Issue 546
Oakland
A Downtown For Everyone
Our Vision for Downtown Oakland
Five big ideas for strengthening Oakland's urban center. Excerpted from the SPUR report "A Downtown for Everyone."
Downtown Oakland is poised to take on a more important role in the region. But the future is not guaranteed. SPUR proposes five big ideas for how downtown Oakland can grow while providing benefits to all.
It's Official! SPUR Is a Regional Organization
This change in governance is a major step forward in the vision of SPUR as a regional organization that does deep work in the three major cities of the Bay Area.
SPUR is now operates under new bylaws that legally incorporate our San Jose and Oakland offices, together with San Francisco, into our organizational governance structure. This is the biggest change in SPUR’s 105-year history and a major step forward in the vision of SPUR as a regional organization that does deep work in the three major cities of the Bay Area.
Introducing Alicia John-Baptiste, SPUR’s New Deputy Director
SPUR is pleased to announce Alicia John- Baptiste as its new deputy director. Having held positions as chief of staff of the San Francisco Municipal Transit Agency (2012-2015) and of the San Francisco Planning Department (2005- 2012), she comes to SPUR with a wealth of experience and understanding about just what makes a city run.
Member Profile: Sonja Trauss
In San Francisco, a housing activist takes on the NIMBYs.
Sonja Trauss started San Francisco Bay Area Renters Federation in 2014 to bring together the supporters of dense, tall, fast building, who she was convinced existed but were not connected to each other. The group's mission is to demonstrate that political support for new building does exist by showing up at neighborhood meetings and public hearings to speak in support of new residential development.