Michael Rhodes
Michael Rhodes is a former reporter for Streetsblog San Francisco. He lives in the Mission Dolores neighborhood and is a graduate of UC Berkeley's Department of City and Regional Planning.
Recent Posts
Mayor Newsom Weighs in on SFMTA Budget in Weekly Address
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If you’re wondering why Mayor Gavin Newsom supports a San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency two-year budget that continues major Muni service reductions, you just might find your answer in the Mayor’s weekly YouTube update. In a thirteen-minute discussion of the SFMTA budget, the Mayor admits he’s not proud of the budget, but defends it as […]
Muni’s Ten Percent Reduction Takes Effect: How Was Your Commute?
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Rain didn’t exactly make the 10 percent service frequency reduction more pleasant. Photos: Michael Rhodes Today is the first workday test of the Muni system after a ten percent overall reduction in service frequency went into effect on Saturday. The scene on this rainy Monday didn’t look all that different from a typical Muni commute: […]
This Week in Livable Streets Events
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Muni sliced its overall service frequency by ten percent over the weekend, so if you’re not already riding a bicycle, Bike to Work Day on Thursday might just be the time to start! Here are the highlights from the Streetsblog calendar: Tuesday: SFMTA Pedestrian Safety Advisory Committee Meeting. A chance to discuss pedestrian safety issues […]
Could Showing Merchants the Money Make Parking Meter Trials Palatable?
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A new street tree and sidewalk on Valencia Street. In other cities, merchants have welcomed extended parking meter hours when some of the revenue goes towards similar streetscape upgrades. Photo: Matthew Roth In his magnum opus, The High Cost of Free Parking, UCLA Professor Donald Shoup argues that city parking managers will build merchant support […]
Caltrain Chief: We’ll Be Fine If We Don’t Starve on the Way to the Banquet
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San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Executive Director Nat Ford at today’s Caltrain Board meeting. Photo: Michael Rhodes There’s still no relief in sight for Caltrain, which faces a dire financial situation that could force the agency to cut 50 percent of service by next year. Even if the train operator pulls a rabbit out of […]
Supervisors, Muni Operators and Riders Call for Rejection of SFMTA Budget
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Supervisor Eric Mar. Photos: Michael Rhodes In one of the broadest public organizing efforts around Muni in the past year, speakers from a range of groups — as well as several members of the Board of Supervisors — called today for the rejection of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency’s (SFMTA) two-year budget, which includes […]
Fare Evasion is Down as Muni Steps Up Collection Effort
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Transit fare inspectors on the F-line — looking awfully similiar to police. Image: SFMTA After months of non-stop bad news, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), which runs Muni, announced something positive for a change: Fare evasion is way down from a year ago. That’s thanks to some major changes in the agency’s fare […]
Dreaming of Pedestrian Heaven on San Francisco’s Oldest Street
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Enjoying a car-free Grant Avenue at Noodle Fest. Photo: Michael Rhodes Could San Francisco’s first and oldest thoroughfare become the city’s first true pedestrianized street? Since the day in 1835 when William Richardson drew the first map of Yerba Buena that included just one street, called "Calle de la fundacion" — Foundation Street, which ran […]
This Week in Livable Streets Events
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This week, celebrate brand new smooth pavement and join the fight for a more open government. Plus, more highlights from the Streetsblog calendar: Monday: Celebrate Smooth Pavement on JFK Drive. The SFBC’s Good Roads Campaign worked with the city to prioritize this and other pavement improvements on the city’s busiest bike routes. Join the crew […]
Audit Finds Sloppy Practices in SFMTA Work Orders
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SFMTA work orders more than doubled in the past decade. Chart: SF City Controller’s office. Muni is paying many city agencies for their services without written agreements detailing just what the transit agency should be getting and for how much, according to an audit [PDF] released by the City Controller’s office today. The report, which […]
Muni Chief Argues Upcoming Service Frequency Cut is Targeted
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SFMTA Executive Director Nat Ford talks service hours in his office yesterday. Photos: Bryan Goebel In just over a week, Muni will cut bus frequencies across the system by perhaps the greatest amount in its history. Roughly 313,000 service hours will be cut out of the schedule [PDF], leaving riders to wait an average of […]
Supervisor Campos: SFMTA Board Hand-Picked by Mayor “Not Working”
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Supervisor David Campos at a Budget and Finance Committee meeting on SFMTA work orders last year. Photo: Bryan Goebel There’s been a lot of attention lately on how much the Mayor’s office controls the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency’s (SFMTA) budget process. The Mayor makes all seven SFMTA Board appointments, generally with an expectation of […]