Amtrak's Hiawatha and Vermonter Routes to Allow Walk-On Bike Serivce

Amtrak has announced that it will now allow for walk-on bike service on its Hiawatha and Vermonter routes.  Amtrak's Hiawatha service originates in Chicago's Union Station and terminates in Milwaukee, WI. The Vermonter route originates in Washington DC's Union Station and terminates at St. Alban's station in northern Vermont (between Burlington and the Canadian border).

I have updated a map mash up that I put together showing routes and stations that now allow for walk-on bicycles (green map markers). Click on each station marker for more information. Please check with the Amtrak website for more details and updates.

Amtrak Routes and Stations

You must reserve a spot for you bike on the Hiawatha service on the Amtrak website or the Amtrak Quick-Trak Kiosks. The cost is $5.

The service is available on Vermonter trains 54, 55, 56, 57 at all station stops from Washington, DC , to St. Albans in Northern Vermont. Advance reservations are required for walk-on bicycle service onboard the Vermonter. A bicycle fee of $20 applies if you're traveling to and from station stops between Washington, DC, and New Haven and $10 if you're traveling between New Haven and St. Albans. Bike reservations cannot be made through Amtrak mobile apps. You must go online to the Amtrak website or the Quick-Trak Kiok's located in Amtrak station.

Amtrak request that you arrive 30 minutes prior to your train's departure to allow sufficient time to maneuver your bicycle through the station and be in position to board. Train cars marked with a "Bike Friendly" sticker can accommodate bicycles. A conductor may also direct you to the appropriate train car. For more details on Vermonter route stations please refer to this link to the timetable link to the pdf file.

Loading Bicycles

The loading of your bicycle is a bit different that California passengers are used to. You will be required to remove the front wheel of your bicycle before hanging it by the back wheel and securing it using the provided strap. Loading instructions will be available in the bike rack area and Amtrak crew members will be available to assist if necessary.

Here is some photos Amtrak provided illustrating how bikes must be loaded in each coach.

San Diego before Big Boxes and Chain Stores

I've put this map together with some help from fellow Crawford High School alumni of neighborhood business before large subdivisions, big box stores (80,000 sf +), nationwide chains, and the closure of drive in movie venues.

Midwest Landmarks

Put together this map in preparation for this summers bike tour through the Midwest.

East Coast and Midwest Rivers, Watersheds and Canals

Mashed together this map of prominent rivers, canals, and watersheds in the Northeaster and Midwestern United States.

The most expensive walk in America.

Water Politics

OK get you Fitbit or other step counter on, we are going to walk one of the most expensive walks in America. Talk is out once again about Northern California's Delta Tunnels also known as the Periphery Canal. There has been some controversy lately because of an interpretation of the original plans of the State Water Project (I'll talk more about that in a later post) in light of the Jarvis-Gann Initiative more commonly known as Proposition 13.

Proponents of the project say that the tunnels are just an add-on to the original project and was covered under pre-Prop 13 laws and therefore should not have to go before the voters. The project its self will originate near the Freeport intake ducts located on the Sacramento river just south of the state capitol. Tunnels will terminate at the Banks Intake Pumps just south of the Discovery Bay development (see vertical green line on the map below). Each tunnel is expected to pump 75,000 gallons of water per second from the Sacramento River. It is estimated that the cost to Santa Clara Valley Water District customers could be about 6% of the project or upwards of $1.8 Billion.

If we assume about 2,000 steps per mile;  a final cost of $30 Billion, and a project length of 35 miles we can expect each "step" of the project to be worth about $428 Million ($30,000,000,000/35)/2,000 =  $428,571.




Additional Reading:

Mercury News Editorial - March 28, 2016

Mercury News - July 22, 2014 - Property Taxes could pay for $25 Billion Tunnels without public vote.

Mercury News - March 28, 2016 - Gov. Brown's $17 bilion Delta tunnels plan faces new hurdle -- a leading taxpayers organization.

