Matthew Roth
Recent Posts
Chinatown Students Conduct Thorough Surveys of SFMTA Bus Stops
| | 12 Comments
CCDC volunteer Bill Yu measures the width of a sidewalk for a bus stop survey. Photos: Matthew Roth One of the central criticisms of Muni’s objective to consolidate bus stops is that it hasn’t conducted thorough demographic analysis of the people who use each stop, particularly seniors and the disabled. Rather than rely solely on […]
Here’s to the Other 364 Earth Days
| | 10 Comments
I’m guessing some of you might share my distaste for the once-a-year gaga over the Earth, especially when it takes the form of NBC changing its logo color or Chevron touting its environmental record. I’m not saying we shouldn’t be thinking about cutting greenhouse gases or leaving the car at home to walk, bike, or […]
California Assembly Hits, Kills Traffic Justice Bill
| | 14 Comments
The intersection of Market and Octavia — one of the most dangerous in San Francisco for cyclists. Flickr photo: sfbike Safe streets advocates often ruefully say, "if you want to kill someone and get away with it, do it in a car." In fact, unless alcohol is involved, very few motorists who kill vulnerable road […]
MTC Report Shows Dismal Future for Transit Operators
| | 26 Comments
Image: MTC The 2009 Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) Annual Report paints a sobering picture of funding crises at nearly every Bay Area Transit operator — crises we’ve covered extensively on Streetsblog — and sums up the situation bluntly: "There is no way to sugarcoat it: These are difficult, daunting days for public transit in the […]
Eyes on the Street: Valencia Gets Trees and Decorative Streetlights
| | 9 Comments
New trees and new roadway scale lighting. Photos: Matthew Roth Now that the Valencia Street sidewalk reconstruction between 15th Street and 19th Street has given us sparkly new pedestrian space, the Department of Public Works (DPW) has begun putting on decorative touches. The DPW has planted two types of trees as well as pedestrian and […]
Ride the City Debuts New San Francisco Bike Route Map
| | 13 Comments
Despite Google making headlines recently with the addition of bicycle directions in Google Maps, a New York City startup called Ride the City had already been offering their bicycle mapping service for two years, earning a loyal following among cyclists there. Now, Ride the City is live in San Francisco, with route maps and features […]
The Family That Rides Together
| | 34 Comments
The Rileys on Valencia Street at Cesar Chavez Street, near the start of their long journey to school and work. Photos: Matthew Roth When trying to find San Francisco parents who take their kids to school by bike or on foot, we often hear this refrain: It’s all well and good to ride your bike […]
Cyclist’s Conflict with SFPD Could Take Nine Months or More to Resolve
| | 22 Comments
Adrienne Johnson riding beside the unmarked police car whose driver she says threatened her. Photo taken by Johnson’s husband, who was trailing behind her with her son. As happens at some point to most people who ride a bike in San Francisco, Adrienne Johnson had a scary brush with an irate motorist, though her story […]
Noe Valley Plaza Debate: It’s the Traffic, Stupid
| | 83 Comments
Signs like this hang from windows on streets all around 24th and Noe Streets. Photos: Matthew Roth Just outside St. Phillip’s Church in Noe Valley, where more than 100 people showed up last night to weigh in on the proposal to close Noe Street at 24th Street for two months to build a trial pedestrian […]
Bay Area Cities Open Streets This Sunday for World Health Day
| | 7 Comments
Numerous Bay Area cities are joining municipalities around the world this Sunday, April 11th, to embrace the health and community benefits of ciclovias — or car-free events that encourage walking, biking and physical activity — as part of the World Health Organization’s 1,000 Cities 1,000 Lives, World Health Day 2010. Like the incredibly popular Sunday […]
SFBC Starts “Turn ‘Em In” Pothole Campaign
| | 6 Comments
Click image to enlarge: The first of four panels on the new "Turn ‘Em In" pothole campaign. Image: Jonas Madden-Connor and Francois Vigneault. New Panels will be unveiled each Tuesday in April. As any bicycle rider in San Francisco knows, the potholes on the streets can be vicious. Most of us probably get to know […]
Bicycling Magazine Ranks San Francisco 6th Best Cycling City Nationally
| | 9 Comments
Streetsblog Editor Bryan Goebel, Board of Supervisors President David Chiu, and SFBC’s Leah Shahum riding downtown on Bike to Work Day. Photo dustinj San Francisco today was named the sixth best city in the nation for cycling by editors of Bicycling Magazine, the best ranking of any city in California. Bicycling editors chose San Francisco […]