Andrew Boone
Andrew Boone covers the Livable Streets Movements for Streetsblog in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. Andrew's claim to fame is once having bicycled more than 12,000 miles of smiles in one year. nauboone@gmail.com
Recent Posts
SamTrans Plans For Rapid Buses on El Camino Real, Just Not Anytime Soon
| | 3 Comments
Last week, SamTrans released its first study of potential Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) service along El Camino Real in San Mateo County, from Daly City to Palo Alto. BRT could reduce travel times for bus passengers by up to 25 percent thanks to express skip-stop service and transit signal priority. Faster bus service would attract […]
VTA Cuts Alum Rock and Santa Clara BART Stations From Funding Plans
| | 46 Comments
Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) officials announced on October 6 that they would not seek federal funds in 2015 to construct Alum Rock and Santa Clara BART stations planned as part of the transit system’s extension through downtown San Jose. The move sparked an outcry from neighborhood leaders and elected officials, who have worked in community […]
Voters Back Downtown Growth in San Bruno and Menlo Park
| | 5 Comments
Tuesday’s election saw large majorities of San Bruno and Menlo Park voters approve plans for substantial new downtown development. The plans could potentially transform both downtowns by bringing several thousand more workers and residents within walking distance of the two Peninsula cities’ Caltrain stations, both improving transit ridership and making the downtowns livelier, more livable […]
San Bruno Voters to Determine Future Downtown Growth with Measure N
| | 6 Comments
Last week, just two weeks before San Bruno voters choose whether or not to approve the Measure N ballot measure, city officials finally cleared the last legal hurdle for the measure, which would modify building height limits that voters set in 1977 with Ordinance 1284. That ordinance required a “town-hall type of hearing whereby experts, […]
Committee Punts San Jose Sidewalk Cycling Ban to City Council
| | 2 Comments
After hearing over an hour of public comments on Monday afternoon both strongly supporting and opposing a ban on cycling on sidewalks in downtown San Jose, the city’s Transportation and Environment Committee chose not to recommend to the City Council any ordinance that would restrict sidewalk cycling. Seniors, speaking in favor of banning cycling on […]
Caltrain and High-Speed Rail Pursue Level Boarding, Compatible Platforms
| | 23 Comments
Correction 10/8: Caltrain and the CAHSRA haven’t agreed to create a joint specification for train cars, but will explore options for platform compatibility. Officials representing Caltrain and the California High-Speed Rail Authority recently announced that they’ll work closely together over the next several months to explore what options are available from train car manufacturers to allow for level […]
San Jose DOT: Ban Sidewalk Cycling Downtown, 5 MPH Speed Limit Elsewhere
| | 29 Comments
On Monday afternoon (October 6), San Jose’s Transportation & Environment Committee will review a proposal by the city’s Department of Transportation (SJDOT) to ban bicyclists over the age of 12 on sidewalks along ten downtown streets, and to set a speed limit of 5 mph for bicycling on every other sidewalk citywide. The city has […]
San Jose Candidates Campaign at Bike Party, Bike Life Festival
| | 3 Comments
Mayoral candidate Sam Liccardo and District 3 City Council candidates Don Gagliardi and Raul Peralez all sought to demonstrate their support for improving cycling conditions in the state’s third-largest city at both September’s San Jose Bike Party and the inaugural San Jose Bike Life Festival. Gagliardi and Liccardo both spoke briefly to the over 2,000 bicyclists […]
Alta’s Mia Birk Helps Mountain View Kick Off Its Latest Bike Plan
| | 2 Comments
How bikeable can Mountain View become? Last Monday, the city welcomed Alta Planning + Design President Mia Birk to help kick off an update to its 2008 Bicycle Transportation Plan. Birk had plenty to share about how Portland transformed itself into one of the best cities for biking in North America. Birk was hired as the city’s […]
Sidewalk Cycling Ban Again Proposed for Downtown San Jose
| | 7 Comments
San Jose Department of Transportation (SJDOT) officials announced at a community meeting Wednesday evening that a downtown sidewalk cycling ban is again under consideration, explaining that the “Walk Your Bike” signs and banners installed in December 2013 had largely failed to convince bicyclists to ride in the streets rather than on sidewalks. Three members of […]
Can VTA’s Bus Route Changes Keep Up With Suburban Office Park Growth?
| | 11 Comments
Office development is booming in Santa Clara County. As the number of jobs increases, will the Valley Transportation Authority ramp up bus service to keep pace, or will streets become overrun with traffic? VTA hosted a public meeting last week to present a set of proposed changes to its bus service that the agency calls its North Central County […]
Mountain View Council Candidates Split on Building Housing Near Google
| | 36 Comments
A crowded field of nine candidates campaigning for three available seats on Mountain View’s City Council aired their disagreements at a community forum on Tuesday evening about whether new housing within the sprawling North Bayshore office park would be a practical solution to traffic congestion and rapidly rising rents. Candidates Lenny Siegel, Pat Showalter, Jim Neal, Gary […]