Month: October 2014

New Citibike owners stumble on day one with price hike lie

It’s
a new day for the Alta Bicycle Share company, under new ownership, and new management. Sadly,
it seems like the new boss is a lot like the old boss when it comes to making
promises and then not following through with them. Alta became quite well known
for never delivering on their promises, and on day 1, the new Alt, now owned by
Related Companies and Equinox, has kept up the tradition.

For months now, there have been rumors that Citibike, Alta’s flagship system,
would see a price hike for annual memberships under the new ownership. The
official announcement yesterday confirmed the hike, but included a disclaimer.
On the official announcement and in the email they sent to all existing subscribers last night: Click to read more!

No Central Valley Colleges on Bicycle Friendly Awards List

Last week, the League of American Bicyclists released their updated list of “Bicycle Friendly Universities.” The list ranks universities with a bronze, silver, gold, or platinum award for being bike friendly.

The Bicycle Friendly University (BFU)
program recognizes institutions of higher education for promoting and
providing a more bikeable campus for students, staff and visitors. The
BFU program provides the roadmap and technical assistance to create
great campuses for cycling.

The Bicycle Friendly University program evaluates applicants’ efforts
to promote bicycling in five primary areas: engineering, encouragement,
education, enforcement and evaluation/planning, known as the Five E’s.
Applications must be submitted online.
http://bikeleague.org/university Click to read more!

Work underway at GV Urban’s Met Block development

Way back in February of 2013, GV Urban went before the city with their newest apartment proposal. The plan involved building up the Met Block, named after the old Met Museum. The block is between Van Ness and Fulton, and between Calaveras and Stanislaus.

The plan involved keeping the Met (top corner) and restoring the only other building left standing, on the left.

Problem was, the plan sucked. GV Urban proposed sticking in the exact same template they’ve built five other times downtown, but this time with a hideous façade.

For quite possibly the first time ever, the city pushed back against GV Urban. Aside from the ugly façade, the city was concerned that such a prominent block should break GV’s 3-story barrier, as to match the height of the Met. Click to read more!