Recent Streetsblog SF posts about Cities, Counties, and Countries

Streetfilms: Copenhagen’s Climate-Friendly, Bike-Friendly Streets

By Elizabeth Press | Dec 14, 2009 | 1 Comment

Tens of thousands of people from nearly every nation on earth have descended on Copenhagen this month for the UN climate summit. As the delegates try to piece together a framework for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, they’re also absorbing lessons from one of the world’s leading cities in sustainable transportation. In Copenhagen, fully 37 percent […]

Engineers Lay Out Costs of Reopening Alto Tunnel to Bicyclists

By Pam MacLean | Dec 10, 2009 | 16 Comments

Deb Hubsmith of MCBC addressing Public Works Asst. Chief Craig Tackaberry (far left). Photo by Tom Murphy. Addressing a crowd of more than 100 people Wednesday, engineers said it could cost $40 million to $52 million to reopen the crumbling 125-year-old railroad tunnel between Mill Valley and Corte Madera for cyclists. The nearly half-mile-long Alto […]

Free Public Transit?

By Chris Carlsson | Dec 7, 2009 | 26 Comments

A crowded moment in the Tunnelbana, Stockholm, Sweden’s efficient and easy public subway system. In Stockholm, Sweden, a fascinating political intervention has been taking place during the past few years. Starting originally around 2000-2001 in an anarcho-syndicalist youth organization, Planka.nu is a surprisingly innovative and effective transit activist group. Today it is still an entirely […]

Back to Civilization

By Chris Carlsson | Nov 30, 2009 | 4 Comments

A wet late afternoon on Norrebrogade in Copenhagen… bikes fill the lanes on either side of the street and a bus is in the near background. Not many cars!… Returning to Copenhagen after some years away is always a pleasant shock. Few cities in the world feel as properly scaled as this lovely old Danish […]

Take Two Peaks and Call Me in the Morning!

By Chris Carlsson | Nov 23, 2009 | 6 Comments

View from top of south peak in February 2008. With the rain falling in late November, and soggy unemployment statistics haunting our lives too, the idea of Depression lurks just below the surface. Depression has multiple meanings like so many concepts in the English language; in this case, I’m taking two of them: 1) mental […]

It’s Official: Chicago Parking Privatization a Massive Rip-Off

By John Kaehny | Nov 20, 2009 | 12 Comments

City parking meters are a gold mine, and in Chicago, Morgan Stanley is rolling in parking riches. Secret company documents leaked to reporters show the company will rake in a 70 percent profit margin this year from its $1.15 billion, 75-year lease of Chicago’s parking meters. This profit is on top of the millions Morgan […]

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