Keeping the Water On
Policy Brief Due to COVID-19, Governor Newsom has issued a moratorium on shutting off water service when people can’t pay their bills. But eventually, customers who have fallen behind will face either paying a large lump sum or losing water service. SPUR proposes a combination of solutions that can prevent shutoffs for vulnerable families while preserving the financial health of water agencies.
Why California Has Too Much Parking and How It’s Making Climate Change and the Housing Crisis Worse
News / Laws that require new buildings to provide a minimum number of parking spaces are undermining California’s investment in affordable housing, public transit and environmental resiliency. A recent SPUR Digital Discourse discussed the state’s role in mitigating the over-parking crisis.
Building the Future Together: Our Goals for SPUR’s Work in Oakland
News / Incoming Oakland Director Ronak Davé Okoye shares her goals and vision for SPUR’s work in Oakland. Through a participatory process that allows a cross-section of people to imagine and develop ideas together, we can get to better outcomes for Oaklanders: more housing across income and type, authentic relationships between residents and the public and private sectors, responsive systems, shared prosperity.
Expanding Healthy Food Incentives Increases Community Wealth
News / For years now, research has shown that healthy food incentive programs, like SPUR’s Double Up Food Bucks , improve health. What new research shows, in a more comprehensive way than ever before, is that healthy food incentive programs also improve community wealth.
The Bigger Picture: Seven Ideas for Downtown San José
SPUR Report SPUR’s Bigger Picture series proposes ideas for key locations in San Francisco, San José and Oakland. Each provides an opportunity to tackle major regional challenges through local planning processes. Our first report looks at the western side of downtown San José, where a major rail station expansion, a park re-envisioning process and a record number of proposed developments are signaling big changes for the neighborhood.