Mid-Week Links: Par-tay!

2012_08_26_14 As well, I'd like to point your attention to the new link, My Bay Area Ideas, a transit blog by Marinite Anthony Nachor, who you may hear more of. He joins the North Bay blogosphere as the second blog about transit and urban affairs. The Greater Marin's masthead has been updated accordingly. I'm excited to read what he has to say.

With a steadily deteriorating commentariat on Patch and the IJ, it was only a matter of time before some of it started slipping into our fledgling forum. To head it off, I've implemented a new comments policy that I shamelessly adapted from Greater Greater Washington. Regular commenters have yet to even come close to crossing the line, but one-offs on the FAQ have been less than helpful and I'd rather start a good commenting culture now than wait for it to get bad.

Marin County

  • Fairfax hosted over 1,000 people at its first-ever Streets for People event last Sunday. Not quite a street fair, not quite a simple road closure, the street became the scene of performances, children playing, and neighbors chatting - just like streets are supposed to be. (IJ; photos on Patch)
  • Tomorrow, August 31, GGT is moving bus stops (PDF) for Routes 54, 56, 58, 72, 72X, 74, 76 from Fremont Street to accommodate Transbay Terminal construction, though they'll be back on Tuesday. On another note, the PDF they made for the announcement looks printable; is this part of their steady improvement in communication? Let us know in the comments if you see it around. (GGT)
  • GGT is also running a modified bus and ferry schedule this weekend, so be sure to check it before you go. (SF Ferry Riders)
  • And...: Want to live in your own San Anselmo mansion for $800 per month? (Ross Valley Reporter) ... More free parking in Sausalito. (IJ) ... The cutest transit video you'll see this week - man proposes on a Caltrain, where he and his girlfriend met. (ABC)

The Greater Marin

  • The highest barrier to bus ridership is poor information, and that barrier stretches higher still when bus systems run low frequencies. (Greater Greater Washington)
  • Healdsburg limits the number of new housing units to 30 per year, but the town is starting to wondering whether that leisurely pace is too slow. (Press Democrat)
  • The Swedish village of Jakriborg is small, planned, quaint, car-free, and only 12.5 acres. How many Jakriborgs could fit into a typical Marin park-and-ride? And how much money do transit agencies lose when they build a park-and-ride instead of a Jakriborg? (Cap'n Transit)
  • California passed two major bicycle reform bills, the first implementing a three-foot passing law and the second streamlining environmental review for bike lane projects. It's a good week to be a cyclist in California. (CBC, Streetsblog)
  • Americans gouge themselves on infrastructure costs by creating inefficient work rules, restrictive bidding processes, and putting contractors in charge of controlling their own costs. It's not just bad for transit; it's bad for everyone. (Bloomberg)
  • Slums aren't all awful, and are often better than the countryside people move from. So why shouldn't cities and countries invest in making them actual places instead of just clearing them out? (Foreign Policy)

The Toll

This week, three people were killed, including a baby; a man, a woman, and three children were seriously injured; another woman suffered moderate injuries; and an unknown number suffered other injuries. The week prior, I failed to report another man who was seriously injured.

  • A man riding a Vespa catapulted himself off Highway 101 at the San Rafael Skyway, falling 40 feet onto Second Street below. He suffered major injuries and the dog he was traveling with was killed. (IJ)
  • A woman driving a car hit a man on a motorcycle in Cotati, leaving him in a ditch with major injuries. The driver fled the scene and is still at large. The crash occurred on the 19th. (Press Democrat)
  • Though just north of Sonoma County, this crash bears reporting. Three people were killed and four injured after a southbound driver drifted into the northbound lanes of Highway 101. In the southbound car were four passengers - a man, a woman, an infant, and a four-year-old girl. All but the girl were killed, and the survivor suffered major injuries. The driver that struck them, along with her two child passengers, were injured as well. (Press Democrat)
  • A driver slammed her truck through a Sausalito 7-11, but luckily nobody was injured. (IJ) ... A number of drivers crashed into one another on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge yesterday morning. Further details are unknown. (IJ) ... Tiburon's plaid-hating driver pleads guilty to assault with his car, gets six months in prison. (SFist) ... A woman was moderately injured by a driver after she ran a stop sign on her bike in Santa Rosa. (Press Democrat)