Transbay Blog
Eric
West Dublin/Pleasanton BART: Tempering Great Expectations
On February 19, 2011, BART officially opened the 44th station in its system: The West Dublin/Pleasanton station, a $106 million project that bridges the long 10-mile gap between the Dublin/Pleasanton terminus and Castro Valley. Like Dublin/Pleasanton, its sibling station 1.5 miles to the east, West Dublin/Pleasanton was built in the median of Interstate 580. Pedestrian … Continue reading
Let them have parking lots
This week, the Oakland Planning Commission will consider a peculiar concoction brewed up by Planning Department staff called temporary conditional use permits (TCUPs). As explained by the staff report (41 MB PDF), the purpose of the proposed TCUP program is to help property owners maintain the economic viability of their vacant parcels, by allowing them … Continue reading
New parking controls in the works for South of Market and Mission Bay
As various neighborhoods in San Francisco have been rezoned in recent years to encourage density while maintaining livability, plans like Market/Octavia and Eastern Neighborhoods have called for minimum off-street parking requirements to be eliminated and instead replaced with parking maximums. This week the San Francisco Planning Commission will consider an ordinance that seeks to do … Continue reading
DPW holds hearing this week for two proposed parklets
This Wednesday, December 15, 2010, the Department of Public Works (DPW) will hold a hearing (PDF) to gather public comment on two parklets — extensions of the sidewalk built in parking spots to make space for outdoor seating — that have been proposed in San Francisco. One parklet would be installed on Post Street between Jones and Leavenworth, in front … Continue reading
Proposition 26, and its implications for transportation funding (Part 1)
Ever since voters passed Proposition 13 in 1978, California has been playing a game of cat and mouse. Government would enact a charge, and someone would claim it was unconstitutional. Courts, realizing that in spite of Prop 13 the government still needs money to function, would read Prop 13 narrowly, allowing new categories of government charges to pass through with a … Continue reading
A new direction for the BART Board of Directors: The choice is ours
If there is a silver lining to be found in the protracted Oakland Airport Connector debate and other BART drama that has ensued over the past couple of years, it’s that BART’s Board of Directors and the agency generally have been subject to an extra measure of public scrutiny. There’s a related silver lining: candidates emerging to challenge lackluster incumbent directors. And … Continue reading
Air Resources Board adopts final targets for SB 375
At its meeting yesterday, the State Air Resources Board (ARB) had a full agenda. For one, it approved an important regulation requiring that one-third of electricity sold by utilities in California be derived from renewable sources by the year 2020. But for the purpose of this blog, we will only discuss the Board’s other major … Continue reading
First Bay Area HOT lane opens for business
The Bay Area’s first high-occupancy toll (HOT) lane, or “express lane,” opens today on southbound Interstate 680 over the Sunol Grade, between Highways 84 and 237 — a 14-mile stretch of freeway that includes 11 miles in Alameda County and 3 miles in Santa Clara County. Carpools and high-occupancy vehicles on this segment of freeway … Continue reading
California Street Cable Car upgrades to begin this week
On September 16, the SFMTA and Department of Public Works will begin infrastructure improvements on the California Street cable car line, the first such upgrade carried out since the major 1982-1984 rehabilitation of the cable car system. In the first phase of the project over the next few months, sewers will be repaired and replaced, … Continue reading
An alternative approach to setting SB 375 targets
Earlier this month, agency staff at the State Air Resources Board (ARB) recommended a set of targets, which quantify how much regions throughout California should plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from passenger vehicles and light duty trucks. Those targets will soon be evaluated by the Board, which is required under Senate Bill 375 to … Continue reading
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If you are interested in California water issues, you may want to check out my other blog on that topic.
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