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SPUR talk on Local Measures: BART Bond Passes, Mixed Results on Others
This afternoon, the San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR), hosted a post-election analysis of local races and measures with political consultants David Latterman of Fall Line Analytics and Alex Clemens of Lighthouse Public Affairs.
November 9, 2016
Final Push on BART Bond
Press, advocates and politician gathered at 8:30 this morning in front of Oakland City Hall for a final push for the $3.5 billion BART bond, Measure RR. As Streetsblog readers will recall, the bond is intended to rebuild and upgrade BART's aged infrastructure, focusing on the exiting tracks, trains, tunnels, signals and electrical systems.
November 7, 2016
Alameda Advocates Continue Push for Alternative to Posey Hell Tunnel
Advocate-volunteers with BikeWalk Alameda took shifts today counting cyclists and pedestrians passing through the Posey Tube on their way between western Alameda and Oakland. The count will be used to help push for a pedestrian and bicycle drawbridge between Alameda and Jack London Square, across the Alameda estuary.
November 2, 2016
A Note of Caution on Tech and Privatizing Transit
At a recent SPUR meeting, an audience member asked why cities continue to invest billions in long-term projects, such as the Central Subway, when ride-hail services such as Juno, Lyft, and Uber Pool have rendered urban rail more or less obsolete. This sentiment is reflected in a recent piece in the Atlantic by former Los Angeles Times writer Alana Semuels, entitled: "The End of Public Transit?" She wrote about her experience riding Chariot instead of Muni:
October 31, 2016
Fixing the Mess at Geneva-San Jose/Balboa Park
Last night, SFMTA held an open house at Lick Wilmerding High School to get community suggestions on what to do about the mess of tracks, ramps, road and pedestrian crossings on and around the intersection of Geneva and San Jose, adjacent to the Balboa Park BART and Muni stations.
October 27, 2016
Safe Streets Advocates Urge ‘Yes’ Vote on Props J & K
Amid an avalanche of issues on the November ballot, San Francisco voters face one question with consequences for each of us every single day: Should our city invest in safe, affordable transportation? To answer yes, we must pass both Propositions J & K.
October 26, 2016
VTA Measure B’s Bloated Highway Expansions Leave Transit Unfunded
The Valley Transportation Authority (VTA)'s proposed 30-year Measure B half-cent sales tax is bloated with billions of dollars in highway traffic expansions. If Santa Clara County voters pass Measure B on November 8, $1.85 billion would be lavished on highway projects while less than half that amount would go to bus, light rail, bicycling, and walking improvements combined over the next 30 years.
October 25, 2016
Subway Metadata Master Plan
Yesterday afternoon the Land Use and Transportation Committee of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors heard a presentation from transportation officials on efforts to design a "Subway Master Plan," a long-range blueprint for a subway network for San Francisco.
October 18, 2016
Public Gets a Look at BART’s Future
Yesterday afternoon, some 1,600 people braved the rain to check out BART's new rolling stock at an open-house at MacArthur Station in Oakland. BART is doing a total of four open houses. The first one was Saturday, in Pleasant Hill/Contra Costa Centre Station. From the BART web page:
October 17, 2016
Ballot Primer for an Election that Will Drive You to Drink
Yesterday evening, over 220 people squeezed into the San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association's (SPUR) downtown S.F. location to hear the organization's policy experts explain which ballot measures they are endorsing. With 25 measures on the San Francisco ballot this November 8, each of the six SPUR experts spent just a few minutes on each decision--and it still took nearly two hours to get through them all.
October 12, 2016