Recent Streetsblog SF posts about California

Senate Committee Grills CA High-Speed Rail Authority on Its Funding Plan

By Melanie Curry | Apr 1, 2014 | No Comments

Doubts about the High Speed Rail Authority’s ability to fund its estimated $68 billion program dominated last week’s Senate Transportation and Housing Committee hearing (see the background report in this PDF). Committee Chair Senator Mark DeSaulnier (D-Concord) said he was “somewhat skeptical” about the Authority’s 2014 Draft Business Plan and questioned CAHSRA CEO Jeff Morales on […]

California Legislation Watch: Weekly Update

By Melanie Curry | Mar 28, 2014 | No Comments

California’s legislative season is heating up, and both the Assembly and the Senate are beginning to read and discuss the bills wending their way though the session. Here’s Streetsblog’s weekly highlight of events and legislation related to transportation at the capitol. Today’s column focuses on four pieces of legislation that moved through the hearing process […]

Report: In Cutting Emissions, CAHSR Expensive Compared to Local Upgrades

By Melanie Curry | Mar 25, 2014 | No Comments

Streetfilms featured Los Angeles’ Orange Line BRT and bike path in 2009. A new UCLA report says infrastructure projects like the Orange Line are a better way to invest cap-and-trade funds than CA High-Speed Rail. UCLA’s Lewis Center published a report yesterday finding that California’s High-Speed Rail project is a relatively expensive way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) […]

Transportation Priorities Jostle for CA’s Cap-and-Trade Revenue

By Melanie Curry | Mar 21, 2014 | No Comments

A series of hearings in Sacramento have been revisiting California’s Global Warming Solutions Act, Assembly Bill (A.B.) 32, which calls for a statewide reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) to 1990 levels by 2020. Two recent hearings have opened discussions of Governor Jerry Brown’s proposed spending plan for the revenue received so far from the state’s […]

Rock Star or Comedian? Donald Shoup Takes His Parking Show to Berkeley

By Melanie Curry | Mar 20, 2014 | No Comments

“Parking is the single biggest land use in any city,” said UCLA Professor Donald Shoup to a packed house in Berkeley last night, “and it’s almost completely unmanaged.” At the same time, “zoning requires a space for every car but ignores the homeless. In our cities, free parking is more important than affordable housing.” Shoup […]

California Biking, Walking, Transit Use Up Despite Little Investment

By Melanie Curry | Mar 14, 2014 | No Comments

The news from Caltrans’ 2012 California Household Travel Survey is not too surprising: Californians are making more trips by walking, bicycling, and transit than they were in 2000. The survey found the percentage of trips by these modes doubled in ten years and make up nearly 23 percent of all trips in the state. That means car […]

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