Matthew Roth
Recent Posts
Ad Nauseam: Kentucky Fried Potholes
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Not so Good Frickin’ Chickin’ In casting around for a good April Fool’s Day joke, I found yesterday’s New York Times Lede blog report on the chicken frying corporation KFC doing some pothole repair in Louisville, complete with this photo of Colonel Sanders in a hardhat and construction bib. I thought for sure the Times […]
Mayor Newsom, Caltrans Announce Plans to Remove Portions of I-280
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A controlled explosion from the filming of the TV series "Trauma," on a closed portion of I-280 Mayor Gavin Newsom yesterday announced one of his most ambitious plans for re-shaping San Francisco, telling reporters at a press conference with Caltrans Director Will Kemption and Caltrain Director Michael Scanlan that the city would move forward with […]
Happy Belated Transportation Freedom Day, San Francisco!
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I’m sorry I’m late. You know how it is, if it’s not in the Facebook calendar, I’m pretty much worthless at remembering. Similar to the premise behind Tax Freedom Day, on March 1st, the San Francisco Bay Area celebrated (did it?) Transportation Freedom Day, the day when an average household has worked enough to […]
California Could Start Requiring Drivers to Report VMT
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When USDOT Secretary Ray LaHood last month suggested that the country should consider replacing the gas tax with a tax on vehicle miles traveled (VMT) to compensate for the dwindling Highway Trust Fund, which is primarily supported from gas taxes, the White House immediately rebuffed him, assuring the public and angry editorial boards that Obama […]
The Rise of an Evil Anti-Car Multinational Conglomerate
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As soothsayers of the Sacred RAC priesthood like Rob Anderson will let you know time and again on his own blog, and sometimes on ours, all this talk of bike plans, Level-of-Service reform, parking restrictions in new development, and greening boulevards is nothing more than a thinly-veiled assault on our national right to drive freely […]
That’s Sooo Vanilla!: Friday Bike Porn in Forbes Magazine
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Yum. One of several ways I drove down my productivity when I worked at Transportation Alternatives in NYC (think SFBC with a livable streets angle) was to click through the websites of the hand-made bicycle manufacturers who participate in the annual North American Handmade Bicycle Show competition, ogling the master craftmanship displayed there. No bicycle […]
The World’s Best Music Videos Featuring Bicycles
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Dave Burdick yesterday offered up his choices for the Top 5 videos featuring a bicycle on the Huffington Post. While it’s nice to see the mainstream blogosphere types showing some love for two-wheelers, c’mon man! Robin Thicke bouncing around NYC on a crappy bike to "Disco Beethoven" is the world’s number one bike video?! I […]
Regional Transportation Funding Problems Keep Getting Bigger
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In a sobering revision of the 25-year Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) at yesterday’s Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) meeting, MTC staff explained that the elimination of the State Transit Assistance (STA) fund and much lower than expected sales-tax revenues forced the planning body to significantly revise down its projections for operational spending and expansion projects (PDF). […]
17th Street Closure Will Be First NYC-style Plaza in San Francisco
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The future site of a pedestrian plaza at 17th and Market Streets Don’t look now, but NYC DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan’s magic may have rubbed off on DPW Director Ed Reiskin, to San Francisco’s benefit. Reiskin has been leading a multi-agency effort to close a small portion of 17th Street where it meets Market Street […]
Should California Enact an “Idaho Stop” Law for Cyclists?
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Oregon lawmakers have been engaged in a heated debate about enacting an "Idaho Stop" law, which would codify what most cyclists already do: treat stop signs as yield signs and red lights as stop signs. The issue has come up before in Sacramento, but has never been so close to adoption. SFBC Program Director Andy […]
Today’s Headlines
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Bike Plan EIR Should Be Certified By June, Lanes Striped By August (SFBG) (SF Gate) (Ecolocalizer) SFCTA Releases $36 Million of Prop K Funds to Speed Doyle Drive Project (Examiner) City Departments Budget $1.2 Million for Air Travel; Newsom Starts CO2 Offset Fund (Examiner) When a Tanker Truck Explodes on 280 This Weekend, Don’t Worry, […]
Little Brother is Watching
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A sample case from SeeClickFix’s San Francisco database The next generation of community-driven reporting of quality-of-life issues–like potholes, graffiti, garbage buildup, or broken street lights–is SeeClickFix, a mapping software that enables users to populate a map with cases that are then forwarded to the responsible city agency. Much like a 311 system, SeeClickFix’s software is […]