Powerful auto dealers flex muscles, White House blinks



Hayward, CA
One of the many abandoned
auto lots I encountered on
 a recent bike tour in the East Bay.

 In a September 15, 2011 Wall Street Journal article titled "Dealers Oppose Gas Rules, the author describes a renewed sense of power from a recent backdown from the White House. The article opens by stating,

The nation's politically influential automobile dealers, emboldened by the Obama administration's recent retreat on tougher smog regulations, are revving up a lobbying effort to block fuel-economy rules proposed by the administration

This week over 400 automobile dealers will descend upon Washington to block and delay the introduction of rules seeking to improve the nation's fuel efficiency standards on automobiles for at least one year. Congressional member Steve Austria (R., Ohio) sponsored legislation that has already been approved by the House Appropriations Committee that would delay the drafting of the new rules for another year.

The Republicans claim that proposed Obama regulations will burden business at a time when unemployment continues to hover above the 9% level. Democrats although seeking to increase fuel efficiency standards while improving air quality through the new regulations have seen the administration back down twice before. NADA (National Automobile Dealers Association) has previously succeeded twice in getting congressional Democrats defy Obama on key automobile related legislative votes.

San Pedro Square Market



San Jose Eats actually about 10 food trucks
line up on West Saint John Street to celebrate
the opening of San Pedro Square Market. 

As part of several "soft" openings the developers os San Pedro Square Market hosted San Jose Made/San Jose Eats. San Jose Made consists of mostly T-shirt and ball cap vendors. I don't quite get it beacause none of the T-Shirts and hats said "Made in .....San Jose, California, or even made in the USA".

I tried some 5-spice pulled pork off of one of the food trucks and it was fantastic. I didn't get a chance to try some ice cream off of the Treat Bot truck but I have had some before it it is always good.





Bicycle Parking was
non-existent at today's event.


Two things that need to be addressed but is so typical of San Jose events, you keep asking why. Why is it always this way.

The first is the ever present and public show of police in this town. I spotted two pedestrian officers and one on a bicycle for a peak crowed of about 800 people. Later on it dwindled down to about 400 people mostly couples or family members.

I've often been to San Francisco's largest farmers market at the Ferry Building. The market is always packed with at least over ten times as many visitors and I have yet to see one police officer. It seems as though any public gathering requires some type of police presence in San Jose. I'll have to investigate further as to the severe requirements. At least the cops were on foot and not in cars.

This doesn't need to happen.
SF Farmers Mkt. has
free valet parking.

The second item that needs to be addressed is the need for bicycle parking on West Saint John Street. As you can see from the pictures, adequate parking is lacking. Given that this is intended to be a prime downtown location it doesn't make sense that the city didn't require the developer to construct adequate parking before issuing an occupancy permit. So please contact the developer, contact the San Jose Downtown Association, the District 3 (downtown) Councilmember and ask why they were issued building permits and made no requirements for bicycle parking.

So to summarize; too many cops not enough bike racks. Other than that a nice time was had by all.







- Posted from my iPhone

Location:N 1st St,San Jose,United States

Toyota's Mea Culpa - fund industry safety research

Toyota announced on Wednesday that they will be partnering with leading universities in automotive safety studies. Toyota is stepping up research partnerships with several U.S. universities to study increasingly important safety issues facing the auto industry. This was prompted by public and congressional backlash after series of deadly accidents caused by stuck accelerators (later proven to be caused by poorly designed floormats). Toyota's Collaborative Safety Research Center (CSRC) announced that they will spend $50 million over the next five years to "better protect the most vulnerable traffic populations, including children, teens, seniors and pedestrians."

This announcement comes after congressional, media, and public scrutiny on the heels of the widespread safety and quality issues during 2010. Toyota has vowed not only to take on the cost of the research but also to share it with others in the auto industry. It is interesting to note the new found willingness on the part of Toyota to not only bring their research out in the open but their willingness share it with the industry after spending $50 million for the academic partnerships. Given Toyota's previous reluctance to share safety data this is a big departure from the past.

In the Wall Street Journal version of this story reporter Neil Boudette picks op this gem of a quote;

"Twelve teens die each day in accidents," said Tina Brunetti Sayer, an engineer at Toyota's Collaborative Safety Research Center, the group set up to work with outside institutes in North America. "That's 5,000 a year. This is a group that really needs help in learning to drive."

Did you catch that, "this is a group that really needs help in learning to drive." The engineer assumes that all teenagers drive and secondly that these deaths could be stopped or mitigated by giving driving education "help" to these teens.






