By Michael Cabanatuan
San Francisco Chronicle

The Bay Area might need smaller houses, higher gas taxes and tolls on busy roads and congested business districts if it is to meet the state's goals for the reduction of greenhouse gases, transportation and land use officials said Friday. The good news, however, is that a new poll shows that many Bay Area residents are ready to take those steps if it means a better future for the state and world. Setting goals is significant, leaders with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and Association of Bay Area Governments told a crowd of 800 at a conference at the Oakland Convention Center. But making the lifestyle changes to meet them is far more challenging. Read more »

By John M. Glionna
Los Angeles Times

Forget the driver's license and credit cards. The most important piece of plastic in Cheng Wang's wallet is his new medical identification card featuring a picture of a heart and this city's signature skyline. Wang, who has diabetes and other ailments, says the Healthy San Francisco program saved his life. When he immigrated here in May to be closer to his elderly mother, the 64-year-old Taiwan native brought enough pills to last seven months. When those ran out, he didn't know what to do. He had no medical insurance. And it scared him. Then he learned about a groundbreaking city health plan that provides a network of care to residents regardless of their ability to pay, immigration status or existing medical conditions. Read more »

By Rachel Gordon
San Francisco Chronicle

It's not too often that the Bush administration points to the San Francisco Bay Area as a role model for the rest of the nation. But the region's proposed efforts to combat traffic congestion were held up by the president's transportation chief Tuesday as an example to emulate. U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters was in San Francisco to tout the Bay Area's congestion-relief plan, which includes a proposal to charge motorists an extra toll as they come off the Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco. It also includes the use of high-tech parking meters and traffic signals to combat congestion on city streets. "We believe that the solution to today's traffic problems do not have to be just about building new roads and infrastructure. It's about using technology. San Francisco's leaders understand that," said Peters, who held a brief sidewalk news conference near San Francisco's Civic Center. Read more »

By Emma Andersson, Stella Burch, Margot Mendelson & Marisol Orihuela
Yale University

Issuing municipal identification cards to undocumented resident immigrants is an inexpensive and effective method by which the City of San Francisco can improve public safety and immigrants’ ability to engage positively and productively in the City’s civic life.  Under current law, undocumented immigrants in San Francisco have no access to official forms of identification.  Without such identification, undocumented immigrants cannot prove their residence, which puts them in significant personal danger and poses a threat to the City’s general public safety.  Many banks do not allow undocumented immigrants to open a bank account, leaving immigrants with no choice but to carry large amounts of cash on their person or hidden in their homes.  As a result, immigrant communities are prone to suffer from disproportionately high rates of theft in their homes and upon returning from work. Read more »

By Phil Ting
Assessor-Recorder, City and County of San Francisco

Lately, there has been a great deal of discussion in our local press and in the blogosphere about the emergence of signal sharing among wireless users in San Francisco. As Chair of the Free WiFi for All campaign, which is Prop J on this November’s ballot, I have been following these conversations and stories with great interest. As something of a tech geek and firm believer in open source, I agree that the proponents of signal sharing are on to something: without a doubt, the Internet should be freely and easily accessed by all San Franciscans. Read more »