Matt Baume
Recent Posts
Strong Show of Public Support at City Hall for Watershed Restoration
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One of the PUC’s suggested treatments would daylight Yosemite Creek along city streets. Want to see an unprecedented outpouring of public support for a government agency? Look no further than your nearest sewer. A Monday afternoon presentation before the Board of Supervisors Land Use & Economic Development Committee by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission […]
Transit Riders Union Plots Solution to Muni Cuts, Forms Advisory Board
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Muni riders board an already-packed shuttle during Thursday’s Metro shutdown. Photo: Matt Baume Muni may be having trouble acquiring cash these days, but there’s one thing that’s never in short supply for the transit agency: advice. Among the many organizations pressuring Muni to resist service cuts, the newly formed San Francisco Transit Riders Union (SFTRU) […]
San Francisco Could Find Downstream Benefits in Innovative Street Paving
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Source: Chicago’s Green Alleys Handbook During the heavy rainfall season, San Francisco faces some daunting challenges: Draining the water, keeping the roads from getting slippery, and containing and treating the runoff. Some storms are so severe that the city can’t keep pace. That’s when we see flooding in the Muni tunnels and sewage discharges into […]
What Can SF Learn from Other Cities’ Urban Water Projects?
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Nine Mile Run in Pittsburgh. (Editor’s note: This is Part 3 in a 3-part series on the Bay Area watershed. In Part 1, we examined a radical new daylighting proposal in Berkeley; and in Part 2, we looked at the changes that SF streets may face under a bold plan by the Public Utilities Commission.) […]
The Lure of the Creeks Buried Beneath San Francisco’s Streets
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Islais Creek Channel. Photo: Matt Baume (Editor’s note: This is Part 2 in a 3-part series on the Bay Area watershed.) San Francisco may be getting new waterfront soon, thanks to ambitious projects currently being studied by the city’s Public Utilities Commission, including proposals for daylighting, or uncovering, long-buried creeks and streams and creating open-air […]
Bay Area Cities Rediscover the Creeks Under Their Streets
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One of the proposed designs for Center Street in Berkeley, by Ecocity Builders (Editor’s note: This is Part 1 in a 3-part series on the Bay Area watershed) The proposal to convert Center Street in Berkeley from an asphalt thoroughfare to a park-like promenade — revealing a long-hidden underground creek — is the latest twist […]
SF Transit Riders Union Holds First Meeting, Debates Priorities
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Photo: Troy Holden Roughly two dozen attendees came out to the inaugural meeting of the San Francisco Transit Riders Union (SFTRU) on Thursday evening and had a spirited — at times heated — debate about how to make the fledgling organization a vocal constituency representing the diverse interests of Muni riders. Billed as an opportunity […]