News, Views and Analysis from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Association of Bay Area Governments
High down payments, a dearth of savings and a big gap between expectations and reality are the main hurdles on American Millennials’ face on their path to home ownership. Read More
With the annual Shake Out event coming up Thursday, the Association of Bay Area Governments wants to help you prepare for an earthquake. An online tool from ABAG is available to help residents identify potential earthquake-related damage to their homes and provides information on how to gird against the next big temblor. Read More
The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) are inviting the Bay Area public to provide input on the newly released Plan Bay Area 2050 Draft Blueprint, a 30-year regional vision that seeks to create a more affordable, connected, diverse, healthy and vibrant Bay Area for all. The Draft Blueprint is being released for a public comment period that will run through August 10, 2020. Read More
Through a continuing collaboration with Bay Area transit agencies, MTC video journalist Mark Jones shows how transit riders and transit operators are looking out for one another's health and safety as shelter-in-place restrictions evolve. Read More
We, like the slime mold ...
I’m a full-time freelance photographer with a love of science and an odd obsession with slime mold, a 600 million-year-old, often overlooked, misunderstood and mischaracterized single-celled organism that undulates across rotting foliage in damp forests. For the last two years, I have wanted to create a time-lapse photo sequence of slime mold in a Petri dish as it forages, navigates obstacles and thrives despite challenges. Read More
RENTCafé has released its annual report on apartment construction, in which it analyzed the numbers in 134 metro areas. Read More
The latest special issue of ESTUARY News magazine is now available and takes a deep dive into the Resilient by Design Bay Area Challenge, which in May 2017 selected nine high-powered teams from across the globe to come up with innovative design ideas that address sea level rise and resilience to climate change around the region.
Last month, after a year-long process, Resilient by Design shared the final design concepts developed by local residents, community organizations, public officials and local, national, and international experts. These concepts were “meant to inspire, catalyze action, and push us along the path to a more resilient future.”
The June 2018 Issue of ESTUARY News explores each of the individual Bay Area Challenge design concepts in more detail and puts the whole Challenge in wider context, including where we might go from here. Keep reading to find out more! Read More
The evidence is everywhere: sea levels are on the rise and countries around the world must adapt before disaster strikes. The San Francisco Bay Area is at the forefront of this nascent adaptation effort with the Resilient by Design Bay Area Challenge, which in May 2017 selected nine high-powered teams from across the globe to come up with innovative design ideas that address sea level rise and resilience to climate change around the region.
Now, a year later, Resilient by Design is excited to share the final design concepts developed by local residents, community organizations, public officials and local, national, and international experts. These concepts are “meant to inspire, catalyze action, and push us along the path to a more resilient future.”
Keep reading on to view a clickable map as well as video summaries of each project. Read More
Last week's annual State of the Valley Conference hosted by Joint Venture Silicon Valley featured a panel entitled What's Holding Us Back? – a look at the twin transportation and housing challenges facing Silicon Valley and the Bay Area as a whole.
MTC and ABAG Executive Director Steve Heminger and moderator Russell Hancock, Joint Venture's CEO, opened the conversation with an initial focus on the transportation side of the ledger. They were later joined by Carol Galante, Donald Terner Distinguished Professor in Affordable Housing & Urban Policy and director of the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at the University of California at Berkeley, as the conversation shifted to housing.
Topics ranged widely, from the elusive search for a "big fix" to "Self-Help" funding for transportation, from CASA – The Committee to House the Bay Area to Silicon Valley's political engagement on the housing crisis.
Transcripts of the conversations, edited for length and clarity, are available from the Silicon Valley Business Journal. Read More
Earlier this morning, KQED Forum discussed President Trump’s proposal for $200 billion in federal infrastructure spending over ten years, including how much money might make its way to the Bay Area and which projects it might support.
MTC’s Director of Legislation and Public Affairs, Randy Rentschler, joined host Michael Krasny, along with Sean Randolph of Bay Area Council Economic Institute, to discuss the proposal and a host of other Bay Area transportation issues.
Listen to the whole interview on KQED’s website. Read More