Mid-Week Links: Properly Pricing Parking

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XRjatW_N9M] The head of Strong Towns describes the difference between a road and a street, and how bad design is sucking the life out of our cities.  Marin is blessed with strong towns, but unless we are good stewards of our forebears' investments, we risk slowly becoming less a destination and more just suburbia.

Marin

The biggest news for Marin was the health-related resignation of County Supervisor Hal Brown, who represented Ross Valley on the Board since Barbara Boxer left for the House of Representatives in 1982.  The scramble for appointment has already begun, with a number of politicos, old and new, vying to be appointed by the Governor.  The IJ has a glowing retrospective.

• Importing 60% of our workforce has its costs, namely $22,950 per year in local spending and 0.16 jobs per imported worker.  That's according to a new report from Live Local Marin.
• One way to get more workers to live in Marin is to build more housing.  Marin has taken a step towards this by adopting a plan to lower barriers to affordable housing development.  You can read the plan here. (PDF)
• Governor Jerry Brown signed AB42 into law last week, allowing state parks to enter into operating agreements with private entities.  This applies most particularly to Samuel P. Taylor Park.
• Riding the bus saves money, even in the 'burbs.
• Major media endorsements are in.  IJ has endorsed candidates for the councils of San Anselmo and Fairfax.  The Pacific Sun has endorsements for everything on the ballot.  So far, the two outlets agree.
• Four election debates (San Anselmo, San Rafael, Corte Madera and Larkspur) are now online - you can check them out on our Election Coverage page.  Another Novato debate is up for October 17.

South Marin

• A Tam Valley crossing guard injured himself saving a child from an inattentive SUV driver.  The community is taking a collection on his behalf.
• Also in that busy burg, construction began on the Tennessee Valley Pathway, linking Tam Valley with existing multi-use paths.
• Mill Valley will alter how it issues event permits for its downtown plaza, making them more lenient to encourage the plaza's use as a vital space for the town.
• Sausalito follows San Francisco in the parking app field, adopting a new smart phone application that allows users to see where spaces are open in real-time.
• Marin City's Gateway Shopping Center has been sold.
• Off the Grid had a great start last Sunday in Larkspur, creating sufficient buzz to draw San Franciscans to dust off their cars and ferry passes to visit.
• Tiburon's library needs to expand, and in the process it could make the downtown a bit better, especially if it removes parking for an outdoor plaza between it and City Hall.

Central and Northern Marin

• San Anselmo's principal and beloved strip mall, Red Hill Shopping Center, is undergoing renovations, and tenants are uneasy.
• Walk to School Day meant a healthy, happy "walking bus" in Novato.
• Want to name San Rafael's new baseball team?
• The IJ profiles the races in Lagunitas and Nicasio, which bring a bit more politicking to West Marin.
• The San Rafael Canal will be dredged in November for $1.4 million.
• Someone wants to make part of Fourth Street a pedestrian mall.
• San Rafael shot down a proposal for nine new townhomes in West End and sent a 67-unit development near the downtown Elk's Lodge back to the drawing board. Neither were terribly transit-accessible.

The Greater Marin

• Ongoing widening of 101 has yielded its first new lanes in Sonoma County.
• Sadly, this probably won't alleviate traffic for long.
• One wonders how we might shift the funding priorities from roads to transit.
• The City of Sonoma is installing new bike lanes, to much fanfare and controversy.
• But bikes aren't just for the civilian.  They're also for war.
• Los Angeles has released a manual on how to redesign roads to be livable streets again.
• Affordable housing advocates want to keep parking minimums so cities can trade them for more affordable housing.  This, by the way, is a bad thing.
• Governor Jerry Brown may have approved AB42, but he vetoed SB910, which would have instated a three-foot passing rule for cars passing bicyclists.

Mid-Week Links: Portly Passengers

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znLBYLeH1Nk]Pardon my geekery, but this was the first I'd seen of Marin's old commuter trains in action.  They're EMUs, the electrical version of SMART's DMUs.  Strange also to see so much empty space in West End, and interesting to see how the buildings along the rails still treat the roads as something to be shunned.

Marin County Elections

• San Anselmo, Larkspur and Corte Madera all had council debates this week, none of which are available online.  At least you can read about the races; that's good enough, right?  If you can time it right, you can watch them on the Community Media Center of Marin's live stream.
• There is a highly edited video of the San Rafael Council Candidate's forum available on Patch with a pre-event questionnaire.  Candidates are all in favor of leveraging SMART to improve downtown, with incumbent Damon Connolly giving the strongest answers.
• Last month's San Rafael mayoral debate may not have been recorded (the host speculated that it "would've been a good idea"), but that doesn't mean there's no news.
• Tiburon's school board race wouldn't come up but for a renewed focus on making Tiburon Boulevard, the principal artery on the peninsula, a safer, better street for all users but especially schoolchildren.
• Mill Valley's vacancies were uncontested, so the town cancelled their elections.  Not everyone is happy.