Here is an abbreviated list of the universities that Toyota will be collaborating with allong with the reasearch outline.

The Transportation Active Safety Institute at Indiana University/Purdue University Indianapolis

· Pedestrian Pre-Collision Systems (PCS) Test Scenarios

A five-year study to develop testing protocols for automotive PCS designed to prevent pedestrian-related car accidents. The study will draw on available crash data in NHTSA databases and original vehicle testing to develop more sophisticated and realistic test scenarios for PCS with the goal of improving pedestrian safety.

Note: In the Wall Street journal article the author additionally states that; "Indiana University and Purdue University also are developing radar and camera technology to prevent collisions with pedestrians"

University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute

· Posture, Body Shape, and Seatbelt Fit in Senior Drivers
An 18-month project to study the relationship between age and seated occupant posture, body shape, and seatbelt fit. The project seeks to determine if senior drivers and passengers sit differently in the vehicle, to characterize exterior body shape changes that occur with age, and to understand how these factors influence seat belt fit. The statistical models resulting from the study can be used to better understand senior occupant kinetics and injury patterns in a crash event.

Wake Forest School of Medicine

· Advanced Automated Crash Notification

A one-year partnership to develop vehicle computer systems that not only notify first responders in the event of a collision, but also predict the likelihood and severity of occupant and driver injuries.

Note: This sounds like an medical engineering nightmare. Sensors in your car will determine the extent of your injuries and relay this information to the first responders. This however will not be avaiblable to pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists.

Wayne State University School of Medicine

· Driver Distraction: Cognitive Model & Validation

A three-year collaborative study to better understand the cognitive aspect of driver distraction. Combining research in the fields of driver behavior, cognitive psychology, and cognitive neuroscience, the project will advance the auto industry’s understanding of a phenomenon that has been widely blamed for many accidents and injuries on U.S. roads and highways.

Toyota Collaborative Safety Research Center Announces 10 New Projects and Six New Partnerships With Leading Academic and Research Institutions

Totyota Teams Up For Safety Studies - Wall Street Journal, September 15, 2011

Fatality Statistics - NHTSA FARS National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration - Fatality Analysis and Reporting System

Location:Civic Center Dr,Santa Clara,United States

iPhone App Reveiw - SJ Transit Lite

SJ Transit Lite v.2.0 app review, January 20, 2012

After using tranisit systems in such cities as New York, Washington DC, Portland, San Francisco, and Alameda County I was ready to trying an app I had seen on the App Store titled "SJ Transit Lite". Most apps contain some type of "Next Bus" GPS technology (Routesy, IC SF Lite, Transporter for San Francisco) that tells you when the next three busses are estimated to arrive (not the schedules but actual ETAs).

SJ Tranisit has no such technology. This is a transit (light rail and bus) app in the most basic sense. It basically contains timetables and the individual route maps. The app lists the complete line up of trains and busses which numbers close to 90 lines. Scrolling down that long list of routes can be a bit time consuming and mind boggling considering that the app crashes more than half the times it is opened.






Other transit apps have a bookmark feature so that you can mark you favorite stop or favorite line. Not so with this app. You have to scroll down long lists of routes just to pick yours. Also this app only uses the VTA's time tables incorporating the time stops. Time stops are only a few selected stops at the largest intersections. In other apps you can choose a favorite stop and it will show you the published time as well as the expected time for any stop along the way.

Part of the reason that the app is so lacking is that there really is no other competition out there and chances are that this will not change in the near future. In San Francisco there are at least three transit apps (some even with BART and Alameda Transit tacked on) providing enough completion between apps developers. So although this is all there is for VTA it is a true disappointment.







9/18/2011: An update is now available for this app stating that the developer has removed the ads and fixed the problem with frequent crashes. I tried the new version and can say that so far it looks like it's fixed. I still find it sad that he wants to hide other issues by having users email problems to him directly instead of highlighting them in the reviews.

Janette Sadik-Khan, Bicycle Visionary Creating a Legacy

Frank Bruni a columnist for the New York Times published an Op-Ed in tomorrow's paper titled: Janette Sadik-Khan, Bicycle Visionary. In his view cycling represents a classic chicken and egg problem.

And for that it has received, from some of its citizens, an unwarranted degree of ill-considered grief. Biking, it seems, is an uphill ride, due largely to mathematics and a sort of Catch-22: with only a small percentage of Americans using bicycles as their primary method of transportation, there's no huge public outcry for - or immediate political benefit to - remaking city streets so that they're a little less friendly to cars and a lot more hospitable to bikes.

