Link Love for Transit Lifestyle Blogs

24 June 2008 – 7:47 am

Link love for transit lifestyle blogs. Because this blog gives a lot of press time to future transit expansion and its role in building a better Bay Area, one topic which does not get as much coverage here is transit in the here-and-now — perhaps you might call these transit lifestyle issues. Luckily, other devoted transit riders in the Bay Area are filling out the discussion and adding more voices to the conversation. Daily adventures on the Muniserable Railway have given rise to a new blog, Muni Manners. This site, written by two authors who identify themselves only as the “SF Muni Ladies,” is dedicated to teaching lessons in transit etiquette with the hope of making the daily grind a bit better for all of us. Although officially dedicated to Muni, the lessons the Ladies have posted so far are good advice for riders of any transit system, particularly in crowded settings. Muni Manners joins other blogs from around the Bay that give a lot of press time to transit lifestyle issues, including oldies but goodies: 295bus, Living in the O, and BART Musings. Another new site riders and readers alike may want to check out is the Transit Bay Area Classifieds, which appears to be a bit like Craigslist, but is focused on connecting transit riders to each other. And last, but certainly not least, here is a link from last week that you absolutely must check out if you have not seen it yet: Greg Dewar from the N-Judah Chronicles has posted an excellent Star Wars Muni spoof that draws hilarious parallels between Muni politics and Imperial Domination. As a diehard Star Wars fan who has committed to memory roughly the entire combined script of Episodes IV, V, and VI, I could not resist putting in a plug for this awesome link. Anyway, posting here has been on the slow side recently, but hopefully these links will satiate your appetite until I can get things rolling again. (UPDATE: LucasFilms is being difficult and has asked that the spoof be removed- see the comments. Apologies to anyone who missed it.)

By Eric | Posted in Asides, Carfree Lifestyle, Miscellaneous | Comments (5)

Spare the Air Day on June 19, 2008

17 June 2008 – 7:39 am

Spare the Air Day on June 19, 2008. Just in case you have not already heard, a quick reminder that this Thursday, June 19 is a Spare the Air Day, and the only planned day of free transit service. It is also APTA’s 3rd Annual Dump the Pump Day. So be sure to take advantage of the free transit, and then continue to use it after Thursday, even when it is not free! BART, Caltrain, AirBART, ACE, and Amtrak/Capital Corridor will be free until 12 noon. Alameda-Oakland, Alameda-Harbor Bay, Vallejo, and Golden Gate ferry services will also be free only until 12 noon. Bus and light rail service around the Bay will be free for the whole day.

By Eric | Posted in Air Quality & Emissions, Asides | Comments (2)

A Facelift for the College Avenue Safeway

14 June 2008 – 9:25 pm

SafewayThe Safeway and 76 gas station, at the northeast corner of College and Claremont Avenues in Oakland, together occupy a site whose layout is entirely inappropriate for an urban setting, particularly for the intersection of two major avenues. The large parking lot, which fronts directly onto parts of both College and Claremont, is a (sub)urban design error I have long hoped to see corrected — particularly in the Rockridge commercial district, which features a mostly uninterrupted frontage of buildings that open onto the street and contribute to a pleasant pedestrian experience. (Unfortunately, the Highway 24 overpass, which is the neighborhood’s most intrusive interruption, is much less easily corrected than this Safeway parking lot.) Good thing, then, that Safeway has released its latest plans to transform the current site, which is essentially a strip mall. The new plan has more parking (212 spaces) than ideal for a supermarket a few blocks from BART and located in an eminently walkable neighborhood — Safeway’s newer lifestyle stores are not quite farsighted enough to attempt changing the lifestyle of driving. The first floor will feature several small retail spaces (totaling 16,000 square feet) fronting onto College and a small section of Claremont. The 59,000 square foot grocery store will be located on the second floor, so that the parking would at least be hidden behind the retail and under the grocery store. The plan’s weakness looks to be the Claremont frontage, which will feature little retail. All in all, the plan is an improvement over the current auto-oriented store and gas station. Constructing the new building right to the property line will make this wide intersection more attractive by emphasizing its non-perpendicular angularity. For more design images and renderings like the one pictured above, check out the project website.

