When I learned about Black Girls Code, I knew I had to pay them a visit. BGC is a non-profit organization in San Francisco that teaches girls as young as seven about programming, robotics, math, science, and engineering. This is another in The California Report's ongoing series about volunteers in California, called The Giving State. (Photo courtesy of Black Girls Code.)
Showing posts with label KQED. Show all posts
Showing posts with label KQED. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Friday, September 7, 2012
Bike Party Shares the Road With Kids
As a cyclist, I've always been impressed by families who ride together. I see a lot of parents commuting with their kids, using various attachments and trailers. It all looks a little complicated to me, but I really admire their commitment to green transportation. So, I decided to check out the East Bay Bike Party's family friendly spinoff ride, called Geared for Kids. I filed this story for The California Report at KQED.
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Albany Group Fights City's Plan to Build Whole Foods on Farm Tract
Story for KQED News. Original post here.
A coalition of community groups in Albany is challenging the East Bay city's recent approval to put a Whole Foods store on part of a farm tract owned by UC-Berkeley.
The group has said it will turn in about 1,200 signatures. They say that's enough to force the City Council to reconsider the Whole Foods decision, or put the issue on the ballot.
Activist Tarina Larsen from Keep Albany Local says some residents are concerned about the development's impact on local businesses. "I feel that it would be very irresponsible of our city government to pit corporations against our local mom & pop businesses," Larsen explained. "Because that's a battle that our local businesses will lose."
The plot of land in question is part of UC's Gill Tract, which urban farm protesters tried to take over earlier this year.
A coalition of community groups in Albany is challenging the East Bay city's recent approval to put a Whole Foods store on part of a farm tract owned by UC-Berkeley.
The group has said it will turn in about 1,200 signatures. They say that's enough to force the City Council to reconsider the Whole Foods decision, or put the issue on the ballot.
Activist Tarina Larsen from Keep Albany Local says some residents are concerned about the development's impact on local businesses. "I feel that it would be very irresponsible of our city government to pit corporations against our local mom & pop businesses," Larsen explained. "Because that's a battle that our local businesses will lose."
The plot of land in question is part of UC's Gill Tract, which urban farm protesters tried to take over earlier this year.
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
BART Braces for Bicycles on Board at Busy Times
I wrote this blog post for KQED's Bay Area news blog News Fix. You can see the original post here.
------
I’ll admit it: I’m a 30 year old woman with a security blanket. That security blanket has two wheels, a set of handlebars, and weighs about 20 pounds. It’s my bicycle, and I hardly ever go anywhere without it.
Friends and colleagues often offer me rides to places I need to go, and are utterly confounded when I turn them down. My bicycle offers me a level of flexibility and independence that the passenger seat of a car could just never provide.
So when I heard that BART was experimenting with lifting its restrictions on bicycles, I was elated. And really skeptical.
Currently BART bans bikes during rush hours in commute directions. That's for a reason. If you ride BART in the mornings and evenings on weekdays, you know that most of the trains are crowded. On some trains, finding a place to stand is challenge enough, let alone a place for me and my bicycle.
“During commute, the trains are already at crush load,” Antonette Bryant told me. Bryant is president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555 and a station agent. She says that while most cyclists are courteous and respectful of other passengers, she worries about those who are not.
“If you come to a car that’s crowded and you’re on a bike, you’re not supposed to get on that car. I’ve witnessed, as an agent and a rider, people forcing their way on the trains, with bicycles.”
Steve Beraldo, of BART’s Customer Access Department, hopes that cyclists know what they are doing. Every Friday in August, passengers will be allowed to bring bicycles on board trains at all times. I asked Steve how this is going to work, when commute-hour trains are already packed with passengers.
“We’re really gonna emphasize that this is an experiment. We really need all the bicyclists to use common sense, use good judgment, and not board crowded trains.”
This month’s experiment is just one part of a comprehensive plan to facilitate bicycle access to BART, made possible through a grant from CalTrans.
Victoria Eisen, co-founder of Eisen Letunic, the Berkeley-based transportation, environmental, & urban planning firm that authored the bicycle plan told me about half of the people who ride bikes to BART bring them on board.
"And of the people who bring them on board, I think about half of those bring them on board because they don’t have a place to leave them at the station, where they feel safe that their bike will be there when they get back home,” she said.
This is a legitimate concern for many cyclists. The nearest station to my home is North Berkeley, where there are no lockers or in-station parking areas. To me, it’s just not worth the risk; I’ve had a bicycle stolen in the past, and it’s not a fun experience.
Eisen said that one of the important goals of the new bicycle plan is to increase bicycle parking—both in terms of availability and security—at stations throughout the BART system.
But for some cyclists, bike parking isn’t the issue. “When I’m coming to San Francisco or when I’m coming to the East Bay, I often have multiple stops and I need my bike on the other end,” Adina Levin, of the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition, told me. “Bringing your bike on board gives you 16 times as much access as walking, you can get 16 times as far, so it’s a really powerful tool.”
If this commute-hour experiment is successful and BART does end up lifting the ban, I’ll definitely be taking my security blanket on board. But don’t worry, we won’t block the doors.
BART’s rules regarding bicycles on board have become increasingly lenient over the past 40 years. Here’s a timeline of the history:
1972: BART opens, no bikes are allowed on board
1974: Bikes are allowed in the rear half of the last car, during non-commute hours, with purchase of a $3 permit. No more than 5 bicycles are allowed on the train at once.
1988: Bikes are allowed in both the front and rear of the last car. Bikes allowed during commute hours only in “reverse-commute” directions: from Embarcadero to East Bay destinations in the morning, from the East Bay to Embarcadero in the evenings.
