1. New legislation in Sacramento calls for the construction of 20,000 new homes to be built on BART property next to train stations, reports Katy Murphy of the Bay Area News Group$. The bill, AB 2923, by Assemblymembers David Chiu, D-San Francisco, and Tim Grayson, D-Concord, would require cities to allow the new housing on BART land. “You’ll see around many BART stations acres of asphalt filled with cars during the day and empty at night,” Chiu said. “It’s a terrible use of the areas around major transportation hubs.”
2. Last week’s big storms boosted the Sierra snowpack by 80 percent, but it’s still only 37 percent of normal, reports Paul Rogers of the Mercury News$. Climate experts say for the state to reach normal snowpack levels by April 1, California would need four or five more big storms in March.
3. A 94-unit affordable housing project broke ground at the Oakland Fruitvale Transit Village next to BART, reports J.K. Dineen of the San Francisco Chronicle. “The project, developed by the Unity Council and the East Bay Asian Local Development Corp., will be affordable to households with incomes in the extremely low and very-low categories. Twenty units will be reserved for formerly homeless veterans.”
4. Wells Fargo is selling vacant land near the San Leandro BART station to a housing developer, reports Roland Li of the San Francisco Business Times$. The five-acre property at 915 Antonio St. is zoned for 400 to 500 homes and is being purchased by San Francisco developer Maximus Real Estate Partners.
5. The Stanford researcher of an MIT study that revealed Uber and Lyft drivers are poorly paid has adjusted his report following criticism of it, reports Levi Sumagaysay of the Bay Area News Group$. Stephen Zoepf, executive director of the Center for Automotive Research at Stanford University, says his research recalculated shows that Uber and Lyft drivers net $8.55 an hour, not $3.37.
6. Of the six crash reports involving robot cars this year two involved humans who attacked the vehicles, reports Russ Mitchell of the LA Times$. One of the incidents involved an irate taxicab driver attacking a driverless vehicle. No injuries were involved in any of the incidents.
7. And former longtime Alameda County Sheriff Charlie Plummer has died at the age of 87.
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