Read More »

By Eric | Posted in East Bay, NIMBY, Oakland, Streetscape | Comments (13)

Trial Run With Instant Messages

13 June 2008 – 7:47 am

Trial run with instant messages. In the months since starting this blog, I have enjoyed engaging in conversation with people who write in, both in the comments and through private email — all the while rather surprised that anyone was even reading at all, let alone bothering to return. Since the conversation is in some sense the whole point, I thought it would be fun to try opening one more avenue of communication, through instant messages. An instant message link has been added to the right sidebar. I am hoping to keep it up for at least a little while, depending on how and how much it is used. Perhaps this is a bit of a risky move on the “world wide Internets,” and I have no idea how it will turn out — it really is just a trial run. In any case, clicking on the link will open a new window with a Google chat screen, but you do not need a Google account to use it. Please check first whether the status button is green or red.

By Eric | Posted in Asides, Miscellaneous | Comments (1)

Not Everyone in the East Bay Hates BRT

12 June 2008 – 7:27 am

Not everyone in the East Bay hates BRT. Here is an article from the Daily Review, forwarded by Hank Resnik of the Berkeley group Friends of BRT. The Berkeley Daily Planet continues to cement its reputation as one of the Bay Area’s most definitive sources for fact-free journalism, by “reporting” that the San Leandro City Council has “opted out” of its transit-only lanes for the East Bay BRT project — thereby implying that Berkeley ought to do the same. Except for the small detail that San Leandro, well, hasn’t opted out of its transit-only lanes. In fact, after San Leandro City Councilmembers heard a presentation just this week about the BRT alignment along San Leandro’s East 14th Street thoroughfare, “most were encouraged by the proposal.” And as for San Leandro’s mayor, Tony Santos? “It’s reducing our carbon footprint and cutting down on greenhouse gases. … Anything you can do to get people on the bus is fine.” Let’s back up one step, though. By fighting for the “right” of motorists to drive without having to deal with the inconvenience of transit-only lanes getting in the way and slowing them down, Berkeley is just being progressive, right? Yes, that must be it.
[Daily Review]

By Eric | Posted in AC Transit, Asides, Berkeley, Bus Rapid Transit, East Bay, NIMBY | Comments (2)

The Transit Terminator Strikes Again

12 June 2008 – 7:11 am
Transit Terminator
Courtesy Los Angeles Times.

Is this déjà vu, or what? Our dear, allegedly green “Governator” — on the front lines fighting global warming — refuses to put the money where his mouth is by terminating $1.4 billion of transit funds in the May revise budget? Oh, right: this also happened last year. So whatever happened to meeting AB 32’s requirements for greenhouse gas emission reduction? I suppose it would be too much to ask that we actually try to provide adequate funding for the transit systems that give commuters an alternative to driving — instead of starving those very same systems of the money they need to operate, let alone improve and expand to accommodate the increased ridership that it is critical we work to achieve? The rising fuel costs that have people flocking to transit and leaving their cars at home are also forcing Caltrain and AC Transit to study yet another set of fare hikes, and eventually, it is the riders who bear the burden of higher fares and slashed service resulting from an apparently chronic itch the Governator has to divert funds from the Public Transportation Account.

Ridership increases demonstrate that Californians are voting with their feet. We are in a perfect storm in which both environmental and economic incentives have converged, encouraging Californians to move in droves away from their vehicles and towards transit — and the Governator decides that this is the opportune moment to severely slash funds? It is utterly nonsensical. The time to capitalize on high gas costs — and to halt any downward cycle of fewer riders, less service, and higher fares — is now. Assembly and Senate subcommittees have recommended different fund allocations that would return $317 million of PTA funds, instead of diverting the $828 million of gas tax revenue away from transit that was proposed in the May revise budget. While our legislators are heckling, please use this as an opportunity to make your voice heard. Transit riders may be in the minority, but we can be loud! In any case, a recent Field Poll shows that 67% of Californians oppose cuts to transit. Even those who ride transit infrequently or not at all can and should show support for maximizing the funds applied to transit this upcoming fiscal year. Contact your legislator. Contact the Governor: by email, by phone (916-445-2841), by fax (916-558-3160), or by snail mail. Raise hell, and urge our elected officials to stop this systematic and nonsensical starvation of California’s public transportation system. Transit desperately needs our investment, not more neglect.

