Category: news

meetings

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The Sacramento Active Transportation Commission (SacATC) on Thursday, January 18, was just posted. It is not possible for me to post something on every meeting, and I usually do so only if there is something of particular importance to me. For tomorrow’s SacATC, it is the work zone policy. It may be useful to others to see a schedule of meetings that I often or sometimes attend. For all of these meetings, they may be cancelled or rescheduled, so it is alway best to check before attending. Though most meetings are viewable online, either during or after, fewer and fewer offer public comment, except ahead of time or in person, at the meeting.

Government

Advocacy

Sacramento Transit Advocates and Riders (STAR) maintains a calendar of events of interest to transit advocates, at https://sacramentotransitadvocates.groups.io/g/main/calendar, and you can subscribe to that calendar if you wish.

You are welcome to add meetings that you think would be of interest to transportation and housing advocates, in comments. Certainly no one needs more meetings to attend, but my experience is that if you attend a meeting regularly, people get to know you and your interests, and you can really make a difference.

please comment on the posts

Dan AllisonLeave a comment

As stated earlier, I have stopped using Twitter. When I had my blog linked to Twitter, each post I made automatically generated a tweet, and that is what drove most of my views and readers to the blog. Without that, I am getting far less traffic to my blog. I’m not regretting the decision, but since I post to educate and harangue (and for my own amusement, to be honest), fewer readers means less education and harangue.

So, in order to generate more views and readers, I ask you to comment on the posts. You may of course use your real name and email address, but if you don’t want to do so for personal or work-related reasons, feel free to make up a name – ‘Joe Reader’, and email address – ‘joe@blogreader.com’. So long as the post is constructive and on topic, I will approve it (and not one of the very few prohibited subjects; helmet wars are the only one I can think of at the moment). You can say something simple, like ‘interesting’. You can present contrary points of view, or things I neglected to think of. You can of course agree. And you may provide links to other resources that people would want to know. Keep it constructive, and I welcome it!

Yes, I have thought about using another platform such as Mastodon, but just have not had the time to research that option.

Meetings week of May 15

Dan Allison1 Comment

Note: This will not be a regular feature, but occasional, to share meetings you might be interested in. Some are organizations, some are agencies.

Monday

  • SACOG Bikeshare Policy Committee: 2:00PM, in person (1301 L St) or Zoom; the agenda is Overview of the Regional Bike Share Program (Nicole Zhi Ling Porter) and Update on Bike Share Technical Expert Agreement (Nicole Zhi Ling Porter). The presentations are not available ahead of time.

Wednesday

  • Walkable City Book Club: an informal group meets to discuss Walkable City, by Jeff Speck, on occasion of the 10th Anniversary Edition; this week the group is discussing Part 3: Getting the Parking Right (page 117). The group meets 6:00PM at Lefty’s Taproom, 5610 Elvas Ave, Sacramento, CA 95819. Usually second Wednesday, but for May third Wednesday. If you want to be added to the email list, please email me (allisondan52@gmail.com) and I’l get you added.
  • Sacramento Climate Coalition: meets 6:30PM once a month via Zoom to discuss climate action at the regional and state level; email info@sacclimate.org to get added to the email announcement list

Thursday

  • ECOS Climate Committee: meets 6:00PM once a month via Zoom to discuss local climate concerns and actions; this month the topic is the recently released City of Sacramento Climate Action and Adaptation Plan.
  • City of Sacramento Active Transportation Commission (SacATC): meets 6:00PM monthly in person (city council chambers) or via Zoom; agenda on the Upcoming Meetings page; this month the main agenda items are 21st Ave Beautification Project, Pocket Greenhaven Neighborhood Transportation Plan Final Draft, and Streets For People: Sacramento Active Transportation Plan Phase I Outreach.

Friday

  • SacMoves Coalition: meets 10:00AM on third Fridays via Zoom; the coalition is primarily a gathering of organizations working in transportation, environment, and housing, but individuals may participate in meetings; to get added to the announcement list, please email Mia Machado, MMachado@sacbreathe.org.

