Techbrats and Tech Buses: What’s Ruining San Francisco This Week

Techbrats and Tech Buses: What's Ruining San Francisco This Week

It’s been a tumultuous week in San Francisco. The city’s transit agency held hearings to regulate the ubiquitous tech buses, but protesters say the buses have already ruined the city’s real estate. It’s a What’s Ruining Our Cities San Francisco Special Edition.

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Artists Recreate Tiny Version of San Francisco Class Warfare

Artists Recreate Tiny Version of San Francisco Class Warfare

Artists, Bay Area residents, and Valleywag readers Colleen Flaherty and Matteo Bittanti shared their latest joint work with us—a series titled "The Streetviews of San Francisco." Or, more plainly, The Bus Wars. It’s urban resentment you can fit on a shelf.

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Startup Makes App to Help People Evade Traffic Laws

Startup Makes App to Help People Evade Traffic Laws

Never, ever forget: the Silicon Valley insider crowd is exempt from the rules and norms of the rest of the citizenry. TechCrunch excitedly reports on a new app called "Fixed," which will help San Franciscans automatically kill parking tickets, whether or not they deserve it.

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This is how San Francisco sounded just before getting destroyed in 1906

Hardscrabble Pictures added sound to this old black and white silent film of San Francisco’s Market Street in April 14, 1906, just four days before the big earthquake that destroyed 80 percent of the city. It’s really wonderful—put on your headphones and listen to the calm before the storm.

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Metronomy Reminds Us That We’d Rather Be in San Francisco Right Now

Early Wednesday morning, an odd fog descended upon New York City, hugging the buildings and obscuring the ground. For those of us who’ve spent some time in the Bay Area, it was hard not to imagine we were snuggling in between San Francisco’s steep hills rather than thumping through the gridlock of Gotham.

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13 Nail-Biting Images Of San Francisco’s Bay Bridge Under Construction

13 Nail-Biting Images Of San Francisco's Bay Bridge Under Construction

In the battle royale between landmark San Francisco bridges, the Golden Gate will probably always get the glory. But after seventy years, its sister span to the east is coming into its own. The Bay Bridge: A Work in Progress is an upcoming exhibition at the city’s De Young Museum that chronicles the earliest days of construction from 1933 to 1936.

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Portland celebrates another safe year for cyclists, Hamburg goes car-free, San Francisco rents its c

Portland celebrates another safe year for cyclists, Hamburg goes car-free, San Francisco rents its curbs to tech buses, Houston’s got some wacky architecture, and L.A. is the city of the future—or a city in decline? It’s all in this week’s Urban Reads.

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Could Fog Catchers Help Solve America’s Drought Problem?

Could Fog Catchers Help Solve America's Drought Problem?

California’s running out of water. This year’s record-breaking drought—coming after two already dry years—has the state scrambling for the liquid stuff. Plans to seed clouds for extra snowfall are already in place. But do we really require storm clouds for water? Why not use fog?

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8 Massive Tunnels Being Built Right Now Under A City Near You

8 Massive Tunnels Being Built Right Now Under A City Near You

Now that we know it was an eight-inch steel pipe that brought the world’s largest-diameter tunneling machine to a halt up in Seattle, we can no longer fantasize about Bertha unearthing a five-story-tall buried locomotive. But we can look at something almost as fascinating: The other giant holes that are currently being churned through the bedrock below our cities.

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San Francisco’s tech companies are bringing it down, L.A.’

San Francisco’s tech companies are bringing it down, L.A.’s having trouble growing up, plus sexy cabbies, vertical cemeteries, Bloomberg’s next act, and much, much more in this week’s Urban Reads.

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