Governance
We believe: The public sector can and should serve the collective good.
• Improve government’s capacity to provide services and address challenges effectively.
• Support voter engagement.
Our Goals
SPUR Report
Designed to Serve
San Francisco’s governance structure has evolved to distribute authority and maximize oversight. As a result, policies don’t always meet the needs of the people they intend to serve. SPUR outlines how San Francisco can choose to design a better system.
SPUR Voter Guide
The SPUR Voter Guide
The SPUR Voter Guide helps voters understand the issues they will face in the voting booth. We focus on outcomes, not ideology, providing objective analysis on which measures will deliver real solutions.
SPUR Report
Making Government Work
Many of the challenges Oakland faces are worsened by its unusual government structure, which makes it harder for the mayor and other officials to do their jobs well. SPUR explores how the city can adapt its governance structure to better serve Oaklanders.
Updates and Events
Good Government Awards 2019: Diane Oshima Helps Transform San Francisco's Waterfront
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The 2019 Good Government Awards, held on March 6, recognized outstanding job performance of those serving the City and County of San Francisco. The ceremony honored Diane Oshima for leading the process to build a world-class public waterfront.
Good Government Awards 2019: Kate Conner Creates Innovative Ways to Approve Housing
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The 2019 Good Government Awards, held on March 6, recognized outstanding job performance of those serving the City and County of San Francisco. The ceremony honored Kate Conner for creating innovative new avenues to approve housing with unprecedented speed and certainty.
Why You Need to Vote No on the Gas Tax Repeal
News /
Last year's passage of state transportation funding bill SB1 represented a monumental win for California and the Bay Area. But this victory may have been short-lived: Proposition 6, a ballot measure to repeal SB1, will go to California voters in November. The proposed repeal is a vote against safe streets, roads and infrastructure in favor of greater subsidies for driving.
How to Be a Local Government Change Maker
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Since 2008, the City Halls Fellows program has placed college graduates in local governments around the U.S. At a recent SPUR forum, former fellows and city employees discussed their experiences and advice on what it takes to make change in local government — both how to have impact as a citizen and how to make innovative changes in government from the inside out.
Should Oakland Tax Vacant Properties?
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According to a recent analysis of data from the Alameda County Assessor’s Office and the City of Oakland, there are approximately 4,000 vacant parcels in Oakland. In a move that could prompt owners of these properties to build on them — and in the process generate revenue for purposes including homeless services — Oakland is considering imposing a tax on vacant properties.
San Francisco's Next Mayor
Policy Brief
By any measure, the previous decade has been a period of dramatic change and growth for San Francisco. But for many, this unprecedented prosperity has failed to address — and has even contributed to — the many challenges the city still faces. SPUR offer a platform of specific policy goals and practical solutions for the next mayor and the city for the years ahead.