Marin County

• SMART has secured authorization from the MTC to use $33.1 million in Larkspur station funds on the IOS.
• "We believe in working toward making [SMART] better, ensuring that it spends its money wisely and makes sound decisions. Opponents just want to kill it." - Press-Democrat Editorial Board
• Marin Transit contracts with Golden Gate Transit to provide local bus service within Marin, and it wants to renegotiate.  In the comments Kevin Moore and I get into the details of GGT's farebox recovery rate.
• Food Truck Crush is over for now.  Long live Off the Grid!
• A driver accidentally killed herself and seriously injured a passenger in a crash on 101.
• San Rafael's West End is a bit of a drive-through part of the city, and a vacant Big Box doesn't help.
• Two new developments are up for review in San Rafael: a 67-unit apartment building at 1380 Mission and a 9 unit townhome building at 21 G.  The meeting and documents are available on San Rafael's website.
• Biking is certainly for road mobility, but MCBC is shifting focus to the slopes and trails in Marin's open space.
• Getting women interested in biking, one class at a time.
• Believe it or not, it's more expensive to live in Marin than it is to live in San Francisco.  Being forced to rely on the car doesn't help.
• Novato debated its housing element last night.  No word on decisions as of press time.
• Mill Valley did the same, and also debated an amendment to the Miller Avenue Streetscape Plan.
• San Anselmo is getting a bunch of slurry seal work done on its roads, although it was delayed by rain.

The Greater Marin

• Santa Rosa is getting progressive, what with plans for a pedestrian bridge, bicycle parking and shower requirements.  It could use an overhaul of its use-based zoning restrictions, though.
• San Francisco's F-Line - those historic streetcars running along the Embarcadero - is expanding West.
• The US Department of Transportation is pushing high-speed rail loans out the door before Congress shuts down the whole intercity rail project.
• Greater Greater Washington posits that music venues should engage with the streetscape but often don't, and I'm inclined to agree.  Fenix Live in San Rafael will do well on this metric.

Mid-Week Links: Spin Cycle

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/29401217 w=620&h=349] Marin has one of the best recreational cycling cultures in the country and a burgeoning commuter cycling culture, but everyday travel is typically done by car - you can blame our beautiful and formidable geography for that. Cycling For Everyone from Dutch Cycling Embassy gives a vision of how Marin could look if we embraced the bike in Terra Linda as much as we do on Mount Tam.  The Pacific Sun has an excellent rundown on the political debate so far, from the Capitol to the Alto Tunnel.

The Greater Marin

It's so easy to focus on Marin and its foibles that sometimes we forget that other places are doing awesome things.  Take Norfolk, VA, an active but small city of 242,000 people and one light rail that goes by the name of The Tide.  The Tide is brand-spanking new and underwent the same issues SMART is dealing with today: cost overruns, plans cut short, and political opposition.  After surviving that gauntlet, The Tide opened to great fanfare this past August.  One month in, the Richmond Times-Dispatch examined how the city feels about it now.  In a word, they're proud.

Marin County

• Of course, if RepealSMART gets its way, SMART will just be a failed dream.  The anti-rail organization started gathering signatures for its repeal measure this week.
• In good news, MTC approved its $33.1 million SMART bailout (PDF) and recommended to the Federal Department of Transportation that it receive another $18 million (PDF) in federal funding for the accompanying bike/pedestrian path.
• The IJ has profiles on Town Council candidates for Corte Madera and San Anselmo, and Patch will host a candidate debate for San Anselmo on October 5.
• Tensions in Sausalito came to light when Councilmember Carolyn Ford filed battery charges against Vice-Mayor Mike Kelly for hitting her hand (rather hard) during a council meeting.  Video at the link.  Kelly has since apologized, but no word on whether the charges will be dropped.
• The empty seat left by Joan Lundstrom's retirement from the Larkspur City Council must be filled, either by a special election after the current election is over or by an appointment.
• Speaking of Larkspur, Piper Park is due for a makeover.
• San Rafael's Design Review Board approved the Fenix Live music venue for the heart of Fourth Street.  You can hear the Board's deliberations here.
• Novato wants to sprawl, and, as much as it hates density, it loves its sprawl.  Planners just approved a 3-unit-per-acre subdivision.  Larkspur isn't much better after the sale of a pre-approved 5-unit-per-acre development. That one is just one block from downtown in a prime walkable development location.  You can check out a possible site plan for Larkspur here (PDF, p. 13), although it may not be accurate because of the change in ownership.
• Ever wondered what the deal is with that empty commercial building at 520 Red Hill Avenue?  Now you can find out.

The Golden Gate

Golden Gate issues deserve their own section this week because the sheer number of news items cries for special attention.  It cries, we answer.

• Golden Gate Transit will install WiFi on all its buses, making it an even more attractive transit service.  Cost is cheap, too: only $610,000 for the final cost.  Take that, BART.
• Marin Transit wants to reopen their $15 million/year contract with Golden Gate Transit to provide local bus service in Marin.  Marin Transit argues that GGT is overcharging by about 23%, while GGT argues the extra cost is due to regularly scheduled overtime.  Sounds like GGT has a staffing problem.
• The Golden Gate National Recreation Area will be reconfigured under a preliminary general management plan with the aim of "connecting people with parks."

Mid-Week Links: We'll Cross that Bridge

San Rafael

It's been a busy week in the County Seat after a few weeks of Novato hogging the spotlight, and why not?  There are plenty of empty lots to fill, streets to calm (or not) and parks to lease.  The big news, of course, is that baseball is coming to San Rafael now that the City Council has approved the lease of Albert Field to Centerfield Partners.  There's talk of a lawsuit from some neighbors, but they haven't yet decided whether to sue or not.

