You get a double shot of me on KALW today. This morning at 10am PT, I’ll guest host Your Call’s One Planet Series, when we’ll discuss what it will take to electrify the US economy with clean energy. How feasible will this be, and what will it cost? Joining us will be:
David Reichmuth, senior engineer in the Clean Transportation program at the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Ari Matusiak, chief executive of Rewiring America, a leading electrification nonprofit working to electrify our homes, businesses and communities.
Later in the program, we’ll have a conversation with award wining filmmaker Katja Esson about her new documentary RAZING LIBERTY SQUARE, about a public housing project in Miami for Black residents during a time of legal segregation (preview above). The city is ground-zero for sea-level-rise, and when residents learned about a $300 million revitalization project in 2015, they knew that their neighborhood is desirable because it is located on the highest-and-driest ground in the city. Some of them prepared to fight a new form of racial injustice called Climate Gentrification, which Esson followed for the film.
Then at 6pm PT on State of the Bay, I’ll talk with Kate Harris, Berkeley city councilmember and author of the 2019 ordinance banning natural gas in new construction. A panel of judges on the US court of appeals has just reversed that ban. What does this mean for our environment and what will lawmakers do next?
Then we’ll cover how the pandemic has decimated transit ridership, causing California’s transit agencies to face major funding shortfalls just as federal Covid relief funds are due to expire. We’ll talk with Laura Tolkoff, Transportation Policy Director for SPUR, and Rebecca Saltzman, Bay Area Rapid Transit director for district 3, about what agencies are doing to avoid falling off this fiscal cliff.
Finally, we’ll continue our series ” Have you met?”…. we’ll meet teacher and comedian, Chris Corrigan as he reflects on the ever changing Bay Area.
Tune in at 91.7 FM in the San Francisco Bay Area or stream liveat 10am PT for Your Call and then again at 6pm PT for State of the Bay. What comments or questions do you have for our guests? Call 866-798-TALK to join the conversation!
The generation that brought Miami its parking minimums
A long time ago, somebody in some room somewhere came up with minimum parking requirements. Those random formulas soon became boilerplate code for cities and counties across America, regardless of how much people actually needed the expensive-to-build parking spots. The problem is particularly acute near transit, where cars are by definition less necessary.
As I blogged back in 2012 about a profile on UCLA parking guru Don Shoup, the requirements are stunning in their mindlessness:
Funeral parlors? A basic formula is eight parking spaces plus one for each hearse. Convents? One-tenth of a space per nun is fine. Adult bookstores? One space for every prospective patron plus one for the cashier holding the longest shift (no mention of the flasher in the alley). Public swimming pools? One space for every 2,500 gallons of water on the premises, chlorine included.
But it looks like Miami, the U.S. city most likely to be the first to fall to climate change, is pioneering a more rational, albeit baby-step reform. A proposed zoning change would eliminate parking minimums for buildings under 10,000 square feet near public transit. To be clear, developers could build or contract for more parking if the market demanded it. The upshot of removing pointless parking is cheaper housing and rents for everyone.
The Miami Herald published an effective op-ed from young professionals couching the parking requirement as part of the overall mismatch between land use policy and emerging demand:
What baffles us most is why housing targeted to our generation should be required to have parking at all. Our grandparents’ love affair with the car is outdated. We don’t want to spend all our money buying and maintaining a car. We don’t want the guilt of contributing to air pollution and energy consumption. We don’t want to worry about having a designated driver. And we definitely don’t want to grow old waiting in traffic.
If Florida can pioneer this move from Golden Girls-era parking to a more contemporary policy approach, perhaps other cities and states around the country will follow suit.
Ethan's book Railtown covers the history of the Los Angeles Metro Rail system.
Railtown presents the history of this system by drawing on archival documents, contemporary news accounts, and interviews with many of the key players to provide critical behind-the-scenes accounts of the people and forces that shaped the system.
Tales from California
Purchase or download Ethan's second album of acoustic rock songs.