1997: Permit no longer required to bring bike on board. Bicycles allowed in the rear half of any car except the first.
1998: Time restrictions tailored to focus on specific trains with heavy commute loads. Blackout periods reduced from approximately 5 ½ hours per day to 3 ½ hours per day.
1999: Cyclists no longer required to enter through the rear doors of cars.
2009: BART designates “Bike Spaces” on many of its new cars.
------
I’ll admit it: I’m a 30 year old woman with a security blanket. That security blanket has two wheels, a set of handlebars, and weighs about 20 pounds. It’s my bicycle, and I hardly ever go anywhere without it.
Friends and colleagues often offer me rides to places I need to go, and are utterly confounded when I turn them down. My bicycle offers me a level of flexibility and independence that the passenger seat of a car could just never provide.
So when I heard that BART was experimenting with lifting its restrictions on bicycles, I was elated. And really skeptical.
Currently BART bans bikes during rush hours in commute directions. That's for a reason. If you ride BART in the mornings and evenings on weekdays, you know that most of the trains are crowded. On some trains, finding a place to stand is challenge enough, let alone a place for me and my bicycle.
“During commute, the trains are already at crush load,” Antonette Bryant told me. Bryant is president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555 and a station agent. She says that while most cyclists are courteous and respectful of other passengers, she worries about those who are not.
“If you come to a car that’s crowded and you’re on a bike, you’re not supposed to get on that car. I’ve witnessed, as an agent and a rider, people forcing their way on the trains, with bicycles.”
Steve Beraldo, of BART’s Customer Access Department, hopes that cyclists know what they are doing. Every Friday in August, passengers will be allowed to bring bicycles on board trains at all times. I asked Steve how this is going to work, when commute-hour trains are already packed with passengers.
“We’re really gonna emphasize that this is an experiment. We really need all the bicyclists to use common sense, use good judgment, and not board crowded trains.”
This month’s experiment is just one part of a comprehensive plan to facilitate bicycle access to BART, made possible through a grant from CalTrans.
Victoria Eisen, co-founder of Eisen Letunic, the Berkeley-based transportation, environmental, & urban planning firm that authored the bicycle plan told me about half of the people who ride bikes to BART bring them on board.
"And of the people who bring them on board, I think about half of those bring them on board because they don’t have a place to leave them at the station, where they feel safe that their bike will be there when they get back home,” she said.
This is a legitimate concern for many cyclists. The nearest station to my home is North Berkeley, where there are no lockers or in-station parking areas. To me, it’s just not worth the risk; I’ve had a bicycle stolen in the past, and it’s not a fun experience.
Eisen said that one of the important goals of the new bicycle plan is to increase bicycle parking—both in terms of availability and security—at stations throughout the BART system.
But for some cyclists, bike parking isn’t the issue. “When I’m coming to San Francisco or when I’m coming to the East Bay, I often have multiple stops and I need my bike on the other end,” Adina Levin, of the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition, told me. “Bringing your bike on board gives you 16 times as much access as walking, you can get 16 times as far, so it’s a really powerful tool.”
If this commute-hour experiment is successful and BART does end up lifting the ban, I’ll definitely be taking my security blanket on board. But don’t worry, we won’t block the doors.
BART’s rules regarding bicycles on board have become increasingly lenient over the past 40 years. Here’s a timeline of the history:
1972: BART opens, no bikes are allowed on board
1974: Bikes are allowed in the rear half of the last car, during non-commute hours, with purchase of a $3 permit. No more than 5 bicycles are allowed on the train at once.
1988: Bikes are allowed in both the front and rear of the last car. Bikes allowed during commute hours only in “reverse-commute” directions: from Embarcadero to East Bay destinations in the morning, from the East Bay to Embarcadero in the evenings.
1997: Permit no longer required to bring bike on board. Bicycles allowed in the rear half of any car except the first.
1998: Time restrictions tailored to focus on specific trains with heavy commute loads. Blackout periods reduced from approximately 5 ½ hours per day to 3 ½ hours per day.
1999: Cyclists no longer required to enter through the rear doors of cars.
2009: BART designates “Bike Spaces” on many of its new cars.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Palo Alto Celebrates New Nature Center
Friday, June 22, 2012
A Team Sport for the Visually Impaired
There's a basketball court at a park near my house, and sometimes when I ride my bike past, there are people out there playing basketball in their wheelchairs. This got me interested in doing a piece on team sports for folks with disabilities. I found out that the games were a program of the Bay Area Outreach and Recreation Program, or BORP, and started exploring the other programs they run. This is how I discovered goalball, which is a team sport for people with visual impairments. When I checked out a scrimmage, I was really impressed with their athleticism, and even got to talk to a Paralympian while I was there. This piece originally aired on The California Report on KQED.
Friday, June 1, 2012
California Songs - Raashan Ahmad's "Oakland"
I interviewed my old friend Raashan Ahmad for The California Report's series "California Songs." The song "Oakland" is off his 2009 album, Soul Power.
Monday, April 9, 2012
The Giving State - Creative Growth
This piece was produced for The California Report at KQED in San Francisco. It's part of The Giving State, a series on volunteers in California. Laura Jaeger volunteers at Creative Growth, an art studio for developmentally handicapped adults in Oakland.
Monday, April 2, 2012
The Giving State - Spokeland
Spokeland is a volunteer-run bicycle co-op in Oakland. I've visited many times, and have learned how to overhaul my bottom bracket, repack my hubs, true my wheels, adjust my derailleurs, and do a bunch of other stuff. My favorite time to come work on my bike is during women's & trans only shop time, which is when I interviewed Senta Burke about why she volunteers at Spokeland. This piece was produced for The California Report's series about volunteers in California, called "The Giving State."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)