Now that there will be a major pedestrian destination in San Rafael, the city will double-down on pedestrian improvements and try to really solidify a place as a walkable city, right?  Actually, no.  The city has deemed two intersections along Third Street, both within a quarter-mile of the Transit Center, to be too dangerous to cross.  Rather than try to improve the crossings and calm the raging one-way traffic, the city will make it illegal to cross there by removing the crosswalks.  Brilliant.  The city will hold a public hearing if it hears enough objections from pedestrians.

Greg Brockbank officially launched his campaign for mayor at a party on Sunday.  In his speech, he listed things he'd like to see to build up San Rafael: more events, more affordable housing, a shuttle, a downtown hotel, a music pavilion, and drawing seniors downtown.  I'd like to add more crosswalks to that list.

A bit further north, a long, long dead Sizzler's near Los Ranchitos will be renovated into a hardware store.  This is an undeniably good thing, as North San Rafael has lacked one for over a year.  As well, the County is evaluating the old Fireman's Fund building at 1600 Los Gamos as to the feasibility of it housing a public safety complex.

Elsewhere in Marin

• The Ross Valley real estate market is "holding steady," while White Hill and other Ross Valley schools are moving forward with plans to build more classrooms.
• The Town of Ross will hold its annual Town Dinner next Friday, September 30.  Get home from work early for some community cheer.
• The oldest business in Marin, Smiley's Schooner Saloon in Bolinas, is up for sale.
• Once again, the Mill Valley Council changed course when confronted by small and vocal opposition, voting unanimously to reject a plan to installing a paid-for electric car charging station.
• Meanwhile, Mill Valley will likely spend around $400,000 to patch, not repave, their roads.
• CalTrans will repave (PDF) a half-mile stretch of Tiburon Boulevard in downtown Tiburon at a cost of $1.2 million.
• Dick Spotswood wanted the facts on affordable housing, and, courtesy of Stand Up for Neighborly Novato, here's some facts for Novato.
• The IJ comes out in favor of Novato's planned downtown city offices, citing economic and symbolic reasons.
• Yet despite this renewed push to have a heart, the city continues its sprawling ways.
• Larkspur's planning director, Nancy Kaufman, has retired to do watercolors and planning consulting.
• MCBC is beefing up its efforts to improve open space bike trails.

SMART News

The SMART project keeps chugging along, with new and old ideas coming up in the editorials of local papers.  Mike Pechner opined in the IJ that purchasing CalTrain trainsets would save money over the Japanese DMUs SMART currently has on order.  I haven't seen a good comparison, but individually motorized carriages is best-practice in Europe and Asia.  Amtrak faces the same questions as SMART, which the Infrastructurist has kindly parsed for us.

Another ongoing debate is the effect of the system on home prices.  Conventional wisdom is that homes increase in price when they have proximity to transit, although some believe the noise of the trains will lower house prices.  Half-Mile Circles has a fabulous literature review for anyone's perusal on the subject.

Meanwhile, the North Bay Business Journal wonders if an excursion train like the Vine Line is possible along the SMART corridor.  The short answer?  No.

The Greater Marin

• Contra Costa's Lafayette and Orinda want better downtowns, but it's sparking some debate in the communities about what is, or is not, appropriate.  Marin needs a debate like this.
• Streetsblog wonders whether our transit systems should strive for profitability or coverage.
• Wondering what San Francisco was up to this past weekend?  Enjoying Chinatown and North Beach streets by closing them off to cars, that's what.

Mid-Week Links: City Papers

Lots of news from lots of cities this week, with retirements, delays, debates and bad ideas.  Wordpress ate my homework, but I've culled what I can from local papers for this week's Mid-Week Links.

Marin

• If you're a senior citizen, there's a new way to get around town: Marin Village, which provides rides for subscribers.  I can't help but think that better bus service could go a long way to helping Marin's elderly get around, too.
• Joan Lundstrom, 28 year veteran of the Larkspur City Council, is stepping down to get married and do "a great deal of traveling."  Lundstrom was most recently on our radar for being the deciding vote on TAM's $8 million SMART bailout.  The IJ editorial board wrote a fitting farewell piece for this local fixture.
• Larkspur's Doherty Drive reconstruction had no acceptable bids made, so the City Council rejected them all, delaying the project even further.
• San Rafael's mayoral candidates went to bat at a Marin Coalition lunch for their first debate.  Neither is shaping up to be a terribly urbanist candidate, with Greg Brockman decrying red light cameras and Gary Phillips pushing for the new Target store.  The Greater Marin is trying to obtain a full recording of the debate.
• Further north, the San Rafael Airport may end up being converted into a large sports center, complete with 270 parking spaces.  Neighbors oppose the project.
• Even further north, Novato's City Council candidates debated at a breakfast sponsored by the Novato Chamber of Commerce.  Incumbents defended their records, while challengers argued that less housing, fewer downtown offices and more parking would boost commerce.  We're also trying to get a recording of this debate, which will be televised towards the end of September.
• After receiving endorsement from the Citizen Finance Committee, Novato is pressing ahead with its plans to move city offices downtown.  Opponents had complained that it would deaden the street, although office space can often be a boon to local merchants.  Somehow, the architect created a building so awful that, if built, it would make the opponents' worst fears come true.  The building turns away from the street and places the main entrance in the middle of the complex, deadening it not just at night but also during the day.  Hopefully, Novato's Design Review Board will tell the architect to start over.
• To touch on yet another hot Novato topic, construction began on Eden Housing, a senior affordable housing development.
• The transit center at Marin City is undergoing rehabilitation, with new lighting, pavement, and other amenities.  Total cost: $506,000.
• A developer trying for the past decade to get a small building built in Mill Valley has been delayed again, this time by environmentalists who convinced the City Council that demolition would disturb lead in the soil and get it into the creek.  They're demanding a full and detailed soil analysis, nevermind that the developer wants to restore the creek bank.
• Golden Gate Transit's popular 101 express bus to San Francisco is running on Sundays now, giving Sunday commuters and daytrippers another way to get into the city without using a car.

