Matthew Roth
Recent Posts
CA Poised to Reform Auto-Centric Level of Service Environmental Rules
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California administrative rulemakers recently moved a step closer to reforming the section of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) that has compelled cities to focus undue attention on the age-old Automobile Level of Service (LOS) threshold for impacts of new projects and has led to the construction of excess off-street parking. Photo: pbo31 The state’s […]
Painting Eyes on the Street: Debut of SF’s Art in Storefronts Program
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Artist Chor Boogie puts the finishing touches on his mural at 1028 Market St. Photo: Matthew Roth Building off Jane Jacob’s maxim that more eyes on a street make the street feel safer, the San Francisco Arts Commission has commissioned numerous artists to display their projects in abandoned storefronts as part of the Art in […]
SFPD and Health Department Announce Pedestrian Safety Campaign
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Photo: Thomas Hawk The San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) and the Department of Public Health (DPH) recently announced a pedestrian safety program funded by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS, tag: "Toward Zero Deaths, Every 1 Counts"), a joint initiative that aims to increase enforcement of dangerous and illegal driver behavior, […]
The Land of the Free (Parking)
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It shouldn’t come as a surprise to those of you who didn’t watch the San Francisco MTA Board meeting yesterday on your live-feed or on SFGTV that the meeting devolved into a referendum on the merits of free, or nearly free, parking. With half a dozen television cameras lined up along the far side of […]
Supervisor Carmen Chu Wary of Parking Meter Extension Proposal
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It shouldn’t be too surprising to those who have followed the debate on extending parking meter hours that Supervisor Carmen Chu is not a big fan. A tipster forwarded us an email from Chu’s office sent out last night to constituents encouraging them to show up at today’s MTA Board meeting and give their opinion […]
Budget Update Taken Off Agenda for Today’s MTA Board Meeting
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Although the MTA is facing a growing budget deficit that some estimate at $25-30 million or higher, the agency has not publicly talked about how it intends to close the gap, nor has it embraced revenue generators like expanded parking meter hours in commercial districts. An update of the FY 2010 budget was agendized last […]
Eyes on the Street: Week in Review
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Photo: plug1 Here’s your weekly round-up of photos from our Flickr pool. Thank you as always and please do send more our way. A selection of others after the jump.
Nevius Does a Great Job Blaming the Victim and Distorting Data
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C.W. Nevius’s column in the Chronicle today ("S.F. a dangerous city for careless pedestrians") is a great example of blaming the victim, ignoring data, and misrepresenting the experts you quote. But it wouldn’t be Nevius otherwise, would it? Here’s the gist: Nevius says that high pedestrian collision numbers in San Francisco are the fault of […]
Donald Shoup Calls San Francisco Parking Meter Study “Pathbreaking”
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With the debate about parking meter rates and hours raging on both sides of the Bay, Streetsblog called UCLA Professor Donald Shoup, author of The High Cost of Free Parking and arguably the world’s foremost parking expert, and asked him his opinion on the new San Francisco MTA parking meter study, which was released on […]
California Cities Lead Nation in Reducing Emissions from Streetlights
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PG&E workers installing an LED streetlight. Photo: PG&E Streetlights are an enormous part of any city’s energy consumption and cities that wish to cut down on their emissions and their energy bills are getting in line to convert their older street lamps to LED technology. According to Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI) and Department of Energy […]
MTA Releases Parking Meter Study that Proposes Extending Hours
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Photo: Bryan Goebel MTA Chief Nat Ford, at a reporters’ round table today, released the long-anticipated parking study conducted by his agency to measure the traffic impacts of increasing parking meter hours on weekday evenings and on Sundays [Summary PDF] [Full Study PDF]. The study recommends that the agency extend parking meter hours in specific […]
Eyes on the Street (and in the Sky): Week in Review
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Proud young pedestrian. Photo: busbozo Great to see so many children out for Walk to School Day this week. An absolutely beautiful photo of this little girl above. And good lord was it intense to get buzzed by the Blue Angels! I never want to be on the target end of our military. Thanks as […]