Podcast: Transportation Commission 11/19/09

Locally Preferred Alternative for Bus Rapid Transit (3:32:08 stereo recording, 194MB) Listen.

Podcast: Transportation Commission 10/29/09

Audio from the October 29, 2009 Berkeley Transportation Commission meeting: Update on Process Timeline of Berkeley's Locally Preferred Alternative for Bus Rapid Transit; Quiet Zone Feasibility Stody & Follow-Up Discussion and Recommendation; Water Emergency Transit Association (WETA) presentation on Ferry Terminal; Discussion re Commission on Disability Recommendations on vertical Deflection Devices; Ashby/Highway 13 Corridor Projects (3:33:27, 195 MB) Listen. (Originally posted at Central Hillegass Neighborhood blog)

Podcast: Berkeley bike subcommittee 10/22/09

Bike station update; current and future staff projects; Caldecott status; Hearst Ave. bike lane, Shattuck to Arch; bike plan update; Bike to Work Day 2010; Cool Your Commute proposal. (1:31:45, 84MB) Listen.

Podcast: Berkeley bike subcommittee 9/24/09

Partial recording of meeting includes Updates on Bike Station, Bicycle Parking, 9th Street Blvd. Extension, West Street Pathway, Ohlone Greenway/BART Seismic Retrofit, Safe Routes to Schools and Caldecott Funding Status (37:34, 34MB) Listen.

Podcast: Berkeley bike subcommittee 8/27/09

BART Ohlone Greenway Reconstruction; Bicycle Pavement Markings Maintenance; Bike Station; Bicycle Parking; Safe Routes to Schools Grant Award; Safe Routes to Transit Grant Application; Caldecott Tunnel bike/ped safety mitigations. (1:25:55, 79MB) Listen. (Note: Some audio problems due to cell phone signal interference with recording equipment.)

Dysfunctional BART labor negotiations

I guess I don't understand public agency labor negotiations. At Thursday's BART meeting, a long line of BART union representatives complained that BART had yet to bring a real offer to the table. Apparently a one-page offer cannot be considered an offer. The BART board didn't appear to have too much to say in response, but in the press, BART spokesman Linton Johnson said that the unions had not responded to that offer, however brief it was. The details of negotiations aren't made public. Maybe they should be. (I know, that would probably require a complete revision of state labor law.) Then the public could see what's in BART's offer, and decide for themselves if labor was being unreasonable not to respond.

There's a lot I don't know about labor negotiations. It could be that BART's high-paid negotiator is trying to get the union to agree to a group of general principles in hopes that through a series of such agreements, the unions end up making large concessions. Certainly the unions are still sore about things they say they conceded years ago that ended up badly for them. But times are tough in an unprecedented way, so is it really fair for the unions to bring up slights from long ago?

Podcast: Transportation Commission 5/21/09

Audio from the May 21, 2009 Berkeley Transportation Commission meeting: Audio from last week's Transportation Commission meeting: Workshop on Ashby/Highway 13 Transportation Mitigation Projects (2:10:34, 120 MB) Listen.

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.