After around an hour of tense discussions and an expletive-laden ejection of one unruly member of the public, the Board of Supervisors narrowly passed the Parkmerced Plan on a 6-5 vote. Dissenting supervisors Avalos, Campos, Kim, Mar and Mirkarimi all opposed the plan the controversial plan that will demolish 1,538 residential units in the process of redesigning the 152-acre site. Over the next twenty to thirty years, the plan will add 5,679 total new units, neighborhood level retail, a new elementary school, 68 acres of open space and bring the M-Ocean View line out through the development. As usual, we'll have a full meeting recap tomorrow. In the meantime, Bay City News reminds us there's still a final vote set for June 7th. more ›

We were happy to find a photo of ourselves -- or is it "ourself"? -- on Flickr the day after we went down to Ritual Roasters to type a letter registering our disapproval of chain stores on Valencia Street. more ›

It's not often we get to say it, so let's relish the feeling: yay Muni! Today, Muni boss Nat Ford joined a bunch of other transit officials in making some nice suggestions for the future of federal transportation planning. And you know what, it actually looks pretty good. more ›

There's something new on your Google Map: Muni! We're so happy about this, we don't even want to ask why it took so damn long (BART's been on Google Transit since forever). Now at last you can toggle trips from Driving Directions to Transit Directions, and it's smart enough to understand transfers -- for example, here's a trip from Berkeley to Ocean Beach via BART and Muni. more ›

As usual, Google's come up with a way to make everyone's lives easier. The details of Google Transit Feed Specification are a bit technical and engineer-y, but the upshot for transit riders is this: you can plan your trips with Google Transit on more agencies than before, and with even better results. BART's participating in the project, which is good news for BART riders. Muni is not, which is bad news; but Muni riders are used to that. more ›