Matthew Roth
Recent Posts
New Study Quantifies High Personal Costs of Building CA Cities for Cars
| | 8 Comments
Click to enlarge: Annual household transportation costs in the Bay Area. (editor’s note: The section with area specific data for Southern California isn’t done yet. When it is, we’ll have a post specific to our region. In the meantime, this statewide article prepared by Matthew Roth in San Francisco is a great read.) California residents […]
Best Practices: Bay Area Developers Ditch Parking for More Units
| | 2 Comments
When it comes to building new developments in the Bay Area, especially in San Francisco, the battle over limiting the construction of new parking spaces is pitched. Parking reform advocacy organizations like Livable City, which maintains a listserv populated by car-free and livable-city advocates keeping a keen watch on planning commission parking exemptions, have long […]
At CNU, Representative of Texas Legislature says “No Road Pays for Itself”
| | 4 Comments
Over the past two days at the Congress for the New Urbanism Project for Transportation Reform conference, attendees have called for transportation reform at local, regional, and national levels. In a panel debate about the future of transportation funding and the role of regional planning through MPOs, several speakers argued that the foundation of transportation […]
CNU Transportation Project Raises Bar on Planning for Livable Cities
| | No Comments
Photo: npGreenway The Congress for the New Urbanism’s Project for Transportation Reform summit in Portland, Oregon, has brought together transportation engineers, city planners, and transportation reform advocates to share best practice policies for reforming transportation metrics, funding mechanisms, and regional practices that isolate transportation planning from land-use and growth targets. The highlight of the first […]
CA Poised to Reform Auto-Centric Level of Service Environmental Rules
| | 4 Comments
California administrative rulemakers recently moved a step closer to reforming the section of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) that has compelled cities to focus undue attention on the age-old Automobile Level of Service (LOS) threshold for impacts of new projects and has led to the construction of excess off-street parking.
California Cities Lead Nation in Reducing Emissions from Streetlights
| | No Comments
PG&E workers installing an LED streetlight. Photo: PG&E Streetlights are an enormous part of any city’s energy consumption and cities that wish to cut down on their emissions and their energy bills are getting in line to convert their older street lamps to LED technology. According to Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI) and Department of Energy […]
CNU Summit to Focus on Reforming Transportation, Planning Principles
| | No Comments
The Congress for the New Urbanism will meet in Portland, Oregon, in early November for the annual Project for Transportation Reform, a summit to further define and clarify emerging urban transportation policies that embrace entire networks, rather than interdependent transportation segments, and that seek to balance modal transportation splits and reduce overall vehicular miles traveled […]
Kalashnikovs for Clunkers: The Next Stimulus Plan
| | 1 Comment
In case you don’t qualify for the federal Cash-for-Clunkers rebate program, Mark Muller of Max Motors in Butler, Missouri, has an offer you might want to consider: get a free AK-47 with a new truck. The dealer, whose motto is "God, Guns, Guts and American Pick-Up Trucks," says that sales have doubled since the promotion […]
iPhone Apps That Might Make Your Bike Ride Safer, Certainly More Fun
| | 3 Comments
Wired gives us a look at a number of bicycle-related applications for the iPhone, including Back Light, which allows you to tell cars following too closely on your back wheel exactly what you think they should do with themselves ("Stop!," of course). I’ll admit I would put a lot of other choice statements there, but […]
Gav For Guv Short On Transportation Essentials
| | 4 Comments
(editor’s note: Upon his announcement of his campaign for Governor, Streetsblog SF took a look at the transportation record and plan for Gavin Newsom. Rest assured that if any L.A. based pols decide to make a similar run, then they’ll get a similar look from L.A. Streetsblog) Newsom extolling the glories of EVs, from mayorgavinnewsom […]
Ad Nauseam: What Are You Implying, Chase?
| | 4 Comments
Photo by Matthew Roth Welcome to town Chase. I’m super impressed you have been reading Streetsblog San Francisco and made an ad that reflects some of the knowledge you’ve acquired here. This is obviously a shout out to the car-free community. Might the admen understand the incredible cost savings of ditching the car for a […]
GM and Segway Unveil La-Z-Boy on Wheels
| | 4 Comments
A revolutionary personal mobility device. Hint: it’s NOT the couple in the foreground I’d be laughing right now if I could just stop crying. I thought billions in taxpayer money and Wagoner’s presidential dismissal were supposed to mark the end of General Motors’ bad plans, and I naively hoped the company would replace Dummers with […]