Special Districts- Last Week Tonight

Government - Sports for Nerds

If any of you saw the John Oliver Last Week Tonight Show on March 6, 2013 he highlighted what he referes to as Shadow Governments; that is Special Districts. These are taxing authorities that typically provide one specialized service such as flood control, vector control, drinking water, specialized infrastructure such as marine or aero ports. As John Oliver points out the degree of interest is so minor that one Mosquito Control District in Litchfield, New Hampshire broadcast a meeting with the only two board members and without anyone from the public attending the meeting

Here is the follow up meeting on March 17 where at 1:05 they briefly describe their sudden fame and seeing themselves on national TV. Being humble New Englanders they thank John Oliver for helping them to further educate the residents of New Hampshire after a brief recital of the Pledge of Allegiance.






The John Oliver segment has an interview with Christopher Berry who has written about the rise of special district. I just got hold of a copy and will be reading it shortly. I will also  be posting some maps in the near future that I hacked highlighting special districts such as water districts, school districts, storm water districts, as well as municipal utility districts.

Recently the Santa Clara Valley Water District, a $400 million public agency that provides water to 1.9 million people fired their CEO after some questionable business practices.  The district is overseen by a 7 member district board of directors, or almost 1 representative for almost 300,000 residents. In most cases candidates receive about 50,000 out of that possible 300,000.


Here is an article regarding Sting Ray, Inc. voter-renting services that John Oliver talks about at 9:18.

Former Kentucky Auditor of Public Accounts Adam Edelen talks about his findings at 1:46 and 12:00. Here is his report: Ghost Goverment - A Report on Special Districts in Kentucky (pdf).

River City News - Auditor Finds $2.7 Billion in Ghost Government in Kentucky

Mercury News - Six Candidates Running for Santa Clara County District Board

Shuttered Walmart Stores

I'm a big fan of the folks at StrongTowns.org and the great work that they, and Urban3 are doing to highlight the low level of financial productivity from big box stores. Here is a map I have mashed together showing both shuttered Walmart stores as well as those that remain open. The reason from the folks at Walmart is that many of these large stores are only 10 miles away from each other. The areas most affected are the southern states with Texas taking a huge hit.

The power of video and the lack of details. The dangers of policiing

Recently on Facebook I saw a post someone had shared from Uniform Stories, a Facebook page whose short description describes the page as "Giving a voice to military, police, fire and ems personnel…one story at a time. www.UniformStories.com". 

The video post is titled "The Dangers of Policing" and is caption with the following, "Let's show a bit more appreciation for the sacrifices police make for our communities. After all, they're all that stands between the monsters and the weak." 

The video appears to be copy of a ABC Nightly News broadcast that highlights multiple  attacks on police half of which the assailants are armed. With chilling background music it goes through 15 separate video while highlighting in bold text "108, the number of duty deaths in 2014".  Actually the year is not yet over but I decided to take a look at those numbers.



Now don't get me wrong, law enforcement is a tough job at best but in this time of heightened emotions don't let those emotions cloud facts. To imply that every death is from gunfire our other assaults is just plain wrong.

The number 108 which has been quoted in the media a bit lately comes from a webpage called Officer Down Memorial Page (www.odmp.org). The memorial page includes a database for each fallen officer and canine on duty.

Looking at the video you begin to notice three main themes. The 108 number includes:

1. assaults (whether with or with out gunfire) on 
2. municipal police, sheriffs deputies, and state troopers,
3. while confronting "monsters"

I decided to analyze the exact same data and came up with some interesting numbers that highlight the power of obfuscation. What I found is that some of the clips in the video which could be identified did not even happen in 2014. When they narrator mentions a SEPTA officer (Southeast Pennsylvania Transportation Authority), I could not find any officer that worked for that agency within the database. Likewise the clip at 0:14 that occurred in West Union I could not find any listing in the database although I was able to find this video that showed the officer getting back up. 

What I did find out that more than just municipal police officers, sheriffs and state troopers the list of officers down included federal, state, city officials as well as employees of the US Navy, US Forest Service, Navajo Reservation Police, Border Patrol Agents, and even Corrections Officers. Killed by gunfire. Not likely most experienced heart attacks or were involved in traffic accidents, not exactly video worthy.

Geo-coded map of Officer Down

So lets get started and look at the data. Here is a map of the database that I geo-coded and highlighted by cause of death. As for officers killed in the line of duty exactly half  (fig. 1) are due to assaults (which includes gunfire, "assault", and vehicle assault). Actually the third highest cause of death is from a heart attack (fig 2). Gunfire accounted for less than 40% of all fallen officers (43).

