AC Transit cut weekend service to line 31

 

At the Sept. 22nd AC Transit Board of Directors meeting, staff presented a preliminary Title VI, map-level analysis of the service area showing the following:

• Routes Proposed for Continuation

• 1/4 Mile Walk-Shed around Continued Lines

• Minority Concentrations by Census Tract

The results of this analysis are attached to this memorandum and have resulted in changes to the original proposal. Additionally, staff has conducted further ridership modeling to review impacts associated with the implementation of the scenario identified above.

Both of these studies have informed recommendations that propose the following alterations to the original plan for service to West Oakland.

“Given the concentration of minority population, combined with the high instances of zero car/low income households, staff recommends retention of Line 26 to satisfy anticipated Title VI disparate impacts.”

As part of GM Memo 10-210, staff originally presented a service cut scenario that included both the 26 and 31 lines.

In the end, AC Transit's board of directors voted 7-0 to halve its weekend service and cut four of six overnight lines starting in December. Line 31 weekend service was cut.

General Manager Message:

"I want to emphasize that delaying these cuts is not an option at this point," said Interim General Manager Mary King. "Right now, this agency is like a patient in critical condition. AC Transit must act to stop the hemorrhaging now. We are applying tourniquets wherever possible in order to remain solvent and sustain some level of service for seniors, youth, disabled, working people and other riders who depend on AC Transit during these undeniably difficult economic times. Once we have stabilized the agency we will look for ways to restore service when funding to do so is available."

Some re-routing of line 26 & 31 was also approved.

Line 26: Current & Preview (available Oct. 8th) of Route Change

Line 31: Current & Preview (available Oct. 8th) of Route Change

Further action by Ac Transit include: Fare Increase

Activity Tentative Completion Date

Board Presentation October 27, 2010

Final Board Consideration / Set Public Hearing December 15, 2010

Public Hearing January/February 2011

Plan Adoption and Implementation Late Spring 2011

Further Service Reductions Considerations:

Activity Tentative Completion Date

Final Concepts Consideration / Set Public Hearing October 13, 2010

Board Conducts Public Hearing November 10, 2010

Board Consideration of Final Plan December 15, 2010

Title VI Compliance Review Completion February 2011

Implementation Mid-March 2011

Sundays in the Redwoods feat. GOAPELE at Sept. 26, 2010

http://goapele.com/

Gates Open 1PM - Show Starts 2PM

Born Goapele (pronounced Gwa-pa-lay) Mohlabane in Oakland, CA, this singer grew up in a socially conscious and politically active family. Her mother married South African political exile Douglas Mohlabane while studying in Nairobi, Kenya.

At an early age, Goapele attended the Berkeley Arts Magnet School where she led a pre-teen peer support group.

She also became involved in various groups and organizations that combated racism and sexism. It would be these extroverted activities that assisted her singing career as she would also sing at community functions.

In high school, Goapele sang in the Oakland Youth Choir and became part of a semi-professional music group called Vocal Motion.

Upon high school graduation, she attended the Berklee School of Music in Boston, where she studied music theory. She also began developing her songwriting skills during her post-secondary education. [Taken from bio written by Jason MacNeil, Rovi]

Real dogs don’t wear sweaters

Picture from http://www.braveathena.com/archives/2005/11/

When we got our dog three years ago, I made a pledge: I would not let our pooch become a cold-weather wimp.

I told my wife and two daughters, 13 and 11 at the time, that the newest member of our family would never, ever, under any circumstances, wear a sweater.

I warned them that an entire industry had emerged to prey on weak-willed people who believe they must pamper their pets. Svelte, stylish salespeople lurked inside trendy boutiques ready to flatter pet owners into making unwise purchases. “Your wonderful little doggie would look just adooorable in a cardigan! Let’s see — puppy large?”

“Remember,” I counseled my family, “he’s a dog.”

We all agreed.

Thinking back, I don’t recall my wife making eye contact.