But without that hospitality, primarily in the form of better bike lanes and more bike racks, biking isn't convenient and attractive enough to win all that many converts and thus a political constituency.

Unless you have a champion for the cause like Janette Sadik Kahn. Under here tenure bike lanes in the New York have doubled since joining the city as DOT director in 2007.

Bruni cites one example of the swift action the city has taken by describe their new bike share (or rental) system. He writes, "The city has also plotted a far-reaching and potentially game-changing public bike share program, whose details and timetable are expected to be announced this month. In a swift manner all the more impressive given government sclerosis these days, New York is truly transforming itself."

And its not just bike infrastructure that has regenerated the life of New York's city streets. Street furniture on Broadway, crosstown express busses, coverd bike parking, and safer street crossings for pedestrians have made locals and tourists alike stand up and take notice. Thank you, Janette.

Bike Corrals making inroads into some U.S. cities

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Yarnbombing and bike corrals.
A great combo.
Photo: periwinklecog

One of the ways to get more people on bikes is to have safe convenient places for cyclists to park near shops, restaurants, libraries, and schools. By making the space convenient, shoppers will use bike parking racks that give them priority over drivers. Also, by placing racks in convenient and visible areas, cyclists will visit more often and stay longer if they know there bicycle is parked in a safe spot. Currently such forward thinking cities as San Francisco, New York, and Portland are incorporating bike corrals into business districts.

According to Portland's Department of Transportation (which has now installed 67 corrals in the city) on street bike parking provides some benefits where bicycle use is already high or growing. Some of the benefits are:

• Businesses: Corrals provide a 10 to 1 customer to parking space ratio and advertise “bike-friendliness.” They also improve the outdoor café seating environment by removing locked bicycles from the sidewalk.


• Pedestrians: Corrals clear the sidewalks and serve as de facto curb extensions.


• People on bicycles: Corrals increase the visibility of bicycling.


• Motor vehicle drivers: Corrals improve visibility at intersections by eliminating the opportunity for larger vehicles to park at street corners.

On street bicycle parking, or bike corrals as they are also called, does this and more. The concept of the bike corral is to take the space of one car and provide as many as 10 to 14 spaces for bicycles. Many times bike corrals are place at the corner of busy intersections to improve safety by using a design technique called "daylighting". High volume business such as coffee shops make perfect spots to locate corrals due to the reduction in traffic volume around such businesses.

What are some areas that could use bike corrals in your city? Does your city have a program to install bike corrals?

View Larger Map

Eyes on the Street: NYC’s First Bike Corral Underway on Smith Street

Portland DOT's bike corral program

Dinner and Bikes Night

The Emmons Family arrives
on a bicycle built for two,
or maybe four.

Last night was a truly memorable moment in San Jose bike culture. Elly Blue and two of her friends arrived in San Jose as part of their Rambling Road Show. They are in the second week of a five week tour across the western United States and will be arrive back in Portland on October 1 to give their last presentation.  The event was held at Silicon Valley Debug a fantastic art space just north of the Alameda. The folks at SV Debug were excited yesterday just having released their freshly updated website.

Elly arrived with Joe Biel and Joshua Ploeg. All three are some of the most incredibly talented people I have met in a while and that's speaking from the Silicon Valley, the often mentioned center of all things innovative in this world.

Joe Biel is a film maker (not that anyone uses film anymore) and showed us a selection of very short films about bicycle culture and activism, including excerpts from Aftermass, his forthcoming documentary about bicycle activism in Portland, Oregon over the last twenty years. Joe has been part of Microcosm Publishing since he started it in his closet 15 years ago.

Joshua Ploeg is a traveling vegan chef, who improvises climactic culinary masterpieces on two hours’ notice. His book In Search of the Lost Taste is a Microcosm smash hit. He has several cookzines, including the popular Fire and Ice and the brand new So Raw It’s Downright Filthy. Joshua was amazing last night using what little resources he had to whip a multi-course wonder of vegan goodness.

Joshua whipped up an amazing meal
last night for all attendees.

The crew brought with them books, zines, t-shirts, stickers, and other schwag that was amazing. The list of titles from both Microcosm as well as other publishers was extensive. Elly is a writer, speaker, publisher, zinester, and one of the best communitarians I have yet to meet. She currently writes for Grist.org and as of late has written a series of 10 articles relating to bicycle economics. She publishes a blog and a zine, both called Taking the Lane.

