San Francisco
Blog post
Since its inauguration in 1975, San Francisco’s United Nations Plaza has not served its intended purpose.
In 1995, planners forecasted that the Millbrae BART Station in San Mateo County, where riders can transfer to/from Caltrain, would attract 16,500 weekday riders. Fourteen years after it opened, ridership is 7,000. Planners were off by 58 percent.
San Francisco Chronicle
Developers, neighbors, and housing advocates are debating the fate of the Balboa Reservoir. Their visions for how many units should be built there range from 680 to 1,245.
Beyond Chron
The $1.6 billion Central Subway project will bring the first subway to San Francisco's Chinatown. After early funding and planning delays, construction had seemed to be moving along swiftly. Now the project is expected to be delayed by 10 months.
San Francisco Examiner
The Federal Highway Administration approved 50 applications of red transit-only lanes to be painted throughout San Francisco. Already used on four streets in a pilot program, the lanes have proven effective but are opposed by some business owners.
San Francisco Examiner
Across the nation, suburban homeless populations are growing. Many of these communities are unprepared to shelter or serve these growing populations.
KQED
The oldest commuter rail line west of the Mississippi is also unique in another way—it lacks a dedicated source of operating revenue. Legislation has been introduced to allow Peninsula counties to vote to increase sales taxes by 0.125 percent.
The Daily Journal
San Francisco is starved for ideas for ways to meet growing demand for housing, and skyrocketing prices. Here's a big idea: how about building space for some 20,000 new residents on Treasure Island, located in the middle of the bay?
The Architect's Newspaper
The police report conflicts with videos showing CitiBike rider Dan Hanegby, 36, an avid cyclist on his daily commute, being hit by a charter bus on June 12. Almost a year earlier, a Divvy Bike rider was fatally struck by a truck in Chicago.
The New York Times
New York is the most important city in the world, but San Francisco is best positioned for the future, according to AT Kearney's "Global Cities" report.
World Economic Forum
The Urban Institute takes a detailed look at San Francisco's real estate market, where most home sales top $1 million, revealing that old units are far more likely to attract top dollar.
Urban Institute
"Manhattanization," a pejorative term coined in San Francisco half a century ago by opponents of tall buildings, needs to be rethought, writes San Francisco Chronicle's Native Son columnist, Carl Nolte, upon return from a weekend trip to New York.
San Francisco Chronicle
Tech thrives on connection, and America's west coast tech hubs are more connected than ever before. But Seattleites aren't in a rush to abandon their city's distinctiveness.
The Economist
Following a similar ordinance signed into law by Mayor Ed Lee last July that dealt with developments that are 100 percent affordable, the new housing density ordinance apples to market-rate developments that have 30 percent affordability.
San Francisco Chronicle
Pro-housing activists in San Francisco are blamed for displacement of vulnerable communities because they support luxury housing developments. A report from the independent progressive website, Truthout, ties YIMBYs to the "alt-right."
Truthout
The mayor of San Francisco announced plans to convert an old administrative building, owned by the school district, into housing for teachers. It’s a long-awaited idea that has finally come to fruition.
San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco's Great Highway is losing great chunks of asphalt to the ocean. A new plan intends to change that.
San Francisco Magazine
As usual, California's fastest growing counties were inland, far from coastal job centers. The big surprise was that the fastest growing city was an affluent Silicon Valley suburb that had been sued in 2012 by affordable housing advocates.
The Mercury News
A loan program helps non-profits procure affordable apartment buildings that might otherwise be snatched up by speculative developers.
Next City
Harvard economics professor Edward Glaeser discusses the research on local land use controls, and why it makes sense to reevaluate them. Successful approaches may start at the state level.
Brookings