Our dog is a black Lab, which means he comes genetically equipped to withstand a drop in the mercury. His ancestral roots stretch to Labrador, where the breed and its owners alike don’t think twice about jumping into the icy North Atlantic to pull out a cod for dinner.

Nature has also given Labs an undercoat, a second interwoven layer of fur that acts like thermal underwear. A Lab in a sweater would feel uncomfortable physically. Emotionally, too.

Not long after we brought our pup home, I caught my wife putting a blanket over him one cool night.

“You’ll spoil him,” I said.

“He’ll be cold,” she said.

“He’s a dog,” I said.

I believe my wife’s well-meaning indulgence has taken its toll. By day, our Lab is a hearty all-weather dog who relishes plunging into a cold body of water to retrieve a ball. At night, when the lights go out, he is a hedonist drawn to creature comforts. These include a blanket and, more recently, a pillow.

We kept his sleep habits in mind when we went on an end-of-summer, overnight backpacking trip to the mountains. We drove miles up dusty dirt roads to the trailhead and hoisted our packs for a three-mile hike that took us to a glacial lake at 6,500 feet. My pack — the heaviest of four — included a tent, sleeping bag and, yes, dog blanket.

At the lake, our Lab’s behavior was anything but wimpy. He charged into the water and unleashed his best dogpaddle. I, too, had planned to take a dip, but the water felt chilly. Instead, I set up the tent and gathered wood. Each time the dog lumbered out of the lake and soaked us with his spirited, wiggling shake, I thanked the canine gods he wasn’t a Chihuahua.

In the evening, the temperature dipped below 40 degrees. We sat around the fire talking about the day and sipping hot tea. Our dog was the first to call it a night. He got up and climbed into the tent.

I know from past camping trips that our Lab is not the greatest sleeping buddy. He’s restless. He growls at the sound of a fallen leaf. He shifts positions every half hour. He stands up and turns in tight circles before laying down again.

This night was no different.

My wife slept next to the dog, waking up time and again to cover him with his blanket. But even the blanket and the body heat generated by four people crammed in a tent couldn’t keep him toasty.

When my wife sat up yet again to cover him, he made his move. He dove into her sleeping bag, burrowed down to her feet and went to sleep. My wife managed to slide the dog up, swing him around, and pull him to the top of the sleeping bag, but he refused to leave.

Giving in to pet-pampering temptation, she pulled him close like a baby. This couldn’t have been comfortable — they occupied the bag with sausagelike efficiency — but the dog slept soundly until morning.

I was the first up. I slipped out of the tent with our faithful hound. I started a fire. He took a dip — hardly the behavior of a cold-weather wimp.

My wife and I have no intention of buying him a sweater for our next backpacking trip. We do plan to get him his own sleeping bag.

San Francisco Business Times - by Steve Symanovich

Alternative car fuel arrives in Oakland

The station, operated by Propel Fuels, is in the Adams Point neighborhood, at the intersection of Grand Avenue and Perkins Street. Its opening marks biofuel's first foothold in Oakland. To commemorate the occasion, Propel spent two days offering each new customer five free gallons of either the company's ethanol-based "FlexFuel," or biodiesel for diesel engines.

FlexFuel, also called E85, is a biofuel composed of roughly 85 percent ethanol, the remaining 15 percent being mostly gasoline.

Read more here

Also, the Department of Energy and the California Energy Commission will furnish Propel Fuels with $10.9 million in grants to help it deploy its ethanol and biodiesel fueling pumps across California.

The Redwood City-based Propel is putting 75 pumps across the state in the next 18 months to two years, co-locating them at existing gas stations to limit overhead costs.

Developing the pumps could create 450 jobs in California. Also, the lower-carbon fuels dispersed at the pumps could avoid 39 million gallons of petroleum, saving 187,500 tons of CO2 emissions from entering the atmosphere each year, the company said.

Read more at the San Francisco Business Times, here

the opening of Propel compliments the recent opening of a new state-of-the-art CNG station located one half mile south of the Oakland Coliseum at the CFN Olympian station, 8515 San Leandro Street, Oakland (Near 85th Street and San Leandro Street).