
SPUR | | Ideas Action for a Better City
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Through research, education and advocacy, SPUR promotes good planning and good government in the San Francisco Bay Area.
SPUR | | Ideas Action for a Better City
3d ago
SPUR CEO Alicia John-Baptiste to Join SF Mayor’s Administration SPUR President and CEO Alicia John-Baptiste will be leaving SPUR to take on a newly created policy chief role with the San Francisco Mayor’s Office. On February 3, she will join Mayor Daniel Lurie’s administration as Chief of Infrastructure, Climate & Mobility. The position reports directly to the mayor and is part of a restructuring intended to help break down silos and reduce complexity in city government ..read more
SPUR | | Ideas Action for a Better City
3d ago
What It Will Take to Close Oakland’s Structural Deficit, Part 1: How We Got Here Oakland is at a pivotal moment as city leaders work to address a significant budget shortfall of $129 million this year, with an additional $280 million projected over the next two years. Solutions to the city’s structural deficit may come from examining how past budget priorities and decisions led to current challenges ..read more
SPUR | | Ideas Action for a Better City
3d ago
How Arts and Cultural Strategies Can Revitalize Downtowns: Q&A with Erika McLitus and Sujata Srivastava Bay Area downtowns have faced significant social and economic challenges since the COVID-19 pandemic. In a new brief, SPUR’s Erika McLitus and Sujata Srivastava explore how cultural districts can play a transformative role in breathing new life into these urban landscapes. We asked them about the potential of cultural districts to both enhance the vibrancy of downtown areas and promote equity and belonging, ultimately paving the way for a more resilient urban future ..read more
SPUR | | Ideas Action for a Better City
1w ago
LA Fires: It’s Time to Rethink Risk Mitigation to Save California's Home Insurance Market California’s increasingly extreme weather, exemplified by the Los Angeles fires, is fueling a home insurance crisis, with many insurers canceling plans or raising premiums. California has already begun to implement reforms in the insurance industry, but more must be done. SPUR highlights the urgent need to accurately price hazard risk, advance risk mitigation through smart land use planning, and establish voluntary buyout programs for high-risk properties ..read more
SPUR | | Ideas Action for a Better City
1w ago
A Permanent Path for Climate-Friendly Transportation Projects: Q&A with Laura Tolkoff This week, Senator Scott Wiener introduced Senate Bill 71, which would make permanent a successful pilot project that has jumpstarted dozens of sustainable transportation projects in California. SPUR has been a driving force behind this exemption and is a sponsor of this legislation. We asked Transportation Policy Director Laura Tolkoff to tell us what California has been able to accomplish with the exemption and what SB 71 will do ..read more
SPUR | | Ideas Action for a Better City
2M ago
How SF Can Make the Most of Its Opportunity to Streamline Boards and Commissions Earlier this year, SPUR published a report recommending that San Francisco define the purpose and role of its many commissions and reduce their overall number. The passage of Proposition E sets this work in motion. To ensure an outcome that better supports policymaking, SPUR proposes five steps to a data-driven, deliberative public process ..read more
SPUR | | Ideas Action for a Better City
2M ago
California’s Largest Pedestrian Project Expands the Vision of a SPUR-Led Climate Adaptation Plan San Francisco voters recently passed a SPUR-cosponsored measure to realize the largest pedestrian project in California’s history. The permanent promenade along a two-mile stretch of the coastal highway expands the vision of SPUR’s 2012 Ocean Beach Master Plan, the core elements of which the California Coastal Commission just approved. The win: a resilient public coastline offering community benefits ..read more
SPUR | | Ideas Action for a Better City
2M ago
Smoothing the Transition to Heat Pumps, Part 3: State-Level Legislation As the Bay Area phases out sales of gas water heaters and gas furnaces, property owners will need to install zero-pollution, high-efficiency electric heat pump devices in buildings when the existing devices fail. But the current process is complicated and expensive. In this installment of our series on improving the process, we explore state-level action to mandate, incentivize, guide, and resource simplified permitting at the local level ..read more
SPUR | | Ideas Action for a Better City
2M ago
A New Regional Approach to Shoreline Resilience Bay Area jurisdictions on the shoreline are now required to develop sea level rise adaptation plans as part of a regionally coordinated approach managed by the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission. SPUR participated in an advisory group for the commission’s soon-to-be-adopted Regional Shoreline Adaptation Plan. With the passage of California Proposition 4, local sea level rise planning efforts could soon benefit from bond funding ..read more
SPUR | | Ideas Action for a Better City
2M ago
Harnessing Local Support for Transit as National Uncertainty Deepens Pandemic relief funds for public transit are running out, and the funding environment for transit is likely to worsen under the incoming Trump administration and Republican-controlled congress. While regional consensus on a potential future ballot measure to fund transit has been elusive, finding support for additional funding here in the Bay Area is more critical than ever. SPUR offers five principles for a regional funding measure likely to offer the broadest appeal to legislators and voters ..read more