Transporation Daily News June 5

Tourism:

 

State sees economic windfall in gay weddings -- Everyone from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to tourism officials to bakers, jewelers and DJs are anticipating a windfall when gay marriage is legalized in California later this month. Same-sex couples could spend about $692 million on weddings in California over the next three years, according to a report from the Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy at the UCLA School of Law. Tourism should also get a boost, especially California destinations that can claim romantic cachet as a great place to tie the knot. SF Chronicle 6/5/08

 

Officials considering improvements to Alcatraz Island -- The federal agency that manages the former prison on Alcatraz Island is pushing for a series of improvements to attract more visitors to the landmark. A proposal by the agency that runs the Golden Gate National Recreation Area would refurbish some of the long-abandoned buildings on the island, converting them to souvenir stands, special-event venues and hotels. Sacramento Bee 6/5/08

 

Infrastructure:

 

Bus law could mean students lose rides to school -- Thousands of urban public school students in the Bay Area may not get a ride to school, due to a regulation proposed by the Federal Transit Administration, according to area transit and school officials. In a notice published last month, the agency indicated it planned to tighten regulations aimed at helping private "yellow school bus" companies compete in providing home-to-school transportation. aFederal rules long have prohibited federally supported public transit agencies from providing school bus service, but certain types of service is exempted from that rule.

 

Police crack down on deadly Highway 1 stretch -- In this decade alone, 21 people - including 10 pedestrians - have been killed in traffic accidents on the stretch of state Highway 1 that runs along San Francisco surface streets. Failure to address the problem can be blamed on financial constraints and on the fact that the initiatives rely on the cooperation of city and state authorities - two distinct bureaucracies that answer to different sets of bosses. One initiative jump-started Wednesday is a yearlong campaign to crack down on law-breaking motorists. SF Chronicle 6/5/08