Photo: Darius Riley | HOUR VOYSES
Q: How Are You Reimagining the Cities You Serve?
SPUR asked community leaders how they are approaching today’s need to think differently about the future of the Bay Area.
SPUR invited leaders and practitioners who work in our policy areas to answer the question: “How are you thinking differently in order to reimagine your work?” Below, our respondents talk about the shifts in mindset and approach that have been needed as they make progress on everything from workforce training to sea level rise adaptation.
Until now, the questions we have been asking about building electrification have been: how can we test ideas and grow adoption? Now the questions are: how can we build durable solutions, make building electrification work for everyone, and protect the most vulnerable? We are moving from convincing a small group to empowering everyone and to match our level of commitment to the increased level of ambition.
Zoe Elizabeth, Deputy Director
Decarbonization Programs and Policy Silicon Valley Clean Energy
In an era where technology blurs the lines between physical and digital spaces, the new ‘city’ requires a different kind of thinking, planning, and imagination. Equity cannot exist without access. As city services and civic life are enveloped by technology, paywalls, forms, fees, applications, and websites are no longer instruments of commerce but also entry points to civic life and community.
Mai-Ling Garcia, Director, Emerging Technologies and AI
Bloomberg Centers for Government Excellence and Public Innovation
Governor Newsom’s goal to serve 500,000 apprentices by 2029 aims to encourage employers to be creators and not just consumers of talent. We want to shift the mindset of employers in how they think about talent, and of educators in how they prepare people for the workforce. Integrating youth and degreed apprenticeship programs into our education system can align educational outcomes with employer needs. In California, we uplift workers by including them in apprenticeship committees.
Adele Burnes, Deputy Chief
Division of Apprenticeship Standards, California Department of Industrial Relations
A Harvard University study about economic opportunity over time shows that our lives are not just dictated by race and class but also by the health of our community. When we live in a thriving community — with good schools, jobs, nice parks, and social networks — we act on the sense that success is achievable. We need to work every day to provide hope through our work to create and sustain great places for all.
Ramie Dare, Director, Real Estate Development
Mercy Housing
Community members should help shape city proposals and developer projects. Nuestra Casa is working to ensure community members meaningful participation in the SAFER Bay project to advance flood protection and recreation along the Bay shore. We prioritize community education to enable local leaders to advocate for their communities.
Jennifer Adams, Environmental Justice Senior Program Manager
Nuestra Casa de East Palo Alto
At Block, we’ve promoted equitable economic participation by supporting Black-owned businesses and underserved communities. By providing access to technology tools, technical expertise, training, and transit-oriented commercial spaces, we’re bridging the gap for historically marginalized groups here in Oakland — a city we’re proud to be a part of.
Ahmed Ali Bob, Global Social Impact Lead
Block, Inc.
The passage of Measure W enacts a reimagined vision of how ethics agencies like ours build public trust. Oakland’s Democracy Dollars program will expand the Public Ethics Commissioners’ role from an independent watchdog to an agency that engages directly with residents to promote more inclusive participation in our local democracy. The program will expand possibilities for who can run for city office and will incentivize candidates to engage with Oakland residents regardless of their wealth and prior political involvement.
Suzanne Doran, Program Manager, Democracy Dollars
City of Oakland
Reparative economic policymaking requires public accounting of past harm. Most cultural practices expect that repair and healing happen in community, not behind closed doors in isolation. Imagining something new to address the deep inequalities that don’t lend themselves to simple solutions might actually mean remembering ancestral practices, not constantly seeking improvements of what has already been designed.
Brittni Chicuata, Director, Economic Rights
San Francisco Human Rights Commission
We can build an East Oakland where Black joy, resilience, and power flourish by centering justice, healing, and empowerment. This transformation necessitates a shift in mindset from problem solving to solution building, from top-down control to community- led initiatives, and from short-term gains to long-term sustainability. By working collaboratively and strategically, we can create a legacy of hope and opportunity for future generations.
Carolyn Johnson, Chief Executive Officer
Black Cultural Zone Community Development Corporation
I’ve seen how systems create the conditions that allow discrimination, and I understand why Black, Indigenous, Asian Pacific Islander, and Latinx communities don’t expect government to do equity work. Re-imagining cities that are fair and just requires a willingness to see the full humanity of others who are not like you and to create systems that serve all of us well. Make dreams come true by imbedding equity in all your city does. Oakland is doing it, and you can, too!
Jacque Larrainzar, Race and Equity Analyst
City of Oakland Department of Race and Equity
Tackling sea level rise requires close collaboration across agencies and levels of government. The Port of San Francisco Waterfront Resilience Program/US Army Corps of Engineers San Francisco Flood Study involves two very different approaches. The Corps’ methodology is rigorously quantitative, but citizens expect deep, transparent, and values-driven public engagement. We have to work with the Corps’ approach or lose out on billions of federal dollars, but if we don’t meet public expectations for an inclusive and visionary process, the whole thing could be dead on arrival. Bridging these different worlds has yielded real innovation in the way the Corps selects equitable solutions. Local communities and agencies appreciate honest engagement within a constrained process.
Benjamin Grant, Senior Planner
Sitelab Urban Studio
The Port of San Francisco manages 7.5 miles of bayfront property. Doing it success- fully means turning to the community and our partners for advice and alignment. After 10 years of community design, we delivered Crane Cove Park, one of the city’s most successful new parks. The port is investing in big and small ways along the southern waterfront, from meaningful interpretation signage and beautification to electrification of our trucking fleet and manufacturing, fabrication for offshore wind, and resil- iency planning.
Elaine Forbes, Executive Director
Port of San Francisco
Through the Oakland Alameda Adaptation Committee, we are rethinking the future of the shoreline by working collaboratively with neighboring jurisdictions, state and federal partners, and impacted communities. We are emphasizing nature-based solutions, habitat restoration, recreation and shoreline access, and innovative management practices that will ensure the shoreline evolves along with sea level rise as a place for everyone to enjoy now and in the future.
Danielle Mieler, Sustainability and Resilience Manager
City of Alameda