Posts Tagged ‘planning’

It’s been a long time since I’ve taxi blogged. I drove last Saturday for the first time in a few weeks. I’ve been working dispatch phones and doing VidSF work instead of driving over the past few weeks. Novel-length post after the break.


When the Chronicle ran a story about Mayor Gavin Newsom’s idea for “Sunday Streets” I was a bit skeptical. I wasn’t so sure that we needed another street closure, especially on a Sunday when so many tourists rely on the Embarcadero to come downtown or to the piers to spend money in our City. So [...]


A recent episode of Russ Roberts’ EconTalk podcast featured a wonderful intersection of interests: economics, public policy and public transit. One of Russ’ academia friends, economist Michael Munger, speaks at length on the program about the public transportation system quality in Santiago, Chile before and after nationalization of their bus network. Prior to 2007 Santiago’s [...]


Online ad sales reps enjoy using the term “engagement” in their sales pitches. “OurSite.com’s users are highly engaged with our content, and so shall they be with your ads!” What does “engagement” really mean? Some part is puffery — it’s an abstract term. Anyone can claim they have engaging content, but it’s hard to measure. [...]


The Chronicle reported on Mayor Newsom’s idea to turn a good portion of the Embarcadero into a pedestrian-only safe zone during certain times of the weekend. This is similar to the City’s current closing of JFK Drive in Golden Gate Park to vehicular traffic on weekends. Is this a good idea? Yes, in spirit, but [...]


NPR’s Morning Edition recently featured an excellent two part series on the aggregate effects of our living decisions on the environment. The stories hit hard from the angle that suburbia increases per capita carbon footprint while denser, urban living offers significantly lower per capita carbon footprint. Yes! Here’s the underlying important point: living in denser [...]


On my ‘to write’ list is a manifesto of how to fix Muni. Lay out what’s wrong. Lay out what we need to do to fix it. Dave Snyder of SPUR beat me to the punch. I met Dave last spring when I served under his leadership with a group of volunteers to pitch for [...]


Here’s a great interview with Columbia University professor of management William Dugan about why brainstorming doesn’t always serve our needs as well as it could. I echo some of his thoughts from my personal experience below. Surely you’ve had these thoughts in meetings. I’ve been guilty of it, both in the Vader role (above) and [...]


I went to the library this evening to check out a great book about the history of Muni. Unfortunately, it is out of print and is now reference material. I couldn’t take it with me. I consumed the first 30 pages to the infrequent din of library staff repeatedly announcing imminent closing. 30 minutes, 15 [...]


Do you like watching bloody transit carnage unfold? You’re in luck, here’s a doozy. Check out these fantastic series of posts on the proposed Central Subway in San Francisco. (Primer for the uninitiated: a proposal is on deck to extend the T-Third MUNI Metro line from the Cal Train station at 4th and King underground [...]