Planetizen Newswire
Keep up with essential planning news and commentary, delivered to your inbox every Monday and Thursday.
Santa Clara County
The pandemic's cumulative death toll in the U.S. does not include over 100,000 fatalities that are directly or indirectly attributable to COVID-19, according to a CDC report released Oct. 20 on the subject of "excess deaths."
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
A groundbreaking study provides some of the strongest evidence yet of the powerful results of permanent supportive housing for the chronically homeless.
The Mercury News
The saga of the three-county sales tax upon which the future of Caltrain depends is now in the hands of voters.
KTVU
Elected officials in San Francisco and Santa Clara counties have produced a counter proposal after killing a proposed sales tax last week.
The Mercury News
Dr. Sara Cody, the Santa Clara County health officer widely credited for leading the Bay Area into issuing a 6-county shelter-in-place order on March 16, the nation's first, warns that the pace of reopening is too fast.
Los Angeles Times
Heretofore, the question was never if, but when, the nation's most populous state would reach 40 million.
CALmatters
Twenty years after voters first approved funding to build a BART extension into the heart of the South Bay Area, the project is finally ready to offer rides to the public.
The Mercury News
California was the first state to require all residents to submit to a stay-at-home order, and it appears that Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to ensure it's not the last one to relax that order, regardless of whether it meets the federal guidelines.
Los Angeles Times
Santa Clara, San Mateo, and San Francisco county voters could see a ballot measure to fund an ambitious Caltrain plan with a one-eighth cent sales tax, amounting to more than $100 million dollars per year.
The Mercury News
Six Bay Area counties have taken drastic action to curb the spread of the deadly coronavirus. "Please read this Order carefully. Violation of or failure to comply with this Order is a misdemeanor punishable by fine, imprisonment, or both."
San Francisco Chronicle
Both phases of the extension of BART beyond the Warm Spring Station Fremont, into Santa Clara County and San Jose, have been delayed. The first extension, to the Milpitas and Berryessa stations, was expected to be complete by the end of 2019.
The Mercury News
A $450 million bond referendum will come before San Jose voters this November. Mayor Sam Liccardo promises it is "a necessary but not sufficient tool" to provide stable housing at an epicenter of the housing crisis.
Next City
To paraphrase Bill Clinton, it's the housing, stupid! In addition to the troubling findings of the Bay Area Council poll, a California housing report found that Silicon Valley had the highest percentage of residents leaving their counties.
The Mercury News
Could development fights in the home of the biggest tech companies be avoided if cities just talked to each other?
The Mercury News
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
Up against an unexpected federal requirement to produce substantially more funds for a crucial rail project, San Mateo County's transportation authority showed the importance of "self-help" counties that control local transportation sales tax funds.
The Daily Journal
About 50 transportation measures appeared on local ballots on November 8, 2016. To date, Planetizen reviewed outcomes in nine regions in six states. Here we compare the measures in terms of revenue, taxes, projects, and reasons for failure.
Planetizen
BART won big on election night with the passage of Measure RR, a $3.5 billion infrastructure bond measure. But the San Francisco Chronicle observes that results from two other local ballot measures suggest a mixed message on the rapid transit system.
San Francisco Chronicle
Voters appear to have passed the most contentious ballot measure in San Francisco, Proposition Q, that allows city workers to remove tent encampments if shelter is available. Voters in other Bay Area counties passed taxes for affordable housing.
San Francisco Chronicle
A new survey has found that every day more than 800 tech buses are traveling on the region's roadways, carrying around 34,000 passengers daily
San Francisco Business Times
