tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78178658370043067612024-03-12T17:26:10.421-07:00Car-Free TalkCreating communities for the 21st century and beyondSuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17168044208040037694noreply@blogger.comBlogger114125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817865837004306761.post-18988569557379807672011-02-25T12:21:00.000-08:002011-03-21T09:43:04.128-07:00As a Nation, We Remain Asleep at the WheelI'm afraid circumstances beyond our control are going to force lifestyle changes on Americans whether they like it or not. Yeah, sure, GM's profits are soaring. ("The $4.7 billion it earned for all of last year was its biggest profit in more than a decade.") Or they were, kinda, last year, but now with all that stuff going on that's beyond our control, the price of GM stock is trading at below Suehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17168044208040037694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817865837004306761.post-66525341091402215572010-06-29T21:04:00.000-07:002010-07-01T13:53:13.218-07:00Minding Mass Transit Across the NationJune 29, 2010: A student of art at the California College of Art riding the 27 Bryant from the Flower Mart, loaded down with flowers that she will arrange at the restaurant where she works. You do not need a car ...
Perhaps 100 people rallied in support of mass transit agencies all over the country -- and, in particular, two bills now in Congress to support mass transit -- the Public Suehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17168044208040037694noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817865837004306761.post-12519800936275358672010-03-29T11:33:00.000-07:002010-03-29T21:52:22.937-07:00Minding Muni, Part IIIPassengers wait to board the 38 Limited bus on Geary at Divisadero. On February 26, 2010, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Board of Directors voted 4 to 3 to cut service by 10 percent in order to close a budget gap.
This is a the third in a series about the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency's financial woes. The first two are posted on Fog City Journal, which has Suehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17168044208040037694noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817865837004306761.post-27079008941140821542009-12-17T17:05:00.000-08:002010-01-01T11:40:19.504-08:00Michael Ruppert, a Torture Case, and Green EconomiesTwo weeks ago I went to see Michael Ruppert, author of a popular 9-11 conspiracy theory/peak oil book called “Crossing the Rubicon”, at a showing of a recently released documentary about him called Collapse. And then on Tuesday morning, I sat in on an extraordinary rendition/torture case being heard in a federal courtroom in San Francisco.These two items are, of course, related. As a nation, weSuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17168044208040037694noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817865837004306761.post-71325589262333287682009-12-04T09:49:00.000-08:002009-12-04T16:49:56.276-08:00Muni Rider Appeals Service CutbacksNotice of service changes -- including the elimination of route segments (the Number 2 Clement) and the elimination of entire lines (the Number 4 Sutter)
<!--[if gte mso 9]> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]> 0 false 18 pt 18 pt 0 0 false false false <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]> <![endif]--> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @Suehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17168044208040037694noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817865837004306761.post-27972702493503852052009-11-15T23:01:00.001-08:002009-11-25T10:51:38.042-08:00Green Festival?Two non-profits, Global Exchange and Green America (formerly Co-op America), hosted the eighth annual Green Festival in San Francisco on the weekend of November 13-15, 2009, at San Francisco's Concourse Exhibition Center. But just how 'green' was this event? Perhaps that depends on how you define 'green'.Green? For example, are plug-in cars really 'green'? Or do they just make us feel 'green'?Suehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17168044208040037694noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817865837004306761.post-81342465203801691012009-09-24T11:29:00.000-07:002009-09-27T23:50:15.106-07:00Peak Oil and the ARRPMini Peak Oil Library
<!--[if gte mso 9]> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]> 0 false 18 pt 18 pt 0 0 false false false <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]> <![endif]--> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:Suehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17168044208040037694noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817865837004306761.post-46236939285849484482009-09-20T22:29:00.000-07:002009-09-27T15:47:28.103-07:00San Francisco Peak Oil Preparedness Task Force to Present ReportWhether San Franciscans like it or not, the days of "happy motoring" -- as author James Howard Kunstler puts it -- are likely over. That's because since extraction of petroleum from the Earth's surface started on an industrial level in 1859, humanity has used up about half of the world's oil reserves, and because it is unlikely that there will