Two years ago, Berkeley sabotaged a BRT plan in the East Bay. Now, will Mountain View be the South Bay version of Berkeley? The [Mountain View] City Council spent two and half hours discussing a plan for dedicated bus rapid transit lanes on El Camino Real on Tuesday, coming to the same position it came [...]
Archive for January, 2012
Mountain View Votes Against BRT
Posted in planning, transit, tagged BRT, VTA on January 27, 2012 | 17 Comments »
Who Determines Parking Requirements?
Posted in planning, tagged parking on January 23, 2012 | 8 Comments »
Let’s say you are a developer, doing an infill project in an area of considerable transit and walking potential. What possible reason to include parking as part of the project? It reduces the total amount of floor area that can be leased/rented out. It can also be very expensive to build, if the parking is [...]
Killjoy
Posted in risk on January 21, 2012 | 1 Comment »
When it snows in Seattle and roads shut down, sledders and tubers reclaim the streets and turn them into sledding runs. But K5 TV reporter Meg Coyle is not amused. In her special live report, she notes sledders are not just breaking the law — they aren’t even wearing helmets! My goodness, someone could get [...]
“SMART” TOD
Posted in planning, transit, tagged SMART, TOD on January 20, 2012 | 5 Comments »
San Rafael has put together one of those Gawd-awful design-by-committees to do a station area plan for its downtown. This is for when the new ‘SMART’ rail line reaches the downtown. Here some of their recommendations: Additional traffic lanes on Hetherton St. 3rd St. crosswalk elimination 1:1 parking requirement Potential public garage Potential future transit [...]
Don’t Mourn for Emeryville
Posted in Uncategorized on January 18, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Today’s Chronicle mourns the loss of California’s corrupt redevelopment agencies. One of the cities mentioned is Emeryville, a strange choice given their status as one of the worst abusers of redevelopment: “It’s a really huge impact on what Emeryville’s done, and what it can do,” said Helen Bean, the city’s economic development and housing director. [...]
Another HSR Resignation
Posted in planning, transit, tagged FRA on January 18, 2012 | 2 Comments »
As has been widely reported, several top executives of the troubled CHSRA have resigned. Executive Director Roelof van Ark and Board Chair Thomas Umberg announced their resignations at the last Board meeting. Press Secretary Rachel Wall is also leaving. Not so widely reported was the departure of Karen Rae, Deputy Director at the FRA. Rae [...]
FRA Hornblowing Rule Divides Communities
Posted in planning, risk, tagged FRA on January 17, 2012 | 1 Comment »
The Hornblowing Rule is possibly the stupidest idea to ever come out of the FRA. It created an elaborate, unfunded Federal mandate for grade crossings. If local communities do not pay ransom — tens of millions of dollars — for grade crossing improvements, then the Feds have them subjected to round-the-clock horn blasts. In the [...]
Worst Driver Ever
Posted in highways on January 15, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Under a plea deal, Deschutes County Circuit Judge Alta Brady sentenced Erik Conn to a 28-month prison term. Conn struck and killed 16-year old Forrest Cepeda, who was cycling along Reed Market Rd in Bend (Oregon). Just prior to the accident, Conn was texting his girlfriend — who was sitting in the seat next to [...]
The Fun Police
Posted in Uncategorized on January 14, 2012 | 4 Comments »
First they came after the hobos. Then the college students. Soon, before you know it, they come after the yuppies sipping white wine out on a front stoop: This all ended one evening in October when my friend, a guest from California, and I were sitting on the stoop elegantly sipping from a bottle of [...]