I first met Elly while attending a conference several years back. The event was attend by folks from all over the world. This is were I heard or met some key people in the wonky world of transportation policy; Todd Litman from VTI, Andy Clark from League of American Cyclists, Mia Burke author and president of Alta Planning, Gil Penalosa former Parks Director for the City of Bogota, Columbia and the creator of the now ubiquitous cyclovia phenomenon. It was during the final days of the conference that I got to experience Portland's first ever cyclovia (what they call Sunday Streets) event. After hearing Gil Penalosa speak about it and seeing it in Portland for myself I brought the idea back to San Jose under the name Via Velo.

It was good to see the midweek turnout to hear Elly and her crew speak. Outside of the monthly San Jose Bike Party event its difficult in this town to get people interested in anything beyond the actual ride. Advocacy is not on the top of most San Josean's list so to speak. But I was pleased last night to see a interested group of locals wondering what it was like to bike in that big raincloud to the north.

Afterward, several of us did a post dinner ride on a wonderfly warm summer evening through the downtown area. Along the way at 10 o'clock in the evening we met other cylists out enjoying the beautiflul weather. Maybe we are slowing growning into our own bikey culture.  Thanks everyone for the great evening.

Elly sharing wonky talk and making fun!

Post Dinner Ride.

Location:701 Lenzen Ave. ,San Jose,United States

How much does it cost?

With all of the talk lately of drastically reducing costs at the City of San Jose I just got to wondering how much does an average police cruiser costs the city in total equipment costs. Some of the equipment I have notice in today's cars include:

• The original cost of the car.
• Add-ons such as suspension and engine enhancements.
• Paint and lights (light bar and spot)
• New back seat, cage and handles and locks.
• Radios and computers
• Shotgun and secure holder
• GPS and camera pod (lately I have seen large camera pods on top of the light bars on some units).
• Trunk Contents- Accident Response Kit, Defibrillator, First Aid Kid

 If anyone knows the answer to this or knows if I left out any squad car add-ons let me know. I figure an accuracy of about $5,000 up or down show be reasonable enough. Any guesses?

New Amtrak iPhone App

Last month (August 3rd to be exact) Amtrak released it's first iPhone app. In one month's time it's received 92 reviews, many of them highly favorable. Many of the reviews praise this free app for its ease of use and also the ability to update the user's iPhone calendar. Others criticize the app's propensity to crash. I can say that I have experienced only one crash in the many times that I have used this app, but I can honestly say that I absolutely love it. I have made reservations up until 12 hours before departure with no problems.
Here is a list of many of the great things I love about the app.

1. The look and GUI (graphical user interface) is great. Easy to use the first time.
2. The ability to save (or bookmark) multiple stations.
3. Instant confirmation with the ability to create a calendar reminder.
4. Station information for all domestic stations
5. Easy integration with Amtrak California.

Although I think this is a great step by Amtrak here are some fixes that I believe would be helpful in subsequent releases.

1. Saved payment data option. User has to re-enter payment information each time.
2. Some users have complained about the time zone issue, but I have only used in Pacific Daylight Time so far and haven't had any issues.
3. Not easily integrated with Amtrak's reward program.
4. Not easily integrated with Amtrak's discount program.
5. The "Rewards" and "Discounts" badges (since they are not used as frequently) take up valuable screen real estate at the top of the screen.
6. Integration with Amtrak's or Amtrak California's Twitter accounts would be great.
7. It would be nice if the train status section was live or interactive using GPS. Train status seems to be just reformatting the train schedules.
8. A U.S. route map.
9. A section similar to station descriptions that would describe onboard bicycle policy and also a section (or a link) describing bedroom accommodations.

It would be great to have a paperless check in system so I didn't have to insert my credit card into their station kiosk but this is a minor detail in a great app/system. Given all of the federal security issues (IDs and ticket signing) that are counter to customer convenience I still think they've done a great job.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Bioswales for Emeryville

Emeryville has made some major investments in complete streets. On the way to the Emeryville Amtrak station this morning I caught some glimpses of bioswales, bulb-outs, and redirects.



Bioswales serve two functions; to filter stormwater runoff and as a measure of traffic calming. Bulb-outs or curb extensions narrow
the gap that pedestrians are required to cross while also calming traffic.




Lastly, redirects also prevent exessive or non-local cut-through traffic from excessive use of neighborhood streets. Typically bicycles and pedestrians are allowed access as the picture shows (Salem St. at 47th).

