing project planned for West Oakland's San Pablo Avenue at 34th Street. "So we started to make a difference on that streets-cape immediately ... that project got me really interested in interim uses."

The SVBC Summit agenda includes a talk by Tamika Butler, former head of the L.A. County Bicycle Coalition.

At close to midnight last night, the Berkeley City Council unanimously approved the Berkeley Bike Plan, which seeks to build a network of safe, connected bikeways throughout the city to encourage more people to ride bikes.

Wednesday evening, SPUR, the San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association, sponsored a talk entitled "Reconsidering Transportation to Create Better Urban Spaces" at their new downtown Oakland location. The talk focused on the history and damage done by the almost mindless adherence over the years to Level of Service (LOS) on urban spaces throughout California.

At a packed meeting last night, the Berkeley City Council approved a project to bring a long-delayed bike lane to Fulton Street, the site of a recent collision that seriously injured a cyclist.

UPDATE: This post has been edited to clarify a point about the SFBC board's actions. Please see note at end.

On November 4, a car slammed into two young boys on their way to school. They were in a crosswalk at the intersection of Bay Street and Buchanan. The boys were hit with so much force that they were reportedly flung to the opposite side of the street. Both were taken to the hospital with severe injuries. The driver was arrested for DUI.

Governor Jerry Brown had a Sunday deadline to sign legislation or veto it. Late in the day on Friday he signed Assembly Bill 744, which allows affordable housing developers to build less parking than many local zoning regulations currently permit.