Recent Streetsblog SF posts about Urban Planning

Livable Communities Act Clears Senate Committee

By Ben Fried | Aug 4, 2010 | No Comments

The Senate Banking Committee voted 12-10 yesterday in favor of the Livable Communities Act, legislation that would bolster the Obama administration’s initiatives to link together transportation, housing, economic development, and environmental policy. Shaun Donovan, Ray LaHood, Lisa Jackson: Together forever? The Livable Communities Act would codify the partnership between HUD, US DOT, and the EPA. […]

Phelan Bus Loop Project, First in Balboa Area Plan, Gets Federal Funding

By Bryan Goebel | Jul 8, 2010 | 2 Comments

A reconfigured Phelan Bus Loop. Graphic: SF Planning Department A proposal to reconfigure the Phelan Bus Loop as part of the Balboa Park Station Area Plan received a major boost today with the announcement that the Federal Transit Administration has awarded the SFMTA more than $6.8 million for the project. In a statement, the FTA […]

Traffic Engineer Jack Fleck Looks Back at 25 Years of Shaping SF Streets

By Bryan Goebel | Jul 1, 2010 | 18 Comments

Jack Fleck, who retired yesterday after 25 years with the SFMTA, has been pondering the city’s streets from his 7th floor office above Van Ness and Market Streets. Photos by Bryan Goebel. Editor’s note: This is the first of a three-part series on the past, present and future of traffic engineering in San Francisco. Jack […]

Technology and Impotence

By Chris Carlsson | May 28, 2010 | 7 Comments

The BP oil spill goes on. And on. We watch the oil on live web cam pouring into the Gulf of Mexico. And we watch. Political rage is muted, practical responses even more distant. What to do? How do we “take action” on something like this? How can individuals meaningfully respond to this catastrophe? Stop driving? Boycott one brand of gas? Stop buying things made of plastic?

Feds to Start Scoring Transportation Potential of Housing Grant Applicants

By Elana Schor | May 24, 2010 | No Comments

Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan said late Friday that his agency will soon start gauging the "location efficiency" of its grant applicants, determining each project’s potential for connecting residents to surrounding neighborhoods — and mirroring the recommendations of a recent report that found a correlation between homeowners’ foreclosure risk and their dependence […]

Ford Foundation to Send $200M to Local Transit-Oriented Development

By Elana Schor | May 18, 2010 | No Comments

The Ford Foundation, created seven decades ago by a U.S. car industry scion, notably diverged from its past today by announcing a new, $200 million grant program aimed at promoting the local integration of transportation and land use planning and a movement beyond auto-based development. A "transit village" in the San Francisco area, cited by […]

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