The Greater Marin

• Ryan Avent, Economics correspondent for the Economist, writes in the New York Times: "The idea of it may chill a homeowner’s heart, but the wealth supported by urban density is what gives urban homes their great value in the first place. And when it comes to economic growth and the creation of jobs, the denser the city the better."
• Those foreclosed houses will soon be a boon to those that try to limit affordable housing development: Governor Brown just signed Assemblyman Huffman's bill allowing cities to count foreclosed homes against their affordable housing quotas.
• AB 42, another Huffman bill, has reached the Governor's desk.  It would authorize qualified nonprofits to help operate and maintain state parks in danger of closing.  This isn't a new idea: New York's Central Park is operated by a nonprofit, and the National Mall is partly maintained by a nonprofit as well.

Mid-Week Links: Room with a View

• Marin's bayshore towns, especially Tiburon and Sausalito, are hoping they don't get swamped by the America's Cup, a 20-day event scheduled for next summer, and have requested an EIR on the impacts the increased boat and tourist traffic could have on their communities.  Included in Sausalito's letter is this telling line: "It is not uncommon for the ferries to reach bicycle capacity and strand bicyclists in Sausalito to find other modes of transportation back to San Francisco."  Yikes.
• If your "other mode of transportation back to San Francisco" involves that bike, and if you're starting to get tourist/gawker fatigue, the Golden Gate Bridge has good news: the Western sidewalk is reopening Saturday.
• Sausalito might build a "hip" bathroom downtown.  It sounds like it'll be a markedly different design than San Francisco's proposed pooplets.
• If you eventually arrive in the City, you might get a good ride down Market: San Francisco might shut down Market Street to car traffic in the near future, prioritizing cyclists, pedestrians and transit.
• Old news now, but San Rafael's Albert Park may soon be home to a minor league baseball team.  Think it sounds too cool to be true?  You may be right.
• Elsewhere in San Rafael, electoral season's endorsements begin with the San Rafael Chamber of Commerce giving its stamp of approval to mayoral candidate Gary Phillips and Council candidate Andrew McCullough.
• Fairfax's held a big town meeting on Terrapin Crossroads, the proposed major music venue in downtown.  Patch's Kelly Dunlevy was there to record it: Part I and Part II.
• Although we normally don't recommend bikes and beer together, I think we can make an exception for Biketoberfest.
• Work on Larkspur's Doherty Drive has been delayed once again, this time because none of the bids were low enough and the city rejected them all.
• And finally, in inevitable SMART news, the agency's new GM Farhad Mansourian is getting paid quite a bit to run the organization, and the Press-Democrat editorial board thinks the deal sucks.  In response to criticism from another source, RepealSMART, Mansourian fired a shot across their bow in his first real, full-throated defense of the SMART project.  Shame it had to be over his salary.

Mid-Week Links: It's Nuh-VAH-to

Marin

Novato is the news coverage winner this week, with the city inspiring a number of stories on its behavior and future.

• There's a study afoot to improve buses through Novato.  Marinscope's Rachel Dovey took the 51 to Northgate Mall to see what it was like and found woefully inadequate service, including an inaccessible stop along the freeway and very long travel times.  The study was received happily, but Larry Rosen wonders what might be done to improve ridership.  If only there were a way to develop housing oriented to transit usage.
• CalTrans has approved $70 million in highway construction around the Novato Narrows and the Redwood Landfill, including a bike path to the Petaluma River.  CalTrans also approved the contract for widening Highway 101 in the same area, worth another $50 million.  If you're counting, that's worth 13 miles of SMART rail, enough to hit all but the northernmost two stations.
• Meanwhile, the IJ's Rob Rogers wonders if Novato's contentious debates on affordable housing, relocating city hall and other issues "are simply a symptom of a national malaise, a poisonous political atmosphere in which compromise — even over the most basic areas of national interest — seems impossible."
• Speaking of City Hall, Novato's city manager, under criticism for recommending that city offices move to Old Town Novato, felt compelled to outline his rationale.  He could have added that centralizing administration in Old Town helps make the neighborhood the city's practical heart as well as emotional.

Elsewhere in Marin:

• Marin City's Transit Center is getting a half-million dollar facelift, including new lighting and safety improvements.
• Larkspur is having trouble maintaining its infrastructure, so it's turning to private companies to fill the gap.
• Mill Valley is forgoing its election this year, as only incumbents had filed to run.  Instead, the incumbents were reappointed, and the city saved $19,000.
• Although not quite in Marin, close-enough Rohnert Park wants to build a downtown with a SMART station at the center.

The Greater Marin

• California's SB 791 would allow certain tax hikes earmarked for transit to have a 50% threshold to pass.  The idea is to make it easier for transit projects to go forward despite reticence on the part of more conservative elements in a community.
• California High Speed Rail is extending its environmental report's public review period by 45 days.
• While California debates all kinds of rail projects, it's easy to lose track of the simplest thing: roadways.  Strong Towns argues that public highways should narrow to neighborhood streets once they enter towns and speed up again upon leaving.  Streetsblog thinks a good way to do this in California would be for CalTrans to relinquish control of state highways to local communities where appropriate.
• The Tea Party has a target, and its name is smart growth.
• On the other side of the globe, the Marin suburb of Istanbul is grappling with massive population increase coupled with auto-oriented planning.  A new documentary, Ecumenopolis, argues this is a bad way forward.

