Podcast: Transportation Commission 3/19/09

Audio from last week's Transportation Commission meeting: Caldecott 4th Bore Settlement; AC Transit Line 51 Reliability Study; Permeable Pavers; Elmwood 90 min Parking Request; Gilman/I-80 Interchange Project Update; Ferry EIR Update (3:14:46, 93 MB). Listen.

Podcast: Berkeley bike subcommittee 2/26/09

Final 53 minutes of Feb. 26, 2009 meeting of the Bicycle Subcommittee of the Berkeley Transportation Commission: Dooring prevention, bikeway crossings of Ashby Ave. (25MB, 53:04). Listen.

BART police shooting must be investigated

There should be a thorough investigation of BART police following the death of Oscar Grant. Watch this 22-minute video from KPIX.

Podcast: Districts 2/3 Town Hall on Climate Change

A Town Hall Meeting on Berkeley's proposed Climate Action Plan with Council Members Darryl Moore (District 2) and Maxwell Anderson (District 3), held at Frances Albrier Community Center, Berkeley, California, December 18, 2008. Listen. (1:17:37, 37MB)

Podcast: AC Transit BRT meeting with Willard neighborhood

AC Transit answers questions regarding proposed Bus Rapid Transit from residents of the Willard neighborhood in Berkeley, California, held at Willard Middle School, December 16, 2008. Listen. (1:09:38, 33MB)

Podcast: District 8 Town Hall on Climate Change

A Town Hall Meeting with Council Member Gordon Wozniak (District 8), held at St. John's Presbyterian Church, December 15, 2008. Listen. (1:28:18, 42MB)

Podcast: Berkeley bikestation controversy, 9th street plans

The city of Berkeley's city manager has abruptly decided to drop support for expanding the downtown BART attended bike parking ("bikestation") in favor of a cardkey-access-only bike cage to be built in the Center Street garage -- an option opposed by most bicyclists. The controversy came to a head last night at the Berkeley Transportation Commission's bike subcommittee meeting. I recorded it in its entirety. The matter is agendized as an information item at next Monday's city council meeting. Also discussed during the bike subcommittee meeting are plans to complete the 9th St. bike corridor past the new Berkeley Bowl site in West Berkeley. Listen. (2:20:20, 67MB)

Where Kriss and I agree

I'm with Kriss Worthington on at least two issues: No on KK, and Yes on Proposition 1.

Climate Action Plan needs congestion pricing policy

Berkeley's Climate Action Plan (CAP) needs a congestion pricing policy. I will be submitting comments about this before the March 7 comment deadline. Meanwhile, Bern Grush's Grush Hour blog has some good background on arguments to add congestion pricing to Toronto's CAP.

Flagspotting

Bicycling my daughter to school yesterday, I told her to watch for an American flag, as it would indicate a polling place. Although we passed several likely locations, we saw no flags, until, just before we arrived at her school, she pointed out a flag on a city garbage truck! Fortunately I was able to convince her that ballots weren't being deposited there.

Let's follow Sweden's example

Expanding bus service won't take nearly as many cars off the road as congestion pricing will. Sweden is the latest example.

Audio of Transportation Commission workshop, 7/24/07

Audio of Berkeley Transportation Commission Bus Rapid Transit Working Group public workshop to discuss impact of BRT on southside of UC Berkeley campus. Audio edited to remove inaudible portion when small groups were meeting. 1 hour, 47 minutes, a 51.4MB MP3 download. Listen.

Audio of Transportation Commission meeting, 6/21/07

Audio from last night's Transportation Commission meeting, 3 hours and 12 minutes, a 92.5MB MP3 download. Listen.

Bus Rapid Transit EIR meets the Berkeley public

EIR, meet Berkeley. Berkeley, meet EIR. Audio from last night's Planning Commission/Transportation Commission/Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee meeting, about 2 hours, a 57.5MB MP3 download. Listen.

Revenge of the bollards

Jeremy Wagstaff: "The UK city of Manchester has introduced something called 'retractable bollards' (non UK folk may call them posts) that sink into the ground when an approved vehicle approaches...the only problem is other drivers." Great video.

Cool site shows next BART trains overlaid on Google Maps

I study Web site "mashups" but I don't know exactly how this site was created, or how it's maintained. But it's COOL! It overlays the BART stations on Google Maps and then pops up a list of the next trains coming to each station, and where they're headed. I'm sure this is based on BART's printed schedules and not real-time information. But wouldn't it be cool if BART created something just like this where the info was updated every few minutes?

Casual carpool attempted carjacking

A guy in a casual carpool from Hercules to San Francisco tries to carjack the car. This story may drive a few people back to public transit.

AC Transit introduces TransLink

AC Transit introduces TransLink to Transbay Riders. Speakers: Victoria Wake (AC Transit marketing and community relations manager), Lisa Fine (AC Transit senior marketing representative), and Ken Rhodes (AC Transit customer services manager and TransLink project manager). Recorded November 14, 2006. Listen. (51:29)

Berkeley Candidates: District 8

Broadcast-quality audio from Tuesday night's Willard Neighborhood Association Candidates' Forum. District 8 pits incumbent Gordon Wozniak versus challenger Jason Overman. Listen.

Berkeley Candidates: Mayor

Broadcast-quality audio from Tuesday night's Willard Neighborhood Association Candidates' Forum. The Mayor's race pits incumbent Tom Bates versus challengers Zelda Bronstein and Zachary Running Wolf. (Another mayoral candidate, Christian Pecaut, did not participate in the forum.) Listen.