And the belief that they are all police, sheriffs, and state troopers is also an obfuscation. Included in the "other" category; BART police (accidental shooting by partner), US Navy Security Forces (gunfire), Corrections Officers (heart attack), Fish and Game Wardens (auto accident), Border Patrol (auto accident), Animal Control Officer (auto accident),  School District Cops (heart attack), University Police (heart attack), US Veterans Affairs Officer (heart attack).

Here is a link to the database taken from the Officer Down website.

Fig 1

Fig. 2

Fig. 3

Note: After review the description of the cause of death of Mississippi Game Warden John Collum, I decided to reclassify it from Vehicle Assault to Vehicle Pursuit. The officer was struck by a 19 year old man who was not involved in the initial crime. Although the driver was charged negligent homicide he was unaware of who he struck at the time of the accident.

After cutbacks East Bay MUD to consider emergency water purchases.

The East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) board will meet tomorrow, Tuesday, December 9 to consider a staff recommendation to purchase emergency drought water supplies in addition to raising water bills to pay for it. According to EBMUD, a call for increased customer conservation, a second purchase of federal water and a 15 percent surcharge on all water used by customers will be among the staff recommendations before the District Board of Directors. 

A typical customer uses 246 gallons per day so a 15 percent reduction would amount to 37 less per day. According to the US EPA (United States Environmental Protection Agency) a typical American Household uses 400 gallons of water per day. On average, approximately 70 percent of that water is used indoors, with the bathroom being the largest consumer (a toilet alone can use 27 percent!).

This past April, EBMUD purchased and delivered about 18,600 acre feet of water from the Sacramento River through its federal Central Valley Project (CVP) contract. One acre foot is 325,851 gallons, or approximately the amount of water used by three average East Bay households in a year. The approximate $8 million cost of purchasing, pumping and treating that water was absorbed by the district through a surplus sale of a Castro Valley property and budget savings over the past fiscal year.

Tomorrow, the Board of Directorswill consider making a second purchase of federal water before a February 28 deadline when its current CVP allocation expires. EBMUD has 41,625 acre feet available to purchase before the deadline. Staff will recommend the board approve purchasing 16,000 acre feet starting in January to refill local reservoirs. If a federal allocation is received on March 1 and if there has not been enough precipitation in the EBMUD watershed, staff will recommend making an additional purchase of up to 19,000 acre feet.

Freeport Intake on the Sacramento River

This purchased water would flow for four months from the Sacramento River into the EBMUD system via the Freeport Regional Water Facility in Sacramento County (link to map). The cost to purchase, pump and treat it is estimated to cost up to $16 million.Costs will be offset by adding via a 14 percent surcharge on all customers’ water use charges to take effect as soon as the emergency water starts to flow. If the purchase occurs and the surcharge takes effect, the average EBMUD residential customer could see their bills increase by an average of $4.30 per month, depending on their level of conservation, until the drought costs are paid.

According to a quote by John Coleman, a water board member from the Walnut Creek District, highlighted in an Inside Bay Area News story, "the delivery from the Sacramento River is a history milestone in protecting customers against shortages. We spent decades and hundreds of millions of dollars ot come up with a collaborative project, Now I feel it's proper to say it's time to take it." 

If the drought continues into next summer, staff is recommending higher surcharges be considered to recoup the costs of future water purchases, increased conservation outreach and lost revenue due to the drought.

TIMELINE FOR EBMUD's SACRAMENTO RIVER WATER SUPPLY
1970 -- EBMUD signs federal contract to divert water from American River but has no way to deliver it.
1972 -- EBMUD is sued to block the diversion.
1990 -- EBMUD and Sacramento County Water Agency begin water negotiations.
2002 -- Deal is struck for EBMUD and Sacramento County Water Agency to build joint project at Freeport to divert Sacramento River water for both regions
2011 -- Joint water project is finished, and Sacramento County takes first water.
2014 -- EBMUD begins pumping Sacramento River water to East Bay.