Mid-Week Links: And He Separated Water from Water

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/27744328 w=601&h=338] A beautiful video from Marin photographer Gary Yost shows everything I love and miss about my home: the nature, the towns, the Bay, the culture... I miss it all. On to the nitty-gritty of running all that.

Marin

SMART, once again, features prominently in local transit news this week.  Farhad Mansourian, interim General Manager of SMART, has been hired by the agency on a permanent basis.  Critics have addressed his pay - over $300,000 per year in compensation, comparable to other agency heads - and his credentials, although they've also stopped saying he duped the board prior to the MTC and TAM bailout hearings, as few boards would hire a man they felt had misled them.

The board also approved the new financial report, balancing the budget at about $360 million for the construction of the line which, at $9.7 million per mile, is by far the least expensive rail transit project in the country.  Local writer Steve Stein agrees, characterizing opponents as "nostalgic for a Marin County composed of mid-century ranch houses, suburban lawns and cul-de-sacs."  In other news:

• Cyclists and pedestrians got a major boost when the County allocated $8.8 million for pedestrian and bicycling improvements across Marin.  Among the projects: studying reopening the Alto Tunnel between Corte Madera and Mill Valley, improving sidewalk connections between the Canal and downtown San Rafael, and, in a major victory, constructing the Central Marin Ferry Connection.
• In affordable housing news, Assemblyman and Congressional contender Jared Huffman's bill to allow foreclosed housing to count against affordable housing mandates is on the Governor's desk for signature.  The bill once allowed cities to appeal their density requirements, but it's been pared down to just the foreclosed housing portion.  Meanwhile, Novato, which pushed most strenuously for reform, is following through on a 2008 development loan to expand Eden Housing, an affordable senior center home.  Critics contended that old folks will cause crime and join gangs.
• Terrapin Crossroads, the Phil Lesh-led music venue, was discussed at length at a Fairfax Town Council meeting.  Critics were concerned about traffic and noise at the site, while supporters saw it as a fabulous opportunity for the town to improve nightlife and remove an abandoned, but prominently placed, gas station.  Lesh had put it on hold after signs opposing the project were placed along his walking route in Ross, spooking him and his wife.  Plans are available here (PDF).
• The Marin Agricultural Land Trust purchased a large ranch outside Tomales recently, completing the greenbelt around the town and further ensuring that West Marin is off-limits to sprawl.
• Speaking of sprawl, the proposed Hanna Ranch development in Novato passed the city's Design Review Board, the first step towards project approval.
• Some anti-sprawl might come to San Rafael, as local developer Monahan Parker is looking to build a four-story, 41-unit mixed-use building at 2nd & B Streets.  Two Victorian-era homes that have seen much better days would be demolished.  The project would also include a 57-space parking garage, which is one space above the minimum for a project of its size and totally out of whack with the overall setting.  It is currently before the Design Review Board, and you can watch preliminary comments here.

The Greater Marin

• The debate over California High-Speed Rail is still a thing, and it's making national news.  Ezra Klein of the Washington Post provides a good rundown of current thought on the subject, while CAHSR Blog looks to BART battles in Livermore for signs of things to come.
• BART is still fighting protestors over police brutality and cell phone censorship.  It boiled over recently with multiple stations being shut down during rush-hour.
• In case you hadn't heard, there's a battle brewing over transportation funding in Congress thanks to the soon-to-expire gas tax.  Mercury News wonders what it would do the Bay Area.
• SMART isn't the only transit agency facing problems: Vancouver's TransLink has funding issues, Atlanta's MARTA system is under fire from the car-dependent, and Washington, DC isn't sure how it should align one end of its planned streetcar line.
• Looking to the Old World for how to structure urban spaces.
• Someone read the entire Seattle land use code and came away with some observations.  A braver man than I.

Mid-Week Links: Transportation Everywhere

Marin

• SMART might get delayed yet again, with Interim Executive Director Farhad Mansourian saying, "I doubt we will be operational by 2014."  It seems as though the two-year delay specified in their updated financial report, which saved $24 million in operating costs, isn't due to cost-cutting but rather because getting approval to build on wetland takes far longer than the Board had expected.  You can hear about that and much more later today at SMART's Board meeting, 1:30pm at San Rafael's Council Chambers or tomorrow's Citizens Oversight Committee meeting at 7:30am.
• Highway 101 is getting a $24 million repaving.  A fix-it-first policy is always good - it saves money for government and for drivers - but I should hope that these monies would receive the same scrutiny as TAM's $8 million SMART bailout.
• Fairfax's potential new music venue, Terrapin Crossing, got some support from the IJ editorial board, who said that the Phil Lesh idea would be "a golden opportunity for the town."
• Another town faces affordable housing in a cautionary tale from SoCal as to the results of blanket opposition.

Around the Bay

• Transit use is dramatically up across the Bay Area over last year.  The article doesn't mention Golden Gate Transit, but according to their site ridership on GGT buses increased by 1.3% while ridership in GGT ferries increased by 7.4% and is now higher than before the recession.  Driving took a hit, though, with Golden Gate Bridge traffic down 1.3%.
• Regional integration of transit agencies would help to improve service across the region and further boost ridership.
• Something happened to BART that dealt with cell phones.  It's not getting much coverage, though.

