Streetsblog San Francisco

I've got spring fever, so I'm taking a much-deserved one week break from producing Streetsblog San Francisco, along with my colleague Aaron Bialick. I look forward to spending a lot of time on my bicycle and at the beach! Have a great week and we'll see you back here on April 11th.

You may have noticed something different about Streetsblog San Francisco's comment system this morning. We’re doing an upgrade and introducing a commenting platform called Disqus, which we hope will enrich the conversation here and make it easier for you to connect with other readers.

Streetsblog San Francisco is taking a much-deserved two-week break. I wish you all the happiest of holidays. Also, best wishes to my colleague Matthew Roth as he moves on to new adventures. I'll be back after New Year's just in time for our second anniversary, ready to provide another year of livable streets coverage.

The news that my colleague, Deputy Editor Matthew Roth, is leaving is still sinking in. His departure will no doubt be a huge loss for us. Matthew's intelligent, witty commentary and his smarts on the issues shaped the blog's voice. He co-founded Streetsblog SF and there's no way it could have become what it is today without him. In addition to being a great reporter, advocate and colleague, Matthew is also a close friend and I'm going to really miss working with him on a daily basis. But we're not losing him entirely. He will continue to provide occasional pieces, transitioning to a freelance position.

Who are you, why do you read Streetsblog San Francisco and what do you care about? Those three key questions are at the heart of a short and easy questionnaire we've put together for our readers. It only takes a few minutes and will do a world of good for Streetsblog San Francisco.

Starting tomorrow, we're taking a late summer vacation from publishing Streetsblog San Francisco. We'll resume our regular publishing schedule on September 7th. We hope you enjoy your Labor Day holiday and for the many of you going up to Burning Man for the Metropolis themed festivities, we hope you have fun and travel safely. See you back here soon.

Last month, we made an urgent appeal for your support because the future of Streetsblog San Francisco was in jeopardy. I'm happy to announce today that readers, advocates and business leaders responded, and we met our July 1 goal!  Your contributions will keep Streetsblog SF moving forward in 2010.

It is with mixed emotions that I announce that Michael Rhodes, our stalwart transit reporter over the last year who has created a daily drumbeat about Muni and other transit operators, is leaving us to pursue a career in urban planning. He'll be getting his master's degree in city planning at UC Berkeley starting this fall and, while we're very proud of him for advancing to that stage, we're going to miss him, as I assume you will too.

When Streetsblog San Francisco launched a year and a half ago, we were lucky to have some generous seed funding that allowed us to get reporters in the field, focus on content, and begin building a strong community of readers and commenters who have helped make the blog so vital to the sustainable transportation movement in the Bay Area.