Oakland Tribune: 

Oakland Tribune editorial: EBMUD voters who care about controlling costs and tempering rate increases should back Katy Foulkes

Inside Bay Area News: 

EBMUD taps Sacramento River water for first time to avoid rationing

http://www.mercurynews.com/my-town/ci_27080005/ebmud-decide-raising-rates-and-buying-emergency-water?source=autofeed#

More interesting country comparisons - Lessons from Japan?

Within the last five years who hasn't encountered on of these guys or gals depicted in this Portlandia skit. Dressed in their Rapha bike gear, with their distinctive Chrome bag atop their lasted fixie bike, they strut a style. 

The more I see them showing up at City Hall in their Caltrans Orange or their neon green safety vests I remember attending Mikael Coleville-Andersen's talk in San Francisco. 

"In Copenhagen we don't give our bicycles special names, we don't were special clothes to cycle in; the bicycle is just a tool to get around town. Americans don't give their vacuum cleaners names and they don't dress up to vacuum the carpet, why do you when you ride a bike. "

This Google street view photo (below) was taken less than 200 feet from the front door of the house I lived in while studying in Japan. This mother has a child in the front and a seat for the older child in the back with the front area of the bike for shopping and groceries.

She doesn't wear special clothes, she isn't part of some subculture. She is just a mom on a bike. Maybe when bicycling gets close to the 15% share level we will see how extravagant all this "bike posing" is.

Lesson from Japan?

Most of the time I generally ignore the Roadshow column in the San Jose Mercury News. It ends up being mostly compilations of the same old complaints on local roadways. But Sunday's column caught my eye. Local residents were complaining about neighbors using traffic safety cones to reserve parking spaces in front of their property.  After reading a couple of readers letters, two immediate thoughts came to mind; How cities don't realize the negative consequence of free public goods; in this case on-street parking. 

Since parking is free, soon residents begin to think that the free parking rights are included with the property. Wrong. But try convincing a car dependent homeowner otherwise. 

The second though that came to mind was how we solve problems and challenges in this country. We very rarely look to other cites, states, or countries to see what others have tried and figure out why it did or didn't work. 

In Tokyo you would not have a problem with neighbors reserving parking spaces;  because no one is allowed to park overnight and daytime parking is allowed only in metered spaces. That's right, no on-street parking at any cost. It's called the "Proof of Parking Law" and it was explained to me by Nobu the oldest son of the family I lived with while a student in Tokyo. He said that before you can by a car in Tokyo you have to present you Proof of Parking Permit (Shako Shomei-sho) issued by a local Tokyo Police Department office. This is top of many other taxes and required permits.

Do they have these type of problems in Japan? No not at all.

A Google Street View of my residence while a student in Japan.

When parking is so freely available, whether at work, at home, or at the grocery story it is difficult for a city to reduce vehicle miles traveled or VMT. No matter how ambitious you General Plan is, if the system is set up to subsidize private automobile operation getting people out of their cars will be an uphill battle. 

DC Bike Party on Streetfilms

Rarely does Streetfilms produce videos on bike events or bike culture. They tend to feature policy issues. But Clearance Eckerson was in town to cover other policy related issues in our capital so he stopped by the montly ride.

DC Bike Party recently celebrated their one year anniversary. The ride is a once a month ride with a theme each month. This month the theme was Toga, Toga, Toga.

In Portland they 'put a bird on it'. In San Jose let's 'put a corporate logo on it.'

Early morning crew removes
the HP Pavilion sign from
the new SAP Center @ San Jose

This week work crews have been busy taking down the last remnants of the HP Pavilion era and began putting up new signage that will highlight the SAP Center at San Jose. All this week and last, arena management has been cleaning house, inside and out. Crews have been cleaning the shiny steel exterior and painting the white lattice work on the building corners. Inside the arena Shark management has been cleaning house as well (see the Silicon Valley Business Journal's Lauren Hepler series of articles on the changes), one of which was installing a new Chief Operating Officer. Interestingly enough the majority owner of the San Jose Sharks franchise, Hasso Plattner, is a co-founder of SAP.

SAP signed the five year deal valued at $8.4 million or $1.7 million per year with the proceeds being split up equally between the team and the City of San Jose. To put this in comparison the deal on the new Forty-Niner stadium in Santa Clara is valued at $220 million for 20 years (third largest deal ever) and the deal for ATT ballpark is valued at $50 million for 24 years. Yahoo also just signed signed a 10 year deal that will make that company the "exclusive online sports content, social networking, and photo and video sharing partner" for the  Forty-Niners.