 The Greater Marin

• It looks like merchants tend to misjudge how people get to their stores, giving driving a far larger share of the pie than other modes.  This could lead to local merchants opposing bike lanes and pushing for more parking to boost customers, even if those policies don't help.
• Seattle is looking to cut car use in half in the city in a bid to become a carbon-neutral town.
• The New York Times shines a light on the dangers of missing crosswalks and sidewalks.  Marin is blessed that it lacks the huge, 10-lane arterials that run through cities like Orlando or Raleigh.
• The General Services Administration, landlord for the Federal government, is working with Washington, DC's transit agency to build or rent its buildings near transit, especially the Metro system.  This is especially important given that government buildings can stress neighborhoods that aren't designed to handle such commutes, and is a shift from previous policy that just looks at the cheapest options.
• California's High-Speed Rail is in court, as Peninsula governments have brought a lawsuit against them, saying they provided bad ridership information, bad cost information, performed a poor environmental review and failed to do a proper analysis of the vehicular impact of the system.
• Proponents of CAHSR, meanwhile, counter cost arguments by saying that the cost of doing nothing is $100 billion in new airport and road infrastructure, and Harry Reid joined the chorus in favor.
• And the San Francisco Chronicle goes all out with four pieces on the subject, calling it our generation's Golden Gate Bridge, a necessity, and a potential new industry.  In dissent, Jerry Hill calls into question the fiscal viability of the project given the present climate of austerity in Sacramento and Washington.

Mid-Week Links: Building the Future

Marin County

• Roadwork is coming to the County, which will lead to delays but also better roads.  Total cost is more than $1.1 million
• Mill Valley took a giant step forward with its new plan for Miller Avenue, one of two arteries through town.  It's not perfect, of course, but it will emphasize bus and bicycle access.  Hopefully the city will work with Golden Gate Transit to improve travel times and headways, too.
• Want to join a planning board?  TAM and Fairfax are both looking for citizen volunteers.
• Two amazing things, parks and beer, are coming together.  Lagunitas Brewing Company is looking to operate and maintain Samuel P. Taylor State Park, which is threatened with closure due to state budget cuts.

California

• Napa County will receive some CalTrans money to study traffic flow for Highway 29, which runs from the city of Napa to American Canyon.
• San Francisco's cable car fleet has entered the digital age, as they now accept Clipper Cards for payment.  Won't make them any cheaper, though.
• Also in The City, Muni is trying to speed its abysmally slow transit fleet through all-door boarding, letting people pay at the back or front or middle of the vehicle.
• California's High-speed rail will be more expensive thanks to changes sought by Central Valley communities, including a 42-mile stretch of elevated rail, leading lawmakers to question whether the state can afford the project.  CA HSR Blog fires back at the criticism, saying, "If we want to build high speed rail and provide the basis of sustainable 21st century prosperity, we need to figure out how to get this built, and not make excuses for doing nothing."  They also have a list of the new documents that detail the added costs.
• The Central Valley is known for its Midwestern flair for sprawling communities, and UC Berkeley examined why in a working paper examined by Half-Mile Circles.  Its conclusion?  Despite a desire for high-end transit, "Unless considerably higher densities are embraced and politically accepted, high-end transit services will remain a pipedream in settings like Stockton."  Reminds me of a streetcar project a few years back.

The Greater Marin

• Lastly, we have a good example of how a building's perceived size can be altered substatially by modifications to the façade.  DCMud, Washington, DC's local real-estate blog, looked at an impending project in the popular and developing 14th Street Corridor.  The local community thought the original design was too over-bearing on local streets of rowhouses, so developer Eric Colbert reworked the design and, without losing much square footage, created a very different building.

Mid-Week Links: Delay Delay

• In SMART news, Farhad Mansourian released new numbers this last week showing an increase in costs, causing the MTC to delay and reevaluate the critical bailout that was contingent on costs remaining steady.  According to Mansourian's analysis, the budget remains balanced, but overall construction costs increase.  The IJ keeps up its support, but it's right that the system needs to get its act together.  Opponents say the numbers still aren't right and begin gathering signatures for repeal while Mansourian blasted RepealSMART for arguing that the whole train project should be built at once or not at all, but made no comment on the numbers critique.  Also unknown is why the critical system continues to shoot itself in the foot.
• In affordable housing, a new study out of the DC Office of Planning (for the municipality, not the feds) attempts to take transportation costs into account when analyzing housing affordability.  As intuition would have it, the further you travel from work the more expensive it is to get there, decreasing affordability.  Forbes' Joel Kotkin declares that ABAG is conducting a war on the single-family home (nevermind the fact that rowhouses are single-family homes), saying people want to live in such homes but will pay a premium to live in urban areas, citing an old Chronicle article of how the middle class are priced out of San Francisco.  Nope, no contradiction there.  Oh, and he takes a few potshots at Marinites just for kicks.
• By the way, Novato's awesome.
• Elsewhere in California, Jerry Brown vetoed a bill allowing local planning authorities to require businesses help cover transit costs of its employees' commute; Larkspur will be timing its traffic signals to help car flow around, well, everywhere, although its pedestrian facilities could use some help; bike lanes are added to the Golden Gate Bridge's Eastern walkway, although it's still too crowded; the MTC's impending move to San Francisco may not be so impending; San Diego gets a new growth plan; and Lawrence Berkeley National Labs wants to find new space near transit, causing East Bay councilmembers to salivate simultaneously.
• In other news, Frank Gruber asks why Americans implemented policies that destroyed our cities, and Grist relays a grisly reminder of what happens when drivers don't realize that bikers are vehicles, too.  San Francisco does its own cyclists well by prosecuting the alleged driver in a hit-and-run that killed a German tourist on a bicycle.

