Infrastructure Weak

I've just published this article, Part 1 of 4 about the choices that will enable San Francisco to finally build a Geary metro. medium.com/@infrastruct...

Thanks to everyone who came out to promote #MeasureRTM at the Berkeley bike bridge and help save Bay Area public transit. It was a beautiful morning, with many supportive honks from drivers crawling toward the Bay Bridge on I-80!

If you haven't been on BART in a while, you may not realize that people *just won't fit* if this much service gets cut. They're running tons of standing-room-only, 10-car trains. Muni service is as heavily used.

So-called “inclusionary zoning” is an attempt to outsource a key state responsibility—providing subsidized housing to poor people—to private for-profit actors so the state does not have to raise and spend tax money. It is profoundly neoliberal policy.

I actually don’t disagree with this, except that the way people adjust is by moving elsewhere, moving their businesses elsewhere, or by packing themselves in tighter to areas reachable with shorter drives or by bike or walking, if transit didn’t exist.

“a one hour wait for the 57 is outrageous.” This Wednesday 10/28 starting at 5 PM is the AC Transit board meeting where we’ll be taking a look at the first monthly reliability report, item 6 I. actransit.legistar.com/LegislationD...

I hear this from so many folks in Berkeley and Oakland, and I’m so happy they have a back up when buses are canceled. But we must improve AC Transit reliability for everyone in cities without bike share and those who can’t use it, including kids. Elect @valencia4actransit.bsky.social.

doing my civic duty (using the transit app to let people know where buses and trains are)

The hybrid "London" system (city center / big stations gated, small stations ungated and unstaffed) is a great solution and should be employed by more American cities. And, for these outlying stations, reduces the construction burden I mentioned!

What if we stopped waiting for perfect plans? Vancouver BC's tactical urbanism projects illustrate what's possible: paint and planter parklets on streets near busy business districts, and in-lane bus stops built from off-the-shelf materials. Fast, low-cost, and improving life for everyone. 🌳🚲🚎🚶🏽‍♀️🐕‍🦺

Californians, please talk to everyone you know about the insurance commissioner race! Many folks don’t know who to vote for, since both candidates are Dems. And plenty of people don’t understand that Jane Kim’s proposal would incentivize high fire risk & have urban folks subsidize high risk areas.

LOCKED IN @valencia4actransit.bsky.social !!

I think more Americans need to understand that their built environment is regulated by the groupthink of unaccountable organizations whose members think the sky is a different color abroad.

Want “Paris density”? Let’s legalize six-storey single-stair apartments on every residential lot in every major city.

So many hard fought battles over improving Bay Area transit -- and the author of this essay @icgee.bsky.social has been in the middle of many of them -- are paying off. We have to pass RTM and Prop H to protect progress!

actionnetwork.org/petitions/bu...

YES on RTM, Prop H, and Prop 1 NO on Prop 43 and 45

Oakland, Alameda, and Piedmont folks - you can elect an AC Transit director who will fight to end AC Transit’s reliability crisis. Vote for @valencia4actransit.bsky.social and tell your friends and neighbors. Few folks pay attention to these races - they want to hear from you about who to support.

AC Transit Board Policy 471: “two or more consecutive trips of the same line shall not be canceled” What’s the point of having Board Policies if they’re not followed? I have asked for a report on adherence to this policy. I will let you know when the item gets scheduled.

Back at it! Final push! Vote YES on Measure RTM!

I’ve thought before that it might feel weird riding a bakfiets around when you don’t need the cargo. Like you’re “wasting” it. But no one would *ever* apply that thinking to cars.

train + bus

Looking at this data, it appears that the #1 opportunity for fire safety is to increase the success rate of sprinklers, whether that be improving the technology or ensuring better maintenance. Banning building types is not the solution.

We love riding Capitol Corridor, don't we, folks

I recently visited and what l’ll say to this is if you looked at a suburban train line you’d just think it was a metro. electrified multiple units, substantially grade separated, high frequencies, 4 doors, and very fast dwell times

I'd say that more suburban sprawl is in fact one of the intended consequences of Prop 45. Vote no!

Better transit = less traffic. Join us to save transit at luma.com/connectbayarea

forward rate of spread on this fire has been stopped, crews will remain on scene for quite some time to complete mop up... there are still some hot spots on the right flank from radio traffic earlier, a possible origin site has been identified for investigation

The federal Highway Trust Fund, which funds road & transit, faces a >$318 billion shortfall by 2036. How can Congress address this? —Cut spending by 40% —Increase the gas tax —Implement new taxes (VMT, registration) —Transfer from the general fund We lay it out: taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox/congr...

“Building codes are developed in a process that resembles medieval scholasticism more than contemporary empirical science” is the key to understanding the whole thing bsky.app/profile/moin...

they really think this is about taking a block-sized 5-over-1 and removing one of its two stairs. the whole idea of that block containing dozens of much smaller buildings each with one stair instead doesn’t seem to occur to them at all?

Making it cheaper to build new buildings helps affordability by making it possible for developers to deliver competitive returns to their investors at lower rent prices.

This made me so angry. So so angry.

Interesting that the ICC is considering single stair and reducing the (dangerous) 26ft minimum clear road width together as external attacks from reformers.

It’s really weird to hear all of this talk from ICC insiders about how code must be developed through the ICC process, and then ALSO hear them casting aspersions on me for making a formal ICC proposal without workshopping it informally with insiders first

You need to look at the whole block. With two-stair requirements, the entire block is going to be one building with two stairways, each down a long hallway from people’s apartments. With single-stair, the block can have half a dozen buildings, each with a staircase right outside people’s front doors

One last thought. There is something broken about the way that a trade association owns the codes and it lobbies and PRs aggressively as I am documenting. The public interest in the codes is smoothied up with the private interests of this particular group. Very very uncomfortable.

This thread is a pretty sobering look into how the building code sausage gets made in the US. We really need the public sector to impose some actual rigor and cost benefit analysis on this process.

Help prevent cuts -- volunteer to get the word out to voters luma.com/connectbayarea