San Francisco Public Press (https://www.sfpublicpress.org/2019/09/)
BART directors are considering a proposal to ban panhandling and busking on BART. Dancer Christopher Davis and rapper Drew Barnard have found an audience on BART trains, where they say they can practice and grow as artists. They talk about how they have tailored their performances to BART and how a busking ban would affect them. » Read more
BART director Janice Li weighs in on the hot-button issue of banning panhandling and performing on BART — she’s against the ban. Li, who sees transit as a public good, also airs her views on fare increases and fare evasion, accessibility for disabled riders, and infrastructure improvements and maintenance. » Read more
A proposal to ban panhandling and performing on BART is slated to go before the BART board of directors in October. When it heard about the potential ban, the ACLU told the board that such a law would be a violation of the First Amendment right to free speech. Abre’ Conner, a staff attorney at the ACLU Foundation of Northern California, addressed issues of free speech and, in particular, how they affect homeless people. Conner details how such a ban would unlawfully restriction this constitutional right.
“It’s a good opportunity for BART to remember that they are a government entity — that does not isolate them or insulate them from having to adhere to people’s free speech rights.” — Abre’ Conner, ACLU Foundation of Northern California staff attorney
“Muni Diaries,” an online journal, collects and shares Muni riders’ stories in its blog, podcasts and live events around San Francisco. Co-founder Eugenia Chien and producer Peter Clarke provide a glimpse of what’s happening in the world of buses, streetcars, transit stops and stations around town. » Read more
The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition promotes the bicycle as everyday transportation and pushes for better and safer streets. Executive Director Brian Wiedenmeier highlights what’s happening on the streets of San Francisco that is good, or bad, for bicyclists. He-gives a shout-out to the Bicycle Coalition’s valet bike parking at the new Chase Center, where automobile parking may be scarce. In the works, he said, are reconfiguring Page Street near the freeway to make it bike-friendly by protecting the bike lane and eliminating atraffic bottleneck, finding out what riders want to see on Market Street, and working toward Vision Zero — zero traffic deaths by 2024. “And for people who drive, the better and safer we make it to get more people out of their cars, the easier it’s going to be for those folks who do still need to drive.” — Brian Wiedenmeier, San Francisco Bicycle Coalition executive director
An additional regional crossing, Caltrain electrification — these are all ideas whose time is yet to come in San Francisco. San Francisco Examiner reporter Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez looks at the state of transit in the city, including how the new downtown transit terminal became an expensive bus stop and what costs a mint at the new Chase Center in Mission Bay (hint: parking). » Read more
Cat Carter is with San Francisco Transit Riders, a group that backs an affordable and growing public transit system. She discusses what she would like to see in public transit, such as more user-friendly transit options, less congestion on the roads and a 30-by-30 program, to be put in place by 2030, whereby riders can use rapid-network routes in San Francisco that take 30 minutes from start to finish. » Read more
The red bus-only lanes in the Mission District are controversial. They have been blamed for reducing parking spaces and foot traffic, impeding motorists and decreasing the number of customers patronizing neighborhood businesses. Mission Local reporter Abe Rodriguez talks about the cons, and pros — easing traffic congestion and lessening air pollution — of these transit lanes. » Read more
Mark Pape, a radio reporter for the Total Traffic & Weather Network, tells it like it is about reporting on traffic in the San Francisco Bay Area, the third-worst commute in the country. Interviewed in what traffic reporters call “the pit, ” an area ringed by computer workstations, large TV monitors and microphones, Pape, who has been on the job for 31 years, talks about the days of yesteryear when road information was gathered via airplane as opposed to what happens now, when data is gleaned from computer screens.
“Back when I started, we had planes for a lot of different stations. Matter of fact, there would be a reporter in the front seat and another reporter in the back seat.” — Mark Pape
The documentary “5 Blocks,” by Robert Cortlandt and Dan Goldes, explores the history, economic downturn and efforts to revitalize San Francisco’s mid-Market Street neighborhood, an area whose focal point is just five blocks. Goldes discusses what he learned in his conversations with neighborhood residents from different backgrounds, including an SRO dweller and a tech worker. “I think the thing that I found most striking was that, despite the fact that there is extreme poverty and extreme wealth, side by side, a lot of folks really want the same things … a safer, cleaner neighborhood.” — Dan Goldes, “5 Blocks” filmmaker