Mid-Week Links: Empty Inside

• Nathan Kensinger took a fantastic photo essay of one of the Bay Area's ghost towns: Drawbridge, Santa Clara County.
• Density doesn't have to be bad.  Here in Washington, DC, there have been a few particularly beautiful examples of rowhouses hitting the local blogosphere. (DCMud, DCMetrocentric)
• Well, my Washington ties finally pay off.  The debt debate is all the town can talk about, and at least one outlet asks, What happens to transportation if we can't borrow?  It turns out, not much.  In the mean time, the FAA still isn't reauthorized. (Transportation Issues, Washington Post)
• It looks like the Marin County Planning Commission is going to look at some zoning changes.  On the table: density and mixed use, among other things. (MCPC)
• Some neighbors are filing suit against a planned expansion of Edna Maguire Elementary in Mill Valley over slightly more traffic and slightly more height. (IJ)
• Fairfax could get some more night life, although a bit off the beaten track.  South downtown's abandoned gas station might become a music venue.  Rockin'. (Patch)
• For once, the IJ was full of constructive examination of SMART this week.  A veteran transportation planner takes a look at the SMART train and asks naysayers, "Can't we now get on with this project?" while Dick Spotswood thinks it will be too successful for its rolling stock, which have a maximum capacity of 498 seats.  Personally I think his analysis is oversimplistic, as SMART's corridor is hardly similar to CalTrain's.
• Just when you thought it was over, ABAG's affordable housing saga rolls on, this time to Sausalito.  They're just getting started, but so far the debate sounds rather more civil than Novato's contentious debate.
• Speaking of Novato, opinion on the new affordable housing plan keeps rolling in.  SUNN panned the site selections for being insufficient, the IJ editorial board congratulated the city for how far it has come since the start of the debate, Brad Breithaupt decryed the whole process, and the city itself, in an uncharacteristic bout of practicality, started to look at how to make  better use of the market to meet its affordable housing needs through second units. (Pacific Sun, IJ, Patch)
• Late Edition: It's been a long time coming, but the San Francisco bike share project marches forward by announcing next year's pilot plans.  Other cities along the CalTrain corridor will also be part of the system which, in the Bay Area's Balkanized transit system, is most welcome. (San Francycle, HuffPo)

Mid-Week Links: Baby Steps

County Proper

• The never-ending news of rail in Marin continues with Novato's final approval of the mighty and efficient freight train, which will now run through the city as far as Eureka.  Santa Rosa got its first new freight train this week, too.  (IJ, Patch, Press-Democrat)
• In a mishmash of acronyms, MTC considers SMART's pedestrian facilities for TIGER funds. (IJ, Fast Lane)
• Work is starting to add HOV lanes to the Novato Narrows, an area of Highway 101 north of the Atherton Avenue exit.  Freeway widening is never a good answer to traffic, especially with a train on the way, but at least it's HOV. (Patch, IJ)
• Meanwhile, Novato declares sprawl to be the way forward, approving zoning for affordable housing at 20 units per acre instead of the State-mandated 30 units per acre.  Although 20 units per acre could do some good, as the form matters more than the density, the downgrade is a loss to the city. (IJ, Transit in Utah)

Near Marin

• ABAG, MTC, and BAAQMD might buy a place together in San Francisco.  ABAG and MTC currently share a much more transit-accessible space in Oakland, but it's too small for what they want.  Maybe they'll live up to their own mandates? (Mercury News)
• It looks like they got the memo: AC Transit and BART are looking to merge.  As two of the largest transit agencies in the region, their merger would go a long way to better integrate Bay Area transit.
• Regional development agencies got the axe this last budget cycle, and they're suing to stop the state from shutting them down.
• California passed a law (SB 582) mandating employers offer benefits to its bike-commuting employees, just as they do to their car-commuting employees.  Now the Governor just has to sign it. (Cyclicious)

Greater Marin

• If you've ever worried about bike commuting (it's too hot, too cold, too wet, too tiresome), maybe you should give one of these things a try.  No problem to hit 28MPH and an optional electric assist for troublesome hills.  One of these could go from San Anselmo to the Ferry in 10 minutes, no gas required.  (Inhabitat)

Midweek Links: Get SMART

SMART was making news this week, what with TAM voting not to rescind last month's approval of an $8 million bailout for the transit project.  MTC then voted to approve its own transfer of $33 million.  Sonoma had already contributed $3 million.  Larkspur officially approved of the project, votes raised my eyebrows.  When the original vote deadlocked at 7-7 on whether to approve the bailout, it was Larkspur Councilwoman Joan Lundstrom who switched her vote.  She was not at the second meeting, allowing her alternate, Larkspur Mayor Larry Chu, to sit in her place.  Despite his city's official approval of the project, he voted to rescind.  In any case, RepealSMART would have none of it, suing the organization for violating open meeting laws and general nefariousness.  All the while, the SMART board reported that they were "fundamentally sound and on track" and continued its search for a new executive director. Meanwhile, Corte Madera and San Rafael passed their budgets.  Turns out the San Rafael gas tax doesn't always go to transportation.

