Bryan Goebel
Bryan Goebel is a reporter at KQED Public Radio in San Francisco. A veteran journalist and writer, he helped launch Streetsblog SF in 2009 and served as editor for three years. He lives car-free in the Castro District.
Recent Posts
Do San Francisco’s Historic Streetcars Keep Muni Stuck in the Past?
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Flickr photo: Telstar Logistics Don’t get me wrong, I love San Francisco’s historic streetcars. I have ridden them often and can appreciate the nostalgic bumpy rides, even more so if I don’t have to stand, and can grab a seat and peer outside the small windows. But when I saw Rachel Gordon’s story in the […]
Eyes On The Street: Potrero Median Fence Is Partially Built
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Photos by Matthew Roth A five-foot tall median fence that some advocates fear will actually make the area more dangerous for pedestrians is now being installed on Potrero Avenue between 25th Street and Cesar Chavez. As my colleague Matthew Roth has reported, DPW and MTA are erecting the fence to to prevent people from making […]
Today’s Headlines
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Muni’s Streetcar #1 to Undergo $1.9 Million Renovation (SF Gate) Oakland Planning Commission to Consider Changing Zoning Rules (SF Gate) What Makes People Afraid of Urbanism? (TOW via Streetsblog.net) Fog City Journal: "Newsom Allies Maneuver to Appoint Mazzola to GG Bridge Commish" Public Meeting on Presidio Main Post Canceled (SF Gate, SF Citizen) BAAQMD Offers […]
Today’s Headlines
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SFCTA Studying Bicycle, Ped, Motor Vehicle Patterns on Octavia Boulevard (SF Examiner) Traffic Nightmare at LA Schools (NYT via Streetsblog LA) Pedestrian Killed on 280/1 Connector Ramp (BCN via CBS5) Homeland Security Doles Out Money to Bay Area Transit Agencies (BCN via ABC7) Merc Editorial: "High-Speed Rail Still Makes Sense" Obama to Announce Plans for […]
Streetscast: An Interview with MTA Chief Nat Ford, Part 1
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Photo by Bryan Goebel Municipal Transportation Agency Executive Director Nat Ford has been on the job for more than three years now and is a veteran public transportation manager. He began his career as a train conductor 26 years ago at New York’s MTA before moving on to a number of managerial positions. He was […]
Supervisor Dufty Blasts SFPD Over MTA Work Orders
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Supervisor Bevan Dufty, armed with numbers and documents he obtained detailing MTA work orders from other city departments, scolded two members of the San Francisco Police Department’s top brass Wednesday, calling the department’s raid on Muni’s budget "excessive" and "unbelievable." Dufty called the hearing before the Board of Supervisors Budget and Finance Committee to examine […]
MTA Board Tweaks Budget Proposal Following First Public Hearing
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Executive Director Nat Ford and Directors Cameron Beach and Rev. James McCray listen to testimony. The Municipal Transportation Agency Board of Directors, in a marathon meeting that lasted nearly six hours, voiced support for fare hikes, but balked at a budget proposal to charge 50 cents for transfers and indicated it favors service reduction options […]
Eyes on the Street: When Repaving Becomes a Hazard
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Photos by Bryan Goebel If you’ve pedaled along Howard Street in SoMa lately, you’ve no doubt noticed the shoddy paving between 6th and 8th Streets. A DPW contractor repaved the street as part of a sewer main replacement project but in several areas left a two inch shelf in the middle of the bike lane, […]
MTA Budget Hearing Today
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Flickr photo: Steve Rhodes The MTA holds its first public hearing today on its proposals to raise fares, fines, fees and reduce service. The agency is facing a $129 million deficit and proposing eliminating up to nine bus routes and reducing service on at least 29 other routes. The hearing is part of the MTA […]
The Freiker Movement
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Photo: Freiker.com Most mainstream news outlets have paltry coverage of the Livable Streets movement, and we devote a lot of space on Streetsblog criticizing them, but one local station did a cool story today about a Freiker program at a school in Los Altos. From ABC7News.com: Almond Elementary School is going green — launching a […]
MTA Releases Revised Budget Proposal, List of Muni Service Cuts
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Flickr photo: Steve Rhodes The Municipal Transportation Agency has released a revised budget proposal for the 2009-2010 fiscal year that calls for eliminating up to nine bus routes, and scaling back service on as many as 29 routes, including some popular lines, in a series of cost-cutting moves that would help Muni close a $129 […]
Healthy Saturdays Are Back!
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Flickr photo: Kate McCarthy, sfbike Last Saturday, as I was pedaling through Golden Gate Park, alongside a glut of bumper-to-bumper cars, I kept thinking to myself, "Why did I come on Saturday?" It had been so long since I spent a Saturday in GG Park. The juxtaposition was disgusting to me: a gaggle of cars […]