AB-148 signed

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Governor Brown signed AB-184: Statute of limitations (Gatto), which extends the statue of limitations for hit-and-run to make it similar to other crimes.

With this signing, all the bills that I was tracking have been resolved: signed, vetoed, or deferred. Tracked bills which passed were: AB-184, AB-206, AB-417, AB-1371, and SB-99.

SB-99, a budget bill which I was not tracking, included aspects of AB-1194, with a lower but guaranteed minimum for Safe Routes to School, and had a higher alternative transportation allocation than was expected.

SB-743 was a gut and amend bill that addressed the Sacramento arena and CEQA, and included elimination of level of service as the primary consideration in urban infill projects, which might in the long run be the most significant change of all.

AB-1290 did not pass, but the overall pass ratio was really great.

Of course many bills did not make it out of their house of origin or did not pass both houses, and they may be considered in the next session, or may be dropped.

More information is on my legislation page.

AB-1290 vetoed

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Governor Brown vetoed bill AB-1290: Transportation planning (John A. Pérez). The purpose of the bill was to expand the membership of the California Transportation Commission in order to create better representation of bicycling, pedestrian, and transit modes, and to better consider air quality and land use. His veto message is at http://gov.ca.gov/docs/AB_1290_2013_Veto_Message.pdf. He indicates that other reforms will achieve the intended effects, but I have my doubts. The car-centric transportation cabal in California is very resistant to reform.

TransForm’s bill information is at http://www.transformca.org/ca-federal/ca-legislation#1290.

News summary October 6

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Carnage

Other

News summary September 29

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Carnage

Other

News summary September 22

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Carnage

Other

News summary September 15

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CEQA

Other

News summary September 8

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Carnage

Legislation update (see Legislation page for more info)

  • AB 1371, the three foot bill, passed the legislature and is before the governor; he has not indicated whether he will sign it or not, but he vetoed the previous two bills

Other

the problem with rolled curbs

Dan Allison1 Comment

Curb&GutterDiagramsRolled curbs slope up from the gutter pan to the sidewalk, whereas standard curbs have a more vertical face. Standard curbs are both old and modern, but there was a period of time in the 1950s through 1970s when rolled curbs were very popular, seen as a sign of the new suburbs. In the grid area of Sacramento, including the first ring suburbs, standard curbs are quite common. In the second ring suburbs and the sprawl suburbs, rolled curbs are quite common, not only being found in residential neighborhoods but even on arterial roads.

parking up on the sidewalk with rolled curb
parking up on the sidewalk with rolled curb

So, what’s the problem with rolled curbs? Drivers use rolled curbs to drive up on the edge of the sidewalk, constraining the sidewalk width, reducing walkability, and not infrequently causing blockage of the sidewalk for people in wheelchairs. ADA regulations require at least 36 inches of clear width. Combine the narrow 4-foot sidewalks that were popular in the suburbs with this driver behavior, and the car-influence zone is expanded to the complete width of the right of way, leaving no place for pedestrians. [Note: This photo is for illustration purposes only, not to give this driver a hard time. This is common practice, and I’ve seen many instances where much more of the sidewalk was blocked.]

A side affect of parking up on sidewalks is that it leaves more of the street width for moving motor vehicles, which then increases the speed at which people drive. By trying to get their vehicles out of the way of the “speeding drivers,” they are actually making it easier for drivers to speed.

What are the solutions?

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Caltrans Watch

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As though I need something else to do, I have started another blog called Caltrans Watch, following a conversation with Jim Brown in which we realized that someone needs to be calling Caltrans to account on its sprawl-inducing and livability-killing approach to transportation. Please take a look and make suggestions for improving it, hopefully with your own contributions. There is a Twitter handle to go with it, @CaltransWatch.

whose responsibility are sidewalks?

Dan Allison9 Comments
broken sidewalk, Sutterville Road at 24th Street
broken sidewalk, Sutterville Road at 24th Street

Note: As I wrote this post, I realized that some background info was needed, hence two related posts: sidewalk buffers and surprisingly good sidewalks.

This week an article in the Sacramento Business Journal, “Rancho Cordova wants to make sidewalks problem of property owners,” talked about the city’s efforts to shift responsibility for sidewalks to the property owners, both residential and commercial. The city spokesperson, Davis Gassaway, attempts to gloss over the impact by saying that it should only cost $1000-1500 to repair a sidewalk, and that Sacramento, Roseville, and West Sacramento already have such ordinances. I think the costs quoted are on the low side. At about $4 per square foot (significantly more for curbs), $1000 would buy 50 linear feet of five foot wide sidewalk in a residential area, and 25 linear feet of ten foot wide sidewalk in a commercial/mixed use area. And just because another city is doing it doesn’t make it a good idea. So, what’s wrong with the idea?

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