Iran lays to rest nuclear scientist, vows to carry forward work
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The Shared Spaces program has imagined new ways to utilize public spaces around the city. Skybridge on Stevenson, a unique partnership between SFMTA, OEWD, the San Francisco Parks Alliance, the Mid Market Community Benefit District, and Zendesk in an alley in SoMa illustrated how coming together, we can support communities.
Dancers were just one part of the programing for the Skybridge Shared Space
While completing its ten week run, the Shared Spaces program event served as a launchpad to reimagine community building in the diverse neighborhood where SOMA Pilipinas, the Transgender District, Theatre District and Mid-Market mix. Dense neighborhoods like SOMA often lack access to open spaces and community gathering locations, making this project even more important.
Every Thursday evening, Stevenson Street was shut down between 6th and 7th streets for performances by area musicians, dancers and artists. Food from area businesses like Montesacro Pinseria Romana SF and The Grilledcheezguy were available free of charge to attendees, many of whom are residents of nearby SROs. Even with the required masks, physical distancing and other safety measures, the event provided an evening of normalcy during these challenging times.
The Skybridge project showed how we are working to be nimbler and provided needed services during the pandemic. The Parks Alliance had already planning a lighting installation and pop-up events to activate the Stevenson alleyway. However, the Shared Spaces program expedited permits and gain support that otherwise might have taken years so that the community could enjoy the space more quickly.
The Skybridge on Stevenson team made it a priority to understand what the community was looking for, both before and after COVID-19 hit. Behind the lighting installation was a desire for increased safety as well as foot traffic to local businesses. Theater and music groups were looking for an outdoor space to practice and perform. Local residents sought opportunities to connect with each other safely.
“As someone who comes into these communities, you are the least knowledgeable,” says Mark Bonsignore of the SF Parks Alliance. “Really listen to what needs to be done. There’s always a way. You can’t always build a park so we look at underutilized areas of the city and utilize them so they can be for the public benefit.”
With several SFMTA projects like Mission Street SoMa, Better Market Street, the 6th Street Pedestrian Safety Project, and Safer Taylor Street either underway or starting soon, we are exploring opportunities to utilize public space and/or side streets for community-building during construction. For example, the 6th Street Pedestrian Safety Project will ensure that Skybridge on Stevenson can continue during construction. We look forward to plans aiming to restart the event this spring.
Thank you to all the partner organizations and people that made this project a huge success.
View from inside the Twin Peaks Tunnel that was first opened 102 years ago in 1918
The Eureka Curve is a section of the Twin Peaks tunnel that connects downtown San Francisco to West Portal and beyond. In 2019, we completed a major project in the Twin Peaks tunnel with seismic upgrades, major track and other infrastructure overhauls. Now, additional work in this crucial section of trackway needs to be done, and we will start that on Monday, November 30. This work is essential to improving the quality of the system and reducing the potential for disruptions to service in the years to come.
Starting the Monday after Thanksgiving, construction crews will begin maintenance work inside the Twin Peaks Tunnel going into the tunnel via the entrance on Market Street between Diamond and Collingwood Street. Planned work includes replacement of the overhead catenary system (OCS) splice connectors, overhead lines, track fasteners, rails, track ballast, switch machine, trackway adjustment throughout the tunnel, rail grinding, installation of new subway lights, and several trackway and OCS tests. These are the key elements that keep our trains running.
Work is planned for approximately three months, through February 2021. Crews will take a break for the holidays from December 24th through New Year's Day. Construction is scheduled for Monday to Saturday, from 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. with hours are subject to change based on construction needs. No night work will occur in the public right of way and will be limited to inside the tunnel.
As we perform this work, some parking will be temporarily restricted, and traffic lanes will be modified in the construction zone near Castro Station:
Ballast Replacement Details
Ballast is the rocky bed beneath the tracks that stabilizes the trackway. Over time, the ballast wears and can become dusty as the larger rocks are broken down, these are called fines. Over time the number of fines increases, and the trackway can become muddy and difficult to maintain. During the 2019 Twin Peaks project, we reused rather than replaced the ballast in an attempt to save time and money. Unfortunately, the required procedural steps to ensure that the reused ballast would maintain its integrity through a thorough wash/filtering process was not followed. Looking back, we acknowledge these choices were an oversight.
Example of ballast – the rocks that help stabilize the tracks
Today the ballast has continued to degrade and will, over the long term, reduce the expected life of the new trackway if left unaddressed. In order to take advantage of the current closure of the subway and minimize future disruptions to service, we are moving ahead with the ballast replacement now.
This issue also underscores two of the key areas we are targeting with our Subway Renewal program: improved project delivery and workforce culture. The decision-making process that led to the reuse of the ballast in 2019 should have been interrogated more intensively. We are committed to promoting a more open workplace that supports our staff raising challenging questions during the course of projects to make sure the choices we make are in the best interest of the system and of the public.
We thank San Franciscans and Muni customers for your continued patience and understanding as we navigate through our Subway Renewal program and work towards the return of rail service. We will keep you informed about our continued efforts at SFMTA.com/RailRecovery.
Last month, the SFMTA and San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department released a survey seeking public feedback regarding five proposed roadway options for Twin Peaks Boulevard. San Franciscans responded to the survey, ranked support for each alternative and shared opinions about how the different options met their needs.
The Twin Peaks for All survey was open for almost three weeks and received more than 1,700 responses. This number reflects the high level of interest for this San Francisco park and its future access.
Conditions on Twin Peaks Boulevard between Portola Drive and Barnett Avenue before COVID street closures.
