Newsroom

Bay Area transit projects get federal dollars
San Francisco Chronicle - February 2, 2010
By Michael Cabanatuan
Muni's Central Subway and its Van Ness Avenue rapid bus project, plus AC Transit's bus rapid transit project, each will be awarded tens of millions of dollars in federal funding today.  The Department of Transportation will award Muni $20 million for the Central Subway project, which is to run from Fourth and King streets to Chinatown. The Van Ness project will get $15 million. AC Transit's project, to run from San Leandro to Berkeley, also will get $15 million.
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A Modest Proposal: Ask Developers to Help Pay For Better Transport
Capitol Hill Streetsblog - February 2, 2010
By Elana Schor
At today's debate on conservative support for transit, developer Chris Leinberger had a modest proposal for lawmakers who are desperately seeking new transportation financing strategies in an era of diminishing gas tax returns: Ask real-estate developers to pay for projects that will increase their profits. The concept is often referred to by the wonkish term "value capture," evaluated by the University of Minnesota in a groundbreaking study last fall.
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White House Budget Includes $530M for Local Sustainability, $1B for HSR
Capitol Hill Streetsblog - February 1, 2010
By Elana Schor
The White House officially unveiled its $3.8 trillion budget for the fiscal year 2011 this morning, seeking $1 billion to continue its high-speed rail investment and $530 million for the transportation leg of the Obama administration's inter-agency push to promote sustainable planning on the local level.  The budget also proposes a $4 billion National Infrastructure Innovation and Finance Fund, a rechristened National Infrastructure Bank that would use federal money to leverage private capital for large-scale projects improving the nation's built environment. 
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State lawmakers take aim at free parking
LA Times – January 29, 2010
By Patrick McGreevy
State lawmakers are taking aim at what some of them see as a menace to California's environment: free parking.  There is too much of it, the legislators say, and it encourages people to drive instead of taking the bus, walking or riding a bike. All that motoring is contributing to traffic jams and pollution, according to state Sen. Alan Lowenthal (D-Long Beach), and on Thursday he won Senate approval of a proposal he hopes will prompt cities and businesses to reduce the availability of free parking. 
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MTA Directors Get Another Earful on Muni Service Cuts and Fare Hikes
SF Streetsblog - January 29, 2010
By Michael Rhodes
Muni's budget saga continued today as the MTA Board heard details on proposed service cuts and future deficits, prompting a growing outcry from the city's transit riders. The cuts would include eliminating ten percent of Muni service, bringing frequencies on many routes to historic lows.  More than 45 members of the public spoke at the meeting, decrying the cuts and fare increases.
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Stimulus money will spur construction on California high-speed rail project, officials say
LA Times - January 29, 2010
By Dan Weikel
The $2.25 billion in federal stimulus funds awarded this week to the California high-speed rail project ensures that construction can proceed on a 520-mile route between Anaheim and San Francisco within three years, rail officials said Thursday.  Mehdi Morshed, executive director of the California High-Speed Rail Authority, said the infusion of federal dollars would pay for completion of the project's engineering and environmental reviews and provide a significant amount of seed money to start building the system by September 2012, as required by the federal grant.
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New Report Links Homeowners’ Auto Dependence With Foreclosure Risk
Capitol Hill Streetsblog – January 28, 2010
By Elana Schor
Homeowners in car-dependent areas without access to alternative transportation are at greater risk of foreclosure, according to a report released yesterday by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) that calls for mortgage underwriting standards to begin taking so-called "location-efficiency" into account.  The NRDC examined data for 40,000 mortgages in Chicago, Jacksonville, and San Francisco, seeking to test the contention -- emphasized most often by the nonprofit Center for Neighborhood Technology -- that affordable housing should include transportation costs as well as mortgage bills.
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