be a technological fix to replace the energy that weSuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17168044208040037694noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817865837004306761.post-73083133043524511172009-09-19T10:31:00.000-07:002009-09-21T16:06:34.048-07:00PARK(ing) Day in San Francisco; September 18, 2009A map of pre-registered PARK(ing) Day locations in San Francisco.Friday, September 18 -- PARK(ing) Day -- was unusually hot in San Francisco. I headed out on my bicycle at about 11 a.m. to meet friends who had secured a parking spot on Valencia Street in San Francisco's Mission District. Along the way, I encountered ...... a spot taken over by the Mission Greenbelt Project, and ...... another Suehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17168044208040037694noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817865837004306761.post-17247378898847562352009-09-17T12:23:00.000-07:002009-09-17T12:28:46.694-07:00The Center for Public Integrity on the Renewal of the 2005 Omnibus Transportation Bill HomeArticles ▼ IntroductionLobbying A Lobbying Free-for-All MapAbout This Project Track this investigation facebook twitter A Lobbying Free-for-All Thousands of Special Interests Vie for Influence on New Suehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17168044208040037694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817865837004306761.post-9033751746904877742009-09-07T21:45:00.000-07:002009-09-07T22:38:21.714-07:00Evaluating Obama and Transportation Policy So FarThis piece recently appeared in the Prague-based publication, Carbusters. The editor there gave me permission to reprint it here.As the most powerful person in the world, President Barack Hussein Obama has an unenviable task – saving humanity from its inclination to environmental self-destruction by transforming the way Americans travel. Obama’s Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood, does a Suehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17168044208040037694noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817865837004306761.post-16824107693676112892009-08-22T19:13:00.000-07:002009-08-22T19:29:16.511-07:00You Call This Bicycle Parking????Here we are in Safeway Heights at the Safeway on Market and Church Streets. There's one little bicycle parking rack that is UTTERLY inadequate. As you can see, the wheel of my bicycle (in the background) and of someone else's bicycle (in the foreground) are crushed right up against a concrete barrier.Someone else did not even bother draping his/her bicycle over the wavy rack and just locked hisSuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17168044208040037694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817865837004306761.post-78768733939155355482009-08-06T22:38:00.000-07:002009-08-06T22:41:49.416-07:00Camping on the Verge of Peak OilI recently went camping with the chair of the San Francisco Peak Oil Preparedness Task Force. Here is my Facebook Diary of that experience:Yosemite Without the PeopleSuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17168044208040037694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817865837004306761.post-66632343778095976392009-07-27T18:11:00.000-07:002009-07-27T18:48:21.782-07:00Say what???I was running around on my bicycle doing errands today when I encountered a caravan of cars in the bus stop on California Street at Presidio, right in front of the Jewish Community Center. The cars were preventing buses from pulling up to the curb and blocking the curb ramp -- you can see the textured yellow curb ramp surface and the hand of one person who was forced to walk around the back of Suehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17168044208040037694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817865837004306761.post-53187627657205706532009-07-24T23:14:00.001-07:002009-07-24T23:17:28.667-07:00What's Wrong With This Picture?What's wrong with this picture?Taken on Friday, July 24, at about 5:30 pm, at the intersection of New Montgomery and Market streets in San Francisco.Suehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17168044208040037694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817865837004306761.post-40610952017665462322009-07-23T11:44:00.000-07:002009-07-23T12:04:11.338-07:00Parking in the Red ZonePeople frequently pull into the red zone on Geary Boulevard at 19th Avenue, park, and run into the Starbucks/Wells Fargo to get a Mocha Grande (or whatever those things are) and/or complete a bank transaction.But parking in red zones at the intersection of streets is illegal -- and with good reason. Cars backing out of this particular red zone back right into oncoming north bound cars on 19th Suehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17168044208040037694noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817865837004306761.post-21100464476315500302009-07-14T19:51:00.000-07:002009-07-20T21:51:37.365-07:00Bus Stops Are for ...Texting?Talking on cell phones?Queuing up to cross the Bay Bridge? (Notice bus creeping up in back.)This woman harangued me for taking pictures of the cars in the bus stop. Imagine that!One thing bus stops certainly are NOT for is buses pulling up to the curb to pick up passengers.I'm taking a free painting course at the Academy of Art on