The Twin Peaks Boulevard gates were closed early in the pandemic to reduce crowding at the lookout point parking lot. The gates were closed on the north, at Burnett Avenue, and the south, at Portola Drive. Since then, Twin Peaks Park use by hikers, joggers and people on bicycles has increased significantly, with an average of more than 800-weekday visitors and more than 1,100-weekend visitors.
While the new park access configuration received support, there are also significant community concerns. Our goal with the new design proposals and survey is to find a solution that balances all the various needs of the community including people with disabilities, neighbors and everyone that enjoys this iconic park.
Map representing the Burnett Avenue Option, the most preferred option according to the survey.
Many people who filled out the survey are regular visitors to the area; almost 50 percent of the respondents typically visit Twin Peaks one or more times per week with another 27 percent of people who visit once per month. People who took the survey tend to reside near the park. The highest percentages of respondents came from zip codes immediately adjacent to the park and of the more than 1,700 responses, 50 respondents were from outside of San Francisco. In total, 52 percent ranked the Burnett Avenue option as their preferred choice. The next closest preference was the Pre-COVID option, with 30 percent.
Other data demonstrating Option 1 was the most preferred include:
Access to Twin Peaks is important to San Franciscans and this was reflected by the large number of responses and the range of responses to the Twin Peaks for All survey. Responses reflected that both personal and property safety is important as is access to the beautifully scenic resource. For a much more detailed analysis of our survey data please visit our Survey Report.
SFMTA staff will continue to review the options, working with project stakeholders to develop a project that is feasible and meets the needs of the public based on the survey results. Staff will develop a final proposal to share with the community and present to the SFMTA Board of Directors for potential approval in the coming months. Twin Peaks is a beautiful and unique destination for San Francisco residents and visitors alike and everyone should have the opportunity to enjoy it. For more information or to sign up for an email update, visit our project page.
Africa Eye uncovers a thriving market for children stolen to order in Kenya's capital.
source https://news.yahoo.com/buying-baby-nairobis-black-market-235835467.html
The warring sides in Tigray see history very differently, and that could cost tens of thousands of lives.
source https://news.yahoo.com/tigray-crisis-why-ethiopia-spiralling-232607570.html
Britain's Prince Charles on Sunday said bonds between his country and Germany would "remain strong" as he visited Berlin against a backdrop of increasingly tense Brexit talks.
source https://news.yahoo.com/prince-charles-champions-post-brexit-144200027.html
Despite painstaking efforts to keep election sites safe, some poll workers who came in contact with voters on Election Day have tested positive for the coronavirus, including more than two dozen in Missouri and cases in New York, Iowa, Indiana and Virginia. Because COVID-19 is spreading rapidly in the U.S., there is no way to determine yet whether in-person voting on Election Day contributed to the surge, public health experts said. In most places, poll workers were required to wear masks.
source https://news.yahoo.com/poll-workers-contract-virus-election-151022006.html
President Donald Trump on Sunday appeared to acknowledge for the first time that Joe Biden won the White House, but made clear he would not concede and would keep trying to overturn the election result. Trump's statements came in tweets that included several baseless claims about the Nov. 3 vote, which state and federal officials say was safe and secure. Trump, without using Biden's name, tweeted that “He won,” something Trump had not said before publicly, though he said the Democrat's victory was only “in the eyes” of the media.
source https://news.yahoo.com/trump-seems-acknowledge-biden-win-150508400.html
A hard-fought presidential election has caused sharp divisions in their own ranks. “The shadow of the McCarrick report hangs over this meeting,” said John Gehring, Catholic program director at a Washington-based clergy network called Faith in Public Life.
source https://news.yahoo.com/moment-turmoil-us-catholic-bishops-130257807.html
President-elect Joe Biden wants to “restore the soul of America.” First, he'll need to fix a broken and divided Congress. Biden is rushing headlong into a legislative branch ground down by partisanship, name-calling and, now, a refusal by some to acknowledge his win over President Donald Trump.
source https://news.yahoo.com/mandate-bidens-agenda-faces-divided-124920148.html
New Kim is worth her weight in gold and then some — actually much, much more. A wealthy Chinese pigeon racing fan put down a world record price of 1.6 million euros ($1.9 million) for the Belgian-bred bird, saying a lot more than merely what kind of money can be made in the once-quaint sport, which seemed destined to decline only a few years back. During a frantic last half hour Sunday at the end of a two-week auction, two Chinese bidders operating under the pseudonyms of Super Duper and Hitman drove up the price by 280,000 euros ($325,000), leaving the previous record that Belgian-bred Armando fetched last year well behind by 350,000 euros ($406,000).
source https://news.yahoo.com/belgian-racing-pigeon-fetches-record-124017275.html
The self-styled prophet says he skipped bail and left South Africa because he had received death threats.
source https://news.yahoo.com/shepherd-bushiri-preacher-flees-south-122537045.html
Sudan’s rebel leaders returned to the capital, Khartoum on Sunday, signalling the first major steps toward implementing a peace agreement with the government that aims to end the country’s decades-long civil war. Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, head of the ruling sovereign council, welcomed leaders of the Sudan Revolutionary Front as “partners and peacemakers" upon their arrival from South Sudan on Sunday. The front, a coalition of several armed groups centered in the western Darfur region, South Kordofan and Blue Nile, inked a peace agreement with the transitional government on Oct. 3 after months of arduous negotiations in South Sudan’s capital, Juba.
source https://news.yahoo.com/rebel-leaders-inked-deal-government-114632212.html