Beast Blog

One to Watch: Urban Commons

We got an email from a Beaster with a relevant weblog:

Hey Beast Bloggers!

I'm a fan of your blog and I've recently started my own site on Urban
Development/City planning issues. I'm based in Oakland and plan to touch
on East Bay related topics regularly. I'm trying to get people to visit
and contribute to the site in order to start a real dialog on these
important issues. Is there anyway to get a mention on your site? I'm sure
your readers would enjoy it.

Thanks!

Sincerely,

jesse

http://urbancommons.org/

The site is still pretty new, but already has a couple of Beast-related posts. Good luck, Jesse!

Survey on Bay Area WiFi Use

Sean from Cheesebikini is conducting a survey of Bay Area Wi-Fi use for his masters research. It only takes a few minutes to fill out.

San Pablo Avenue Speedway

The Chronicle writes about AC Transit's new 72R line, which hauls ass down San Pablo Avenue, and which can, among other things, send signals to traffic lights to make sure they remain green so the bus can get through.

A couple of weeks ago, the folks at SF Cityscape wrote about this, and offer some tasty transit links. SF Cityscape is a webzine about urban design, and chock full o' goodies worth reading.

Do Cities Have a Future?

UC Berkeley's journalism school is proving to be an amazing resource for thought-provoking public lectures. On March 20th, and interesting urban studies lecture open to the public:

The New Metropolis: Do Cities Have a Future?"

A discussion with Washington Post writer and author Joel Garreau, San Francisco Chronicle urban design writer John King, and Bay Area developer Rick Holliday. Moderated by UC Berkeley Journalism School Terner Teaching Fellow Bradley Inman

Thursday, March 20
7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
UC Berkeley School of Journalism
North Gate Hall, Berkeley Room 105

US cities are bubbling up, taking new shapes and making new sounds. Some downtowns are becoming tourist destinations, sparkling like never before. Others are as dead as Babylon. Some places that until recently were bedroom communities are now job-packed, high-property-value visions of an ethnically integrated, high-technology future. Others are a darkly punk hallucination featuring gangs, gridlock and drugs. How does this new weave of urban events fit together?

Sponsored by the Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, College of Environmental Design, the Program on Housing and Urban Policy and BRIDGE Housing Corporation.

Faculty, professionals, students, and community members are invited to attend.