In a post on his blog, San Jose City Council member Sam Liccardo highlighted a recent independent study which showed that bring the Oakland A's to the city would benefit downtown business by about $83 million annually. Additionally the sale of the future ballpark's naming rights would also bring additional and much needed cash to the city. I'm not sure how naming rights funnel into city coffers. Do they get diluted into the city's general fund? Does it go for maintenance of the arena, or other city assets, such as downtown museums or parks?

But given that the naming rights game is somewhat new (except in the St. Louis area) and limited to mostly sports facilities how else could an innovative city such as San Jose expand the concept. In Japan they even extended it to the teams themselves such as the Seibu (Department Store) Lions which play in the Seibu Dome, the Nippon Ham (meat products) Fighters, and Yakult (Yogurt) Swallows baseball teams. I'll discuss more in my next post but until then; "put a bird on it".

Silver Creek High School cyclist killed this morning on Capitol Expressway.

RIP: Silver Creek High School
student killed
photo: dbking

Sad news this morning on the streets of San Jose. An unidentified Silver Creek High School student died at a local hospital after suffering injuries from a collision with a car while riding across Capitol Expressway in East San Jose. The crash site is two blocks from the high school and just over a quarter mile from the 101 Freeway.

Silver Creek High School Principal Adolfo Laguna in this morning's San Jose Mercury News, stated "the (student's) death is a poignant reminder of how careful motorists, pedestrians and bicyclists have to be around the school area, particularly during rush hour. We want our students to be safe."

Dangerous By Design

Yes this student's tragic death is a poignant reminder; but asking motorists, pedestrians and bicyclist to be careful as a preventive measure against these types of incidents is completely wishful thinking. This intersection is dangerous by design.

Here are some reasons that make this intersection dangerous for drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians.

The speed limit is 45 miles per hour but given that the the proximity to the 101 freeway entrance, speeds typically can reach over 60 miles per hour.

San Jose City Council member Pierluigi Oliverio has been championing 15 mph speed limits near schools but he is limited by California state law to only two lane streets, not 10 lane expressways.  This expressway also known as" Capitol Raceway" is notorious for impromptu races among race tuned autos.

The intersection was designed to reduce congestion by increasing the speed at which autos can negotiate turns. As you can see in this photo (Google Maps), the intersections uses large radii turns creating a triangular area to place the traffic signal. This design to increase the speed of right turning cars is a safety risk to cyclists and pedestrians.

Given San Jose suburban development pattern this expressway channels a high volume of traffic to the freeway during rush hour, bringing large volumes of traffic and young students together in a dangerous mix. The school, with almost 2,500 students also creates its own commuter congestion with parents rushing to bring their students to school before heading on the freeway to go to work.

Crossing Capital Expressway subjects student, cyclists, pedestrians, and the elderly to a 200 foot crossing with no refuge or rest area in the middle of the intersection.

I am always amazed that we have been lead to believe that the suburbs are by design safe than cities. It is evident in this Wall Street Journal Blog post titled "Is Generation Y a "Game Changer" for housing?"   The article quotes a financial services consultant who recently bought a 2,500-square-foot house in south San Francisco. The 23-year old single woman mentioned that she anticipates moving to the suburbs later in life, stating, "In my 20s, I definitely want to live downtown; I like the whole high-rise, in-the-city feel,” she said. “But, definitely when I have children, I want to live in a single-family home. It’s easier for parking, transportation and it’s safer to live in the suburbs away from the city."

The community should use this tragic incident as a starting point to do something about the lack of safety so close to their children's school.

A side note: When I went to the Google aerial photo of the school a counted 9 bikes (out of a student population of 2,500) in one bike parking location; and I'm not surprised.

Update (San Jose Mercury News): The bicyclist, believed to be 16 years old, was traveling east along East Capitol Expressway around 7:35 a.m. when a white Ford F-150 pick-up going northbound on Silver Creek Road collided with him, Officer Albert Morales said. Emergency personnel performed CPR at the scene and took the injured boy to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 8:10 a.m.