View Larger Map


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Shellmound St,Emeryville,United States

Cafe Culture is for Canadiens not for Californians

Sad to see this morning that the table and chairs that used to welcome customers to Peet's Coffee's only downtown San Jose location are gone. When I asked the manager he said that they won't be coming back. He mentioned that the property manager requested they be removed, "because we have to share the building." Not really sure I understand the response but it sure is another step backwards in making downtown San Jose a welcoming and comfortable city.

I find it more pleasant outdoors given that the local staff have no control of the HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning), and the temperature is kept at bone chilling levels. In most nationwide retail chains the trend is to control the thermostat and lighting centrally to control expenses. This apparent savings however comes at a big loss to the customer.

Given that the location sits on the south side of Santa Clara Street, the spot just outside the front door was comfortably protected from the sun on summer mornings and afternoons. I wonder the if the real reason was for Peet's to keep the "undesirables" away.

-••••••••••••••
p.s. All is not lost however. I spotted the following scene out in front of Philz Coffee @ Paseo de San Antonio moments later.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:N 1st St,San Jose,United States

Willow Glen gets a new hat shop

While walking along Lincoln Ave. this afternoon I spotted a new independent hat shop in town. For a city of over one million people it's about time. Now if we could get a few more chocolate shops.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Iris Ct,San Jose,United States

WGFMA - walls, gates, fences, moats, and asphalt.

Just 200 feet from the new City Hall is this
gate security build for a diplomat.


The mantra that you often hear in the Silicon Valley after the one about innovation is that San Jose is the safest large city in America. Although the city recently lost its first place title, San Jose still uses the rankings as a key marketing slogan.  This may be so but what is so puzzling is that by walking the streets of downtown San Jose you get the feeling that it has one of the worst crime rates in America.

In fact in a recent San Jose Mercury News Article, one resident of the quaint neighborhood of Willow Glen talked of "putting video cameras on their house to help catch crooks". Oh yes and add that to the list, signs that shout "Warning you are under video surveillance."

Maybe walls, fences, and gates will prevent crime, but not from the way that it was intended. With all of the subtle and not so subtle ways that you prevent crime you end up driving people away from your downtown.

In many new urbanist neighborhoods, the goal (similar to the fundamental tenants of the Internet) is make the designs more open and transparent. Create spaces where people want to watch street activity and pedestrians want see activity on the street, in restaurants, and in retail shops. James Kunstler, author of "The Geography of Nowhere" and TED presenter, calls this the permeable membrane of the street. In the street photo below notice how the developers of the two buildings pictured below choose to incorporate an open walkway, with commercial spaces located nearby. Missing are the typical signs that a city has given up in controlling crime; the use of fences, walls, and gates. In the photo the front doors of these homes open up directly to the street, no fences, gates, or walls are visible.


View Larger Map
 The photos included in this post are just some those I took on a lunchtime walk around the downtown commercial core of San Jose, CA. Although many of these designs (such as the moat located at City View Plaza), and the AT&T switching building were conceived and then built over 30 years ago, many recent building design have the look of a ghetto fortress with a patina of middle income high rise.

If cities only understood that the real deterrent to crime are vibrant, busy streets that have successful business districts that draw customers and out of town visitors. In downtown San Jose this means to doing away with the fortress like mentality of the Adobe building (as well as most high tech offices). With corporate cafeterias, gyms, and retail located on site the only time workers leave the building is to get in their cars and hop on the freeway home.


"The Moat" separating the
customers from their money.
Wells Fargo Bank - San Jose Main Office.

 


At the iconic and historic Market Street
and Santa Clara Ave, one giant,
blighted parking lot.

 



From the street to your house only
30 feet and three locked gates.

 


Walls, asphalt, and a porta-potty...oh my.




This is a wall, a barred fence,
and a chain link fence all rolled into one.


-









Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:S 2nd St,San Jose,United States

In the Silicon Valley - Cities designed by code monkeys



Photo: Isaac Porras


Sometimes in this land of innovation it sure feels as if cities are designed by coders; and bikeways and sidewalks are designed in the form of a badly designed subroutine.

Proceed to next pedestrian obstacle;
If
         Obstruction =1;
Then "Deviate path around workaround";
Else
        "Try playing tag with car traffic";
Endif
Proceed through massive Silicon Valley corporate campus parking lot;
/* Feel small and forgotten, at least until you get back on the bus later this evening*/

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