Aaron Bialick
Aaron was the editor of Streetsblog San Francisco from January 2012 until October 2015. He joined Streetsblog in 2010 after studying rhetoric and political communication at SF State University and spending a semester in Denmark.
Recent Posts
Are Mayor Lee, SFPD, and SFMTA Serious About Ending Hazardous Parking?
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Mayor Ed Lee, along with the heads of the SFPD and SFMTA, vowed yesterday to crack down on double parking and “box blocking” as part of broader “Congestion Management Strategy to improve traffic flow and safety.” It’s a big promise, upending SF’s history of lax enforcement towards parking violations that routinely make streets more dangerous […]
All-Door Muni Boarding Still Means Quicker Buses, Less Fare Evasion
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Two years after Muni launched all-door boarding, the agency continues to report [PDF] quicker boardings and lower rates of fare evasion. As SFBay reported, SFMTA Performance Manager Jason Lee told the agency’s board yesterday that “dwell times,” the amount of time buses spend waiting at stops, have decreased by an average of 38 percent systemwide. Dwell times are […]
Noah Budnick Named SF Bicycle Coalition’s New Executive Director
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Noah Budnick, an accomplished advocate for safe streets and effective transit in New York City, has been named the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition’s new executive director and will succeed Leah Shahum, who will step down after 12 years leading the organization. Budnick has built a strong national reputation among livable streets advocates in his 14 […]
Muni “Double Berthing” Set to Test This Saturday, Launch a Week Later
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Muni could launch “double berthing,” or boarding two trains simultaneously in its Metro stations, as early as next weekend — if all goes well in a live test this Saturday, SFMTA Director Ed Reiskin told an agency board meeting today. Reiskin said Muni officials will demonstrate the feature on Saturday morning for officials at the CA […]
BART Will Study Second Transbay Tube, West Side Extension
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Updated 11:06 p.m. with comments from BART Board-elect Nick Josefowitz. BART says it will formally study the decades-old ideas of building a second Transbay tube and extending service to SF’s western neighborhoods. Ellen Smith, BART’s acting manager for strategic and policy planning, recently told a SF County Transportation Authority Board committee (comprised of SF supervisors) […]
Bold Visions for the Embarcadero Emerge at Public Design Workshops
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Ever since the Embarcadero was uncovered from beneath a freeway more than two decades ago, San Franciscans’ appetite for a more people-friendly waterfront only seems to have grown. At a series of recent public design workshops this month, groups of attendees were asked to put together a display of how they’d re-allocate street space on […]
Muni’s Sluggish 30-Stockton Finally Set to Get Greater Priority on the Streets
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Muni’s notoriously sluggish 30-Stockton line is finally set to get some upgrades that will give buses higher priority on streets through the dense neighborhoods of Union Square, Chinatown, North Beach, and near Fisherman’s Wharf. The plans, part of the SFMTA’s “Muni Forward” program, include transit-only lanes, bus bulb-outs and boarding islands, transit signal priority, and […]
Annie Alley Transformed Into a Downtown Gathering Space
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San Francisco’s newest on-street plaza opened downtown this week on Annie Street, a one-block alley that runs near SPUR’s Urban Center between Market and Mission Streets, about halfway between Third and New Montgomery Streets. Temporary concrete and wood seats have transformed a large section of the alley into a car-free space for gatherings and events […]
SFMTA Board Approves Contested Transit Signals, Bulb-Outs on Haight
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On Tuesday, the SFMTA Board of Directors approved plans to add traffic signals and bulb-outs along Haight Street, which could speed up Muni’s 6 and 71 lines and improve pedestrian safety. The approval came despite complaints from some Upper Haight merchants over removing parking for bus bulb-outs, and mixed support for new traffic signals from […]
Muni Delays “Double Berthing” Until December, Citing Sunset Tunnel Work
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Muni has once again pushed back its launch of “double berthing” — simultaneous loading of two trains in its Metro stations — until December. SFMTA spokesperson Paul Rose said that plans for a live test and launch in November were thwarted by recent weekend construction on the Sunset Tunnel. “Because of rail improvement project work […]
SF Hotel Council on Board With Market Street Car Restrictions, Transit Lanes
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The SF Hotel Council supports the SFMTA’s proposals to extend transit-only lanes and ban private cars from mid-Market Street, said the council’s chief. “We looked at all the proposals to try to vet out any potential issues, and [the SFMTA has] been wonderful to work with,” said Kevin Carroll, the Hotel Council’s executive director, at an […]
Three Recent Assaults By Drivers Show Traffic Sewers’ Danger to Bikes, Peds
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There have been three disturbing cases in SF within the last month in which drivers assaulted people walking and biking. Such cases are usually rare, but all of the attacks occurred on streets designed for fast driving. The most recent attack was in the Excelsior on November 11. According to the SFPD Ingleside Station newsletter, a driver was […]