The Bay Area needs more homes for its growing population, but does it make sense to house 30,000 people on unstable land, in earthquake country, that’s also at high risk of inundation by rising sea waters? A massive development proposal on the fringes of the San Francisco Bay, in one of the last potentially developable areas in the region, is raising questions about the definition of smart growth. [The Public Press is developing an in-depth report for the fall print edition and the website. We are raising funds on the journalism micro-funding site Spot.us to pay for the reporting and photography on the story.]
Category: Media
Posted inBay Area, Environment, Land use, Media
Is it ‘smart growth’ to build in the San Francisco Bay? Updates from the field
The Bay Area needs more homes for its growing population, but does it make sense to house 30,000 people on unstable land, in earthquake country, that’s also at high risk of inundation by rising sea waters? A massive development proposal on the fringes of the San Francisco Bay, in one of the last potentially developable areas in the region, is raising questions about the definition of smart growth. [The Public Press is developing an in-depth report for the fall print edition and the website. We are raising funds on the journalism micro-funding site Spot.us to pay for the reporting and photography on the story.]
Posted inElections, Government & Politics, Media, News, Social Justice
Google and the question of ‘evil’: former allies question hometown company’s motives
Google, the Silicon Valley startup that quickly dominated the global search engine business, gained credibility early on with users by invoking its informal motto: “Don’t be evil.” But consumer groups last week turned the slogan against the company, saying the economics of the digital world have obscured its moral compass. Earlier last week, Google united with Verizon to bring before the Federal Communications Commission a list of proposals that consumer groups said seemed to water down the principle of network neutrality — the concept that all Internet traffic should be handled equally, regardless of who provides it or how much they can pay.
Posted inLaw & Justice, Media, Public Safety, Social Justice, Transportation
Response in Oakland to jury verdict in BART shooting death
Oakland spent the afternoon bracing for news of and reaction to the impending verdict in the trial of former BART police officer Johannes Mehserle for the fatal shooting of Oscar Grant III on Jan. 1, 2009. The jury announced its verdict of involuntary manslaughter today shortly after 4 p.m. in Los Angeles. Reporters from Oakland Local and The Bay Citizen are in downtown Oakland and around the city documenting public response. Visit the their websites sites for breaking news coverage. (Click headline for links.)
Posted inMedia, News, Public Safety, Transportation
3.3 quake hits San Francisco
San Francisco residents got a wake up call Monday morning when a 3.3 magnitude earthquake hit the city at 7:47.
Posted inEnvironment, Media, Treasure Island
Can Treasure Island realize its ecotopian dream?
The Treasure Island redevelopment, which aims to be the most ecologically sustainable community in the world, delivers a positive self-image of San Francisco as a forward-looking, avant-garde, socially and environmentally responsible metropolis. Nothing excites the utopian impulse more than a blank slate — and Treasure Island’s 486 acres have been semi-abandoned since the Navy shut down its base in 1997.
Read more…
Posted inGovernment & Politics, Media, Technology
Cheap phone calls hang in the balance in tug-of-war between FCC, cable giants
Voice-over-Internet calling is steadily growing in popularity, replacing costly long distance phone services with free or cheap options that are affordable for many low-income and immigrant communities. Bay Area residents could see cheap calls become a thing of the past depending on the outcome of a battle being waged in the halls of Washington D.C. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski wants to reclassify broadband from an information service to a telecommunications carrier with the goal of gaining some authority to regulate providers such as Comcast, AT&T and Verizon, which the companies fiercely oppose.
Read more…
Posted inEconomy & Business, Homelessness, Media, Neighborhoods
A look at life along 6th St.
This piece was produced as part of a project sponsored by The Bold Italic. Sixth Street at Market is one of San Francisco’s most well known intersections, yet one of the least understood. People from all walks of life cross paths there, but most don’t intermingle. The neighborhood is well known for its gritty liquor stores, strip clubs, and SROs, yet the landscape is changing dramatically with pioneering restaurants, cutting edge galleries, and revitilization efforts taking hold. To get a better sense of what the intersection is really like, The Bold Italic decided to stay a while — for 24 hours in fact, and got their experiences on video as well. Have a look at a day in the life on Sixth Street.
Read more…
Posted inMedia, Technology
Bay Area News Project editor promises media renaissance
Jonathan Weber, the new editor for the Bay Area News Project, reveals project details to an audience of more than 100 journalists at the World Affairs
Council in San Francisco. Weber said — unlike most media outlets — that he’s hiring. He presented a contrarian point of view on modern media, saying that technology heralds the rebirth, of journalism, not its death.
Posted inMedia, Neighborhoods
Death of bilingual newspaper leaves void in Japanese American community
One of the last bilingual Japanese-English newspapers in San Francisco has ceased its print publication and will likely end its Internet edition in the near future, leaving Japantown residents disappointed and searching for new sources of information.