Sacramento Transit Advocates and Riders (STAR) maintains a calendar of transit and transportation meetings on groups.io. You may subscribe to that calendar at https://groups.io/ics/1509831/783555437945795328/feed.ics. The calendar is not intended to be exhaustive, but is useful.

leaving Twitter?

Dan Allison3 Comments

I have been using a Twitter connection to announce my blog posts on my Twitter feed (@GetAroundSac). I’ve removed that connection. I’ve added a subscribe button prominently on each page, just below the categories drop-down.

I’ve been a pretty active Twitter user. Though I don’t think of myself as addicted, I certain spend a lot of time there. But a lot of the people I follow have either left Twitter or are using it much less. I notice less and less local (Sacramento region) tweets. Some of the users I follow have taken to retweeting everything they see, which is clogging my Twitter feed with items that I already see, or am not interested in. This may be a desperation move as their own followers drop away. So I’m getting bored with Twitter.

Of course as nearly everyone does, I question whether I should even be on Twitter, that social media platform owned by one of my least favorite people in the world. Some days it seems like Twitter is working OK, but then he makes a nonsensical change that makes everything less useful. His management is pretty clearly oriented towards amplifying right wing voices. I’m guessing he wants to be the first person to accomplish throwing $44 billion in the toilet (that’s what he paid for it, but his own valuation is now $20 billion, and falling).

So, I haven’t left Twitter. Yet. But am thinking about leaving more and more.

what news media gets wrong

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Beth Osborne, Director of Transportation for American (T4A) tweeted on July 20 about what news media gets wrong about crashes involving walkers and bicyclists. She solicited more ideas, and the ideas have been flowing! After just two days, there are 135 comments, 326 retweets, and 2026 likes.

I had assumed that the topic of news media bias and deference to law enforcement victim blaming was a niche concern, but apparently not. The diversity of people commenting is surprising but hopeful, and the list of things news media gets wrong could fill pages. Not that every media article is wrong, or that all parts are wrong, but the consensus seems to be that news media is more wrong than right.

I contributed my own two cents:

  • It is true that most law enforcement officers have a strong bias against bicyclists and walkers, and so what they say should be taken with a grain of salt, if not discounted entirely. But reporters usually treat LE with deference rather than challenge.
  • Almost all reporters simply repeat what the law enforcement officer or PIO or news release said. They rarely go to the scene to see what it actually looks like. I realize that not all crash locations can be visited, but current practice is none of them are.

But I really encourage you to follow this tweet thread to see how many ideas there are from so many people of different backgrounds.

Sacramento Tweed Ride, December 4

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The Sacramento Tweed group is hosting the annual Tweed Ride on Saturday, December 4, starting at 12:00 noon. The ride is “Winter Wonderland Ride and Picnic”. It meets at WAL Public Market at 1104 R St, at 11:30AM, and rolls about at noon. It is a ‘bring your own picnic’ event. The picnic occurs in a local park. There is sometimes an unofficial after-event visit to a drinking establishment.

There were a number of tweed riders on the SABA Mural ride on Sunday, distributing handbills and encouraging local bicyclists to join. Period clothing is appreciated and celebrated (roughly 1902-1920), but certainly not required. Period bicycles are also appreciated and celebrated, but certainly not required. Come as you are!

The handbill flier is below, and the event is on Facebook at Sacramento Tweed Ride 2.0, https://www.facebook.com/groups/534956886520489/.

And a photo from the 2014 Sacramento Tweed Ride picnic.

News summary 2016-07-02

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New summary 2017-06-18

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News summary 2017-06-11

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Sac State breaks ground on new parking structure (SacBee 2017-06-09); just what every university needs, more spaces for cars and less money for students
Sacramento transit officials have been watching you. Now they want to talk (SacBee 2017-06-09)
If you don’t like California’s gas tax increase, you’re not alone (SacBee 2017-06-09); Shocker! People are opposed to paying for what they formerly got for free!
10,000 new homes are coming to ‘desirable’ part of the Sacramento region (SacBee 2017-06-08)
This program turns scavenged bikes into new rides for kids – with one inmate’s help (SacBee 2016-06-08)
These 15 downtown properties will pay the highest taxes for a streetcar line (SacBee 2017-06-07)