BART

BART
Author: Michael C. Healy
Publisher: Heyday.ORIM
Total Pages: 426
Release: 2013-01-01
Genre: Transportation
ISBN: 1597143812

An insider’s “indispensible” behind-the-scenes history of the transit system of San Francisco and surrounding counties (Houston Chronicle). In the first-ever history book about BART, longtime agency spokesman Michael C. Healy gives an insider’s account of the rapid transit system’s inception, hard-won approval, construction, and operations, warts and all. With a master storyteller’s wit and sharp attention to detail, Healy recreates the politically fraught venture to bring a new kind of public transit to the West Coast. What emerges is a sense of the individuals who made (and make) BART happen. From tales of staying up until 3:00 a.m. with BART pioneers Bill Stokes and Jack Everson to hear the election results for the rapid transit vote to stories of weathering scandals, strikes, and growing pains, this look behind the scenes of an iconic, seemingly monolithic structure reveals people at their most human—and determined to change the status quo. “The Metro. The T. The Tube. The world's most famous subway systems are known by simple monikers, and San Francisco's BART belongs in that class. Michael C. Healy delivers a tour-de-force telling of its roots, hard-fought approval, and challenging construction that will delight fans of American urban history.”—Doug Most, author of The Race Underground: Boston, New York, and the Incredible Rivalry That Built America's First Subway

BART

BART
Author: Michael C. Healy
Publisher: Heyday Books
Total Pages: 365
Release: 2016
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781597143707

The history of Bay Area Rapid Transit, as told by "Mr. BART" himself

A People's Guide to the San Francisco Bay Area

A People's Guide to the San Francisco Bay Area
Author: Rachel Brahinsky
Publisher: University of California Press
Total Pages: 284
Release: 2020-10-06
Genre: History
ISBN: 0520288378

An alternative history and geography of the Bay Area that highlights sites of oppression, resistance, and transformation. A People’s Guide to the San Francisco Bay Area looks beyond the mythologized image of San Francisco to the places where collective struggle has built the region. Countering romanticized commercial narratives about the Bay Area, geographers Rachel Brahinsky and Alexander Tarr highlight the cultural and economic landscape of indigenous resistance to colonial rule, radical interracial and cross-class organizing against housing discrimination and police violence, young people demanding economically and ecologically sustainable futures, and the often-unrecognized labor of farmworkers and everyday people. The book asks who had—and who has—the power to shape the geography of one of the most watched regions in the world. As Silicon Valley's wealth dramatically transforms the look and feel of every corner of the region, like bankers' wealth did in the past, what do we need to remember about the people and places that have made the Bay Area, with its rich political legacies? With over 100 sites that you can visit and learn from, this book demonstrates critical ways of reading the landscape itself for clues to these histories. A useful companion for travelers, educators, or longtime residents, this guide links multicultural streets and lush hills to suburban cul-de-sacs and wetlands, stretching from the North Bay to the South Bay, from the East Bay to San Francisco. Original maps help guide readers, and thematic tours offer starting points for creating your own routes through the region.

Agglomeration Economics

Agglomeration Economics
Author: Edward L. Glaeser
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 376
Release: 2010-04-15
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0226297926

When firms and people are located near each other in cities and in industrial clusters, they benefit in various ways, including by reducing the costs of exchanging goods and ideas. One might assume that these benefits would become less important as transportation and communication costs fall. Paradoxically, however, cities have become increasingly important, and even within cities industrial clusters remain vital. Agglomeration Economics brings together a group of essays that examine the reasons why economic activity continues to cluster together despite the falling costs of moving goods and transmitting information. The studies cover a wide range of topics and approach the economics of agglomeration from different angles. Together they advance our understanding of agglomeration and its implications for a globalized world.

All about Skin

All about Skin
Author: Jina Ortiz
Publisher: University of Wisconsin Pres
Total Pages: 317
Release: 2014-11-11
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 029930194X

A short fiction anthology of work by award-winning, multicultural, women writers, All about Skin captures the reality of harsh media pressures, difficult family relationships, racial prejudices, and other problems that face women of color around the world.

