With the economy crawling toward a recovery, the City Council gave a developer seeking to build transit-oriented housing near the BART station the option between two projects of different size on the same land...   Read On

"Most of the people who come to our restaurant are government officials and their guests. There aren't any common residents around here"   Read On

For supporters of public transportation, William Lind, the director of the American Conservative Center for Public Transportation, is a complicated case. On the one hand, he articulates very cogently the reasons that free-market Republicans should vote to fund public transit (you'll find those reasons in the interview that follows). It's an unusual position-most Republicans are in the highways camp-and so Lind's book, Moving Minds: Conservatives and Public Transportation (co-authored by the late Paul Weyrich), has been welcomed by many on the other side of the political fence. ...   Read…

Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., pulled out all the stops Tuesday -- he even invoked the Prophet Isaiah -- when he welcomed 1,200 transit advocates to a conference in downtown Portland. "Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt," Blumenauer read, from Isaiah 58:12. "You shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in." ...   Read On

The reaction of various advocacy groups to President Obama's recent call for a $50 billion stimulus spending plan for transportation infrastructure was predictable. They applauded the President's initiative and thought that Congress should promptly approve the spending request. The benefits of investing in infrastructure are undisputable and the need for funds is urgent and compelling, they (or their press releases) proclaimed. ...