Not all budgets are in yet, with a number of cities contemplating sales taxes to close gaps that keep coming up.

Novato gets a new bicycle lane to bypass a stretch where bikers shared 101 with vehicular traffic.

Not all vehicular safety news is good.  A boy was hit by a driver outside of a crosswalk in a Mill Valley shopping area.  Police blame the kid for crossing outside of a crosswalk, but there's a problem: there aren't any crosswalks there.

In other local drama, Novato has revised their list of sites to zone for affordable housing.  Looks like the churches are off the hook, but I still wonder why the city insists on building single-purpose affordable units.

From here on, the only thing shocking about San Rafael's Pizza Orgasmica is going to be the name.  Its owner has given up a fight to keep its bright yellow, Brazil-inspired hue.  SFist calls San Rafael's objections an "Orange County-mentality".

TAM is considering high-occupancy toll, or HOT, lanes on 101.  Despite research that congestion pricing is the only way to keep down traffic, I can't help but think the $66-120 million required to install might go to a better use like, say, transit.  At least it makes the $8 million SMART bailout look like the chump change it is.

Lastly, and as an offering for being a day late, I bring you meaty theory.  Free parking, that ubiquitous scourge of the suburbs and thing that exists all over Marin, is really a huge drain on our local, regional, and national economies.

Mid-Week Links: On Tenterhooks

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/25688970 w=400&h=225] NETWORK_LA transit has a wonderful video about moving LA from cars to transit.

Unlike LA, Marin might be stepping back towards the car if the Transportation Authority of Marin reverses last week's vote to transfer $8 million to the SMART project at today's meeting. (Marin IJ, Press Democrat)

The San Rafael mayoral race is already under way.  We’ll be watching this. (San Rafael Patch)

Limiting a parking lot to just the store’s customers is hugely inefficient.  Not only does it encourage people to drive fractions of a mile from lot to lot, but it creates redundant parking spaces, wasting land. (Reinventing Parking)

SMART will be a boon to downtown San Rafael, and that’s good for everyone in Marin. (San Rafael Patch)

Greater Greater Washington found that sometimes, people just don’t realize that bicycles are used for things other than recreation. (Greater Greater Washington)

Mid-Week Links: Coming to Earth

San Anselmo-Fairfax Patch reports that the Fairfax Council has approved Good Earth's plans to move to the abandoned supermarket at the east end of town. It's a great use of a dilapidated space, but couldn't they have done something about that sea of parking? (Patch)

The IJ reports on the bizarre Transportation Authority of Marin meeting that first rejected, then accepted, the SMART fund bailout. Given that the public went home thinking the proposal failed, TAM will hold the meeting again and take a revote.  (Marin IJ)

The Washington, DC, Metrorail system is looking at expansion.  Local blog Greater Greater Washington argues that it should stay in the core.  BART, meanwhile, continues to push out into the suburbs. (Greater Greater Washington)

While Novato stews over its affordable housing mandates, the County is looking for affordable housing locations in its unincorporated areas.  A shame transit access and mixed-use development doesn't play into much of the discussions. (Novato Advance, Marin IJ)

Be prepared: most of Marin's first responders live hours from the County, meaning that, in the event of a major disaster, Marinites will be without aid for three to seven days.  Better be ready to hunker down for a while after the Big One. (Pacific Sun)

In a blast from the past, Fortune republished an article from 1958 detailing the politics and looming problems of the then-under-construction Interstate Highway System.  Most of the problems we deal with now were foreseen even then. (CNN/Forbes)

Mid-Week Links: Theatrical Edition

Pressure is building for a theater in San Anselmo.  Do we have the density for it? (San Anselmo-Fairfax Patch) The first real trains on the SMART tracks will be freight trains, as long as the Novato Council approves of the plan. (Marin IJ)

The anti-SMART rail lobby is getting restless thanks to the ongoing money issues on the trouble rail line. Although their open reason is one of fiscal responsibility, spokesman Clay Mitchell says on conservative blog NorCalCrush: "[Proponents of SMART] place a very low value on human quality of life, putting perceived value of “mother nature” above that of the human race." (Marin IJ, NorCalCrush)

Another legislative recall is in motion, this one against San Rafael's recently approved Target store. Organizing group Keep it Local San Rafael is forcing the city council to either rescind the store's approval or put it to a general vote at the next election. (Pacific Sun)

Novato debates where they should put new affordable housing. New affordable housing units are required by the Association of Bay Area Governments under the Bay Area's "fair share" laws. Of the proposed parcels for development, the Wood Hollow & Redwood Boulevard parcel is most promising, as it is adjacent to the North Novato SMART station, although far from downtown. Residents spoke passionately on the subject, with the issue of crime coming from low-income, high-density housing a frequent point of contention. Video of the meeting will be available at the city website. (Marin IJ)

Across the street from the Wood Hollow parcel, Fireman's Insurance is aiming to green its campus through the use of fuel-cell generators. Their location at the very edge of town forces its employees to drive, spewing carbon into the air. Hopefully, they'll aim to leverage their transit access once the SMART station is built. (Novato Patch)

On the issue of affordable housing, New York is looking to strengthen their already-tight rent control laws. Some people feel this will just make housing in the state even more expensive. (Reuters, Market Urbanism)