By Eric | Posted in California, Transit Funding | Comments (2)

Yerba Buena Cubed

9 June 2008 – 12:51 am

Contemporary Jewish Museum, San FranciscoA long-awaited cultural building has finally joined the ranks of the ever-growing collection of museums in San Francisco’s Yerba Buena District — a new home for the Contemporary Jewish Museum. The Museum was originally founded in 1984, but ten years ago, the Museum chose architect Daniel Libeskind to design a new structure to house the Museum in South of Market’s clustered quarter of museums. Libeskind is renowned for his work on museums across the world, including the Jewish Museums in Copenhagen and Berlin. Other work that Libeskind has done includes the recent expansion of the Denver Art Museum and the master plan for redevelopment of the World Trade Center Memorial site in Lower Manhattan.

Read More »

By Eric | Posted in Architecture / Design, Cultural Buildings, Rincon Hill / Transbay / South of Market, San Francisco | Comments (0)

June 2008 Election Recap: Propositions F and G

5 June 2008 – 7:38 am
3D Visualization of the Hunters Point Conceptual Plan
Courtesy San Francisco Redevelopment Agency.

If you read the two previous posts about this past election, you probably noticed one rather glaring omission from the discussion: the two San Francisco measures that were actually about city planning, Propositions F and G concerning the massive redevelopment of the Hunters Point Shipyard and Candlestick Point. Unfortunately, after writing those other two election posts, there was no time to write a post about Hunters Point as well. But one thing is pretty certain: there will be opportunity in the future to discuss the landmark redevelopment of this area of the City. As you have likely already heard, 62% of San Franciscans voted “No” on the 50% affordable housing mandate in Prop F, while an almost equal number of San Franciscans voted “Yes” on Prop G, signalizing a desire to move forward with the cleaning up and redevelopment of this Superfund site. (Link to SF Election Results, scroll down to the bottom for city measures.)

Read More »

By Eric | Posted in Affordable Housing, Bayview / Hunters Point, Election Coverage, San Francisco, Third Street Corridor | Comments (0)

June 2008 Election: State Legislature Roundup

2 June 2008 – 2:11 am

This post will provide some information on the Democratic primary for the California legislature campaigns. The blurbs that follow are essentially endorsements, but I hesitate to use the word “endorsement” here, because to my mind, use of that word ought to be supported by a fuller discussion, drawing on a large range of issues. Because this blog has a relatively narrow topical focus, I wasn’t sure what the interest level would be outside of that focus; in any case, there did not turn out to be time to put together a more complete discussion.

It probably goes without saying that my that my opinions about these these candidates are based on more than just their records on transit and planning issues — in fact, that may have only been a small part of the equation. But I figured that if you are reading this blog, you are probably interested in the candidates’ perspectives on these topics — particularly because in campaigning, these issues often get lost in the shuffle, even though some of us find them to be extremely important. So that is the focus of these blurbs, as a starting point; readers are of course encouraged to research other issues they care about. This post does not pretend to be a thorough or equal discussion of all candidates campaigning for the same position — nor is this a complete list of all races. Candidates are after the jump.

Read More »

By Eric | Posted in Berkeley, California, Contra Costa, East Bay, Election Coverage, North Bay, Oakland, Peninsula, San Francisco, Tri-Valley | Comments (0)

June 2008 Election: Propositions 98, 99 and Eminent Domain

2 June 2008 – 1:58 am

The Bay Area has a few rent control hotspots (notably San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose) and is a progressive place in general — so by this point, only one day before the election, I expect most people are up to their ears in chants of “Save Rent Control, Vote No on 98.” The point of this post is not so much to harp more on this, although I do want to strongly urge you to vote No on 98 tomorrow. First, a brief remark on rent control: controversial though it would be, we probably should take a hard look at rent control and honestly assess the extent to which it has helped or not helped increase supply of affordable housing. (Yes, I say that despite living in a rent-controlled apartment.) That said, having doubts about rent control’s efficacy as a policy does not excuse slipping blanket elimination of rent control into a statewide proposition about eminent domain, as Prop 98 does, and then failing to implement a replacement relief plan. It’s a classic example of biting off more than you can chew, and that is basically Prop 98 in a nutshell.

Read More »

By Eric | Posted in California, Election Coverage, Eminent Domain | Comments (2)