We are halfway through our Streetsblog summer fundraising drive, and we’re raised just over half our overall goal of $15,000. Since we wrote to you at the start of June, we’ve raised just under $8,000, leaving us with $7,000 left to go.
A lot has changed since that fundraising letter went out.
At Streetsblog California, Melanie Curry has been closely following the legislature and Governor’s office and reporting about which bills are likely to become law and how the state is implementing them. She is also tracking local transportation sales tax measures, which are a growing source of infrastructure funding subject to local political maneuvering.
In particular, Curry has stayed atop the state’s languid efforts to create an incentive program for people to purchase electric bikes. Governor Newsom signed a law creating this program last year, and the program was set to start on July 1. Well… it’s August and the Air Resources Board has not yet chosen an administrator for the program. Read Streetsblog’s ongoing coverage from June and July. I’m sure a story from August is coming up.
In Los Angeles, the over half-a-billion-dollar 6th Street Bridge finally opened. Elected officials gathered to congratulate themselves for a job well done even as advocates questioned the road design of the bridge and warned that it was a safety disaster waiting to happen. In just its first couple of weeks, the bridge had to be closed several times due to high-speed races, a severely damaged bollard-protected bike lane, and other crashes.
For a decade, Streetsblog LA amplified the voices of people living near the bridge begging the city to build a bridge that worked for them. Now that the bridge is open, it is being used the way it was designed, and will need changes to make it safe.
In San Francisco, Roger Rudick reports that de Young Museum Board President and Dow Chemical heiress Dede Wilsey is bankrolling the “Access for All” Campaign to return cars to JFK Parkway despite the overwhelming popularity of the project. But Dow Chemical money can buy a lot of misleading advertisements, including this amazing flier that doesn’t even mention the word “cars.”
And Roger has been covering this issue while nursing a bike injury of his own. While scoping out the status of bike parking at the deYoung, a poorly designed storm grate caused a bike crash that left him with an injured arm.
This week also marks the beginning of our Patreon benefits rollout for the summer. Anyone who has donated since July 1, or who is a recurring donor on Patreon or Donor Box, qualifies for an “I Streetsblog” sticker (or two, or three). We’ll be contacting every donor so we can start mailing them out. Location-specific raffles and giveaways will follow throughout August, so if you’ve already donated, or are about to donate, look out for more details in your inbox.