Federal Street in San Francisco on Tuesday afternoons. ISuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17168044208040037694noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817865837004306761.post-64900698253181725612009-07-01T16:33:00.000-07:002009-07-20T21:53:10.001-07:00About Those Curb Ramps ...I recently wrote a story for SF Streetsblog about some sloppy curb ramp construction on Park Presidio in San Francisco. Someone later posted a comment asking if the curb ramps had ever been repaired, and the contractor himself posted a comment on the Streetsblog story saying his company would be doing the work within the next few days -- and it did, as you can see by the above photograph and twoSuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17168044208040037694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817865837004306761.post-47783144448485546002009-06-16T17:42:00.000-07:002009-06-16T18:18:35.037-07:00Richmond District Sidewalks Are For ...That's a good question. I always thought they were for walking, but when I left for work at about 6 am this morning, I discovered otherwise ...And bicycle parking is for ... ???? This is what I discovered outside the US Post Office on Geary at 21st Avenue when I returned at about 3:30 pm. The bicyclist came up behind me just as I was getting my camera out. Perfect timing ...Suehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17168044208040037694noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817865837004306761.post-40392533568632990292009-06-14T17:00:00.000-07:002009-06-14T17:33:40.012-07:00Bicycle Parking in San Francisco's Richmond District?The Richmond District Branch Library reopened recently, after being closed for a year or more for renovations. And it is a shining example of the blessings of civic bonds in all respects except for at least one ... bicycle parking.Above, I have parked my bicycle parallel to the new bicycle rack that otherwise is not very functional.Books ...Note that in this photograph, before I have locked up Suehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17168044208040037694noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817865837004306761.post-39423087290221784412009-06-11T18:37:00.000-07:002009-09-23T21:20:04.535-07:00The Citizens of This Nation Who Have Been Subjected to Warrantless Wiretapping v. Obama and BushJon Eisenberg, counsel for the plaintiffs in Al-Haramain v. Bush/Obama.Criminy, what a title.We thought things would get better under Barack Obama, but at least I'll give him credit for these two things: 1) the Bush administration left him a legal can of worms; and 2) he tries. George W. Bush never had to try. When you are a white male scion of privilege, that's your lucky break. You think youSuehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17168044208040037694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817865837004306761.post-61819852991708916322009-05-29T13:29:00.000-07:002009-09-23T21:12:14.499-07:00Al-Haramain v. Obama: Trying to Restore the Rule of LawAmendment IVThe right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.Several civil suits involving extraordinary rendition, Suehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17168044208040037694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817865837004306761.post-64227206657360888212009-05-28T17:49:00.000-07:002009-05-28T18:16:07.866-07:00Playing the Numbers GameThe amended San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency budget, adopted by the Board of Supervisors on May 27, 2009, impacts transit users more negatively than car drivers. The 38 Geary pulls up to a stop at 20th Avenue and Geary in the Richmond District.On Wednesday, May 27 at a special meeting of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to consider the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Suehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17168044208040037694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817865837004306761.post-86444570393635306252009-05-21T08:40:00.000-07:002009-05-23T20:17:41.301-07:00Will Muni Be Thrown Under the Bus?Muni riders on the 47 bus, one of the more infrequent buses that is usually at capacity when I board it.Here's a quick update on everything that has gone down with the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency budget at the level of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors:At the May 12 Board of Supervisors meeting, the supervisors, MTA staffers, and Mayor Gavin Newsom engaged in last minute Suehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17168044208040037694noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817865837004306761.post-69507587271206489542009-05-09T09:47:00.000-07:002009-05-11T10:19:07.000-07:00Update on the SFMTA Budget StruggleSan Francisco Board of Supervisors President David Chiu, who does not own a car, introduced a motion to reject the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency budget after the April 30 SFMTA Board of Directors vote. This motion was heard at the Budget and Finance Committee on Wednesday, May 6, 2009. His measure passed, four to one, and has been forwarded onto the full board, where it will be Suehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17168044208040037694noreply@blogger.com0