Oakland

How the OAC fares: An updated financial outlook

Posted by Eric ⋅ 23 April 2014 ⋅ 6 Comments

BART’s Oakland Airport Connector now under construction may be soaring through the air above Hegenberger Road, but its projected operating budget lies much closer to the ground — so close that it’s digging a hole underground. Back in 2009, when BART was lining up all the local approvals it needed to obtain federal stimulus funding, … Continue reading →

A hole in the Broadway-Valdez plan?

Posted by Eric ⋅ 28 August 2012 ⋅ 20 Comments

In Oakland, the Broadway-Valdez District Specific Plan has moved forward in fits and starts, but the desire remains to unlock the potential of vacant and underutilized parcels along Broadway Auto Row and reinvigorate the corridor — somehow. Whether this part of town ultimately fulfills its promise as the destination retail quarter that Oakland has lacked, … Continue reading →

A short-lived attempt

Posted by Eric ⋅ 15 May 2011 ⋅ 7 Comments

Is the Oakland Airport Connector “too costly to stop,” as Matier & Ross wrote at the Chronicle? BART director Robert Raburn, who was elected in part on an anti-OAC campaign in the very same district hosting the OAC, at least made an inquiry and tried to do something to stop it — but then immediately … Continue reading →

Could parking policy benefit from more regional oversight?

Posted by Eric ⋅ 20 April 2011 ⋅ 5 Comments

This week, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency officially launches SFpark, a program that implements the type of demand-based pricing scheme advocated by Donald Shoup. Through SFpark, both on-street and off-street supply in designated pilot areas, which include many of San Francisco’s busiest neighborhoods, will be priced dynamically to match demand. SFpark’s pricing strategies are designed … Continue reading →

Let them have parking lots

Posted by Eric ⋅ 15 February 2011 ⋅ 3 Comments

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 →

A new direction for the BART Board of Directors: The choice is ours

Posted by Eric ⋅ 29 October 2010 ⋅ 11 Comments

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 →

AC Transit delays its BRT vote, awaiting a reversal from Berkeley

Posted by Eric ⋅ 10 June 2010 ⋅ 5 Comments

The past few months have been unbelievably busy, so I never got a chance to write a post covering the discussions that have taken place in the past several weeks in the East Bay, regarding the Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA) of AC Transit’s bus rapid transit project. I trust that many or most readers have … Continue reading →

AC Transit prepares for its next round of service cuts

Posted by Eric ⋅ 28 April 2010 ⋅ 4 Comments

Even while AC Transit moves forward to piece together needed approvals for the locally preferred alternative of its planned bus rapid transit route — last week, the Oakland City Council unanimously approved the LPA, and the Berkeley City Council is expected to issue its decision this week — the agency is already gearing up for … Continue reading →

Is the Oakland Airport Connector Dead?

Posted by Eric ⋅ 22 February 2010 ⋅ 8 Comments

Last week brought the great news that FTA refused to disburse $70 million of ARRA federal stimulus dollars to the BART Oakland Airport Connector. The natural follow-up question is one I have now been asked numerous times by friends and blog readers: is the Connector dead? Have we at last melted the Wicked Witch of the West? … Continue reading →

FTA Rejects Federal Stimulus Funding for BART Oakland Airport Connector

Posted by Eric ⋅ 12 February 2010 ⋅ 24 Comments

The big news from the day: even though BART and FTA have been working the past couple weeks on a plan to correct the Title VI deficiencies in BART’s Oakland Airport Connector project, today Peter Rogoff sent a letter (PDF) to BART and MTC announcing that BART’s corrective action plan for the OAC has been … Continue reading →