The Best of The Bay Link

The Bay Link – the joint blog of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) – recently celebrated the six-month anniversary of its "soft launch" in December 2017.

Over that time, we've served as a single public information resource for both agencies, providing news, views and analysis on a wide range of regionally relevant topics, including housing, land use, transportation, the economy, the environment, climate change and resilience, among many others.

Below is a curated round-up of the "Best of the Bay Link" that you may have missed over the last few months. Don't forget to subscribe to receive a weekly digest of the latest posts, and feel free to drop us a line at blog@bayareametro.gov for any comments or questions.

Housing and the Economy

• The Bay Area’s Fastest Growing Cities and Towns (link)
• New Data from U.S. Census Shows (Mostly) Broad and Steady Employment Growth, Highlights Changing Nature of Bay Area Economy (link)
• Bay Area and California Housing and Transportation Highlights from the Fiscal Year 2018 Federal Budget (link)
• Fun With U.S. Census Data: Bay Area Highlights from the 2017 Local Population Estimates (link)
• An Overview of the 2018 Housing Policy Landscape in California (link)
• International Comparisons of Intergenerational Trends: Income, Labor, Housing and Wealth (link)
• The Dangers of Housing Loss in an Earthquake (link)
• ABAG Launches Exciting New Data Portal, Regional Permitting Activity in 2016 Disappoints (link)
• Record Low Unemployment Across (Much of) the Bay Area, and the Delicate Policy Dance That Follows (link)
• Regional Economic Divergence and the Conundrums of Prosperity; ABAG's Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (link)
• CASA: Drafting a Blueprint for a Better Bay Area (link)

Transportation

• State Recommends $2 Billion in Funding for 23 Bay Area Transportation Projects (link)
• An Update on BART's "Fleet of the Future" and Train Control Modernization Project (link)
• Roll Up to Work in Style: It’s Bike to Work Day! (link)
• New Book Explores the Latest and Greatest Research on Parking, the “Cinderella of Transportation” (link)
• "Why Do Bridges Fail?" Plus A Regional Good News Story (link)
• New Report Details How Cap-and-Trade Proceeds Benefit California and the Bay Area (link)
• Pedestrian Fatalities Are Increasing Nationwide. Why? (link) and Fatalities and Injuries From Crashes on the Rise, MTC Supports State Goal of Zero Traffic Deaths by 2030 (link)
• MTC Adopts 10-Year Investment Strategy for Goods Movement (link)
• New BART Train Cars Are Rolling into Service (link)
• MTC Approves $386 Million for 180 Projects Across the Region Through the OBAG 2 County Program (link)
• Participatory Budgeting: A Proposed MTC Pilot Project and a Brief Lit Review (link)
• New Light Rail Vehicles Come to San Francisco, Plus the Wilderness of Transportation Finance (link)
• The End of the Automotive Era? (link)

Resilience, Energy and the Environment

• Resilient by Design Bay Area Challenge Final Projects Revealed (link)
• San Francisco Bay Restoration Projects and Estuary Success Stories (link)
• Staff Dispatch: Learning From the Mexico City Earthquake (link)
• BayREN: Regional Energy Efficiency with a Local Touch (link)
• San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority Gears Up for First Round of Projects, Invites Citizens to Apply to Oversight Committee (link)
• San Francisco Estuary Partnership Newsletter, Bay Area Water Trail Maps Now Available (link)
• Resilient By Design | Bay Area Challenge: 10 Teams, 32 Ideas to Address Climate Change (link)

Agency News

• Preview of 6/8 MTC Standing Committee Meetings: Autonomous Vehicles, Primary Election Results, and Much More (link)
• Highlights from the Spring 2018 ABAG General Assembly (link)
• 5/23 MTC Meeting Wrap-Up: Commission Offers Support for Proposed BART TOD Policy, Approves Pilot Program Offering Fare Discounts for Low-Income Transit Riders (link)
• Horizon Peer Exchange and Preliminary Futures (link)
• MTC and ABAG Release First-Ever Joint Annual Report to Congress (link)
• Are We Coming Through Loud and Clear? Are We Hearing You? (link)
• What's Holding Us Back? Talking Bay Area Transportation and Housing (link)
• Introducing: Horizon (link)
• New President and Vice President at ABAG (link)
• Beyond the Headlines: Reading Recommendations from the MTC-ABAG Library, with a Spotlight on Housing (link)
• "The Nobility of Public Service" – MTC Commissioners Honor the Late San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee (link)
• Honors, Awards and Deals of the Year - Oh My! 2017 in Review (link)