Category: news

News summary May 5

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News summary April 28

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Legislation

  • AB-1371: Vehicles: bicycles: passing distance (Bradford): three foot passing bill; amended and passed Assembly  Transportation 04/23/13, referred to Assembly Appropriations
  • AB-206: Vehicles: length limitations: buses: bicycle transportation devices (Dickinson): for SacRT; amended and passed Assembly 04/15/13, referred to Senate
  • AB-840: Vehicles: driver’s licenses: application requirements (Ammiano): amended and passed Assembly Transportation 04/15/13, referred to Assembly Appropriations

News summary April 21

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Legislation

Note: I’ve created a separate page for California legislation under consideration in the 2013-2014 session, and will keep updates there, with only major actions included in my weekly news summaries.

Note: It seems as though the Sacramento Bee has removed its monthly article viewing limitation. It also seems that the Sacramento Business Journal is putting fewer articles behind its paywall, so more are available in full without subscribing.

News summary April 14

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legislation update

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There are several bills before the California Legislature that would affect bicycling, walking, and livability. For additional information, see Richard Masoner’s Cyclelicious blog (search for “legislation”) and the California Bicycle Coalition’s 2013 Legislative Agenda page.

AB-184: Statute of limitations: lengthens statue of limitation for hit and run, probably a good bill

AB-206: Vehicles: length limitations: buses: bicycle transportation devices (SacRT): amended to add an onerous process for approval, but probably still a good bill

AB-417: Environmental quality: California Environmental Quality Act: bicycle transportation plan: no changes so far, a good bill

AB-666: Automated traffic enforcement systems: violations: red light cameras, it restarts the program, but with civil rather than criminal penalties, supported by CaliforniaWALKS and California Bicycle Coalition; hearing in Assembly Judiciary 04/23/13

AB-738 Public entity liability: bicycles: no changes so far, still a bad bill; hearing in Assembly Judiciary 04/23/13

AB-840: Vehicles: driver’s licenses: application requirements: stripped of all bicycling knowledge language, now only requires that drivers license applicants acknowledge the dangers of distracted driving

AB-956: Vehicle accidents: fleeing: no changes so far

AB-1002: Vehicles: registration fee: sustainable communities strategies: changed to remove urgency language and detail use for sustainable communities; still a good bill; hearing in Assembly Transportation 04/22/13

AB-1179 Regional transportation plan: sustainable communities strategy: schoolsites: language slightly diluted, still a good bill

AB-1193 Bikeways: allows cities and counties to use industry standards rather than the requiring the use of the Highway Design Manual; language improved, a great bill; hearing in Assembly Local Government 04/24/13

AB-1194: Safe Routes to School Program; maintains SRTS program at state level, added non-infrasture, statewide coordinator, and TARC; better; hearing in Assembly Transportation 04/15/13, 1:30PM

AB-1290: Transportation planning: broadens representation on the California Transportation Commission and requires reports on progress of transportation agencies in reaching sustainable community goals; seems to be a good bill; hearing in Assembly Transportation 04/29/13

AB-1371: Vehicles: bicycles: passing distance: this bill originally had a different purpose, and was revised to be a three foot passing law, it looks to me to be good; hearing in Assembly Transportation 04/22/13

Please let me know if you are aware of any other bills. I’ve signed up for tracking on these particular bills, but may not be keeping up to date.

News summary April 7

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Suspect in Carmichael DUI murder looking for heroin at time of crash, witness says (SacBee, 2013-04-07)

Sac City Unified board votes to convert Rosa Parks Middle School to K-8 (SacBee, 2013-04-05)

County may downzone land from homes to ag (Sacramento Business Journal, 2013-04-05)

Midtown streets getting lit up (Sacramento Press, 2013-04-04)

Streamlined Sacramento zoning code goes to council (Sacramento Business Journal, 2013-04-03)

Lawsuit signaled over Sacramento’s arena plan (SacBee, 2013-04-03)

Hearings scheduled for California bicycle legislation (Cyclelicious, 2013-04-03)

Tom Ammiano: Let’s Make Pedestrians and Cyclists Safer (Huffington Pose, 2013-04-02)

Ask Sacto 911 crime Q&A: What’s latest in case of driver who struck children in Citrus Heights? (SacBee, 2013-04-02)

Core-city crimes inch upward; police say it’s still pretty safe (SacBee, 2013-04-01)

Get smart (Sacramento News & Review, 2013-03-28); How an environmental law is harming the environment (Sacramento News & Review, 2013-03-28)

News summary March 31

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Will Sacramento’s downtown grow in the whales’ wake? (SacBee 2013-03-31)

Pedestrian killed crossing Auburn Blvd. is identified (SacBee 2013-03-30)

The $250 Million Challenge: Downtown Streetcar Corridor (Sacramento Press, 2013-03-29); Opinion: What else could $250M buy us? (Sacramento Press, 2013-03-27)

Northwest Land Park Demonstrates Home of the Future (Sacramento Press, 2013-03-28); Northwest Land Park infill will feature green homes (Sacramento Business Journal, 2013-03-29); remember that the biggest carbon impact of a house is how the residents get around, not the house itself

After bypass, what now for Lincoln Boulevard? (Sacramento Business Journal, 2013-03-29); why is this part of the planning following the bypass, rather than having been part of planning from the beginning?

California to again crack down on distracted driving (SacBee 2013-03-27)

Arena Plan Puts the “King” in Parking (Sacramento Press, 2013-03-26)

Highway 99 interchange work to begin in May (Sacramento Business Journal, 2013-03-25); $31M to spur development in a greenfield area? What else could we be doing with this money?

New I-5 interchange may be start of first big housing project in years (Sacramento Business Journal, 2013-03-22); At least this $83M is private money, but it is still greenfield development.

And just to prove that I’m not against all development, here are two infill projects that make sense to me:

News Summary March 24

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Driver killed after losing control of his limousine (SacBee 2013-03-24); pedestrian struck

Viewpoints: State’s local streets and roads system is going downhill fast (SacBee 2013-03-22)

Not by the numbers (Sacramento News & Review 2013-03-21); school closure

Coroner identifies pedestrian hit by car on Auburn Boulevard (SacBee 2013-03-22); Update: Man dies when struck by car on Auburn Boulevard (SacBee 2013-03-21)

Turn Downtown Around