Bay Curious

Bay Curious
Author: Olivia Allen-Price
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2023-05-02
Genre: Travel
ISBN: 1797216392

Curious about the San Francisco Bay Area? With explorations into unique local legends, interesting landmarks, and uncovered histories, Bay Curious is a fun, quirky guide to the secret stories of the Bay Area for visitors, newcomers, and California natives alike. Who was America's first and only Emperor? Why are there ships buried under the streets of San Francisco? Was the word "hella" really created in the East Bay? Bay Curious brings you the answers to these questions and much more through fun and fascinating illustrated deep-dives into hidden gems of Bay Area trivia, history, and culture. Based on the award-winning KQED podcast of the same name, Bay Curious brings a fresh eye to some of its most popular pieces and expands to cover stories unique to this book. With subjects ranging from Marin's redwood forests to the Winchester Mystery House, from the Black Panther Party's school program to the invention of the Mai Tai, Bay Curious gives you the entertaining and informative, weird and wonderful true stories of the San Francisco Bay Area. NOT YOUR AVERAGE GUIDEBOOK: Bay Curious takes a unique approach to exploring the Bay Area through its lesser known but just as fascinating stories, taking readers on a reportorial rather than literal tour. BEYOND THE PODCAST: With 49 entries—inspired by the famous 49-Mile Drive—Bay Curious includes a combination of updated popular episodes from the podcast and brand-new, never-before-heard stories researched for the book, plus fun illustrations and irresistible trivia sidebars. GIFT OR SELF-PURCHASE FOR SF ENTHUSIASTS: For anyone living in San Francisco or visiting with a goal of getting beyond the beaten tourist path, this volume holds a treasure trove of inspiration for an armchair adventure or self-guided tour. Perfect for: Bay Area locals and new arrivals A fun and unique San Francisco reference book for tourists and visitors Fans of the KQED podcast History buffs Anyone who enjoys unexpected, quirky true stories

The Race Underground

The Race Underground
Author: Doug Most
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Total Pages: 416
Release: 2014-02-04
Genre: Transportation
ISBN: 1466842008

In the late nineteenth century, as cities like Boston and New York grew more congested, the streets became clogged with plodding, horse-drawn carts. When the great blizzard of 1888 crippled the entire northeast, a solution had to be found. Two brothers from one of the nation's great families-Henry Melville Whitney of Boston and William Collins Whitney of New York-pursued the dream of his city digging America's first subway, and the great race was on. The competition between Boston and New York played out in an era not unlike our own, one of economic upheaval, life-changing innovations, class warfare, bitter political tensions, and the question of America's place in the world.The Race Underground is peopled with the famous, like Boss Tweed, Grover Cleveland and Thomas Edison, and the not-so-famous, from brilliant engineers to the countless "sandhogs" who shoveled, hoisted and blasted their way into the earth's crust, sometimes losing their lives in the construction of the tunnels. Doug Most chronicles the science of the subway, looks at the centuries of fears people overcame about traveling underground and tells a story as exciting as any ever ripped from the pages of U.S. history. The Race Underground is a great American saga of two rival American cities, their rich, powerful and sometimes corrupt interests, and an invention that changed the lives of millions.

Trains, Buses, People

Trains, Buses, People
Author: Christof Spieler
Publisher: Island Press
Total Pages: 266
Release: 2018-10-23
Genre: Transportation
ISBN: 1610919033

What are the best transit cities in the US? The best Bus Rapid Transit lines? The most useless rail transit lines? The missed opportunities? In the US, the 25 largest metropolitan areas and many smaller cities have fixed guideway transit—rail or bus rapid transit. Nearly all of them are talking about expanding. Yet discussions about transit are still remarkably unsophisticated. To build good transit, the discussion needs to focus on what matters—quality of service (not the technology that delivers it), all kinds of transit riders, the role of buildings, streets and sidewalks, and, above all, getting transit in the right places. Christof Spieler has spent over a decade advocating for transit as a writer, community leader, urban planner, transit board member, and enthusiast. He strongly believes that just about anyone—regardless of training or experience—can identify what makes good transit with the right information. In the fun and accessible Trains, Buses, People: An Opinionated Atlas of US Transit, Spieler shows how cities can build successful transit. He profiles the 47 metropolitan areas in the US that have rail transit or BRT, using data, photos, and maps for easy comparison. The best and worst systems are ranked and Spieler offers analysis of how geography, politics, and history complicate transit planning. He shows how the unique circumstances of every city have resulted in very different transit systems. Using appealing visuals, Trains, Buses, People is intended for non-experts—it will help any citizen, professional, or policymaker with a vested interest evaluate a transit proposal and understand what makes transit effective. While the book is built on data, it has a strong point of view. Spieler takes an honest look at what makes good and bad transit and is not afraid to look at what went wrong. He explains broad concepts, but recognizes all of the technical, geographical, and political difficulties of building transit in the real world. In the end,Trains, Buses, People shows that it is possible with the right tools to build good transit.