Public Life Should Become the Focus of San José's Business-Recovery Strategy
News / As shelter-in-place orders are relaxed, Bay Area cities must balance public health and safety with equitable and creative approaches to economic recovery. SPUR recommends four steps to make public life the focus of San José’s recovery strategy.
COVID-19 Does Not Have to Be the Death of Transit
News / The COVID-19 pandemic presents a profound threat to the future of transit. It’s hard to speculate how the future will play out when the world today looks so different from the one we inhabited just two months ago. But one thing is certain: We will still need transit.
SPUR’s COVID-19 Coverage and Response
News / SPUR is developing recommendations regarding the many policy issues arising in the Bay Area with the outbreak of COVID-19 and shelter-in-place orders. Here are the resources, events, articles, and policy letters SPUR has produced so far.
Sheltering in Place Reveals How Much Parking Dominates Our Cities — and Lives
News / Shelter in place has made it starkly evident just how much space cities allocate to cars and parking. The City of San José is currently considering changes to the amount of parking it requires of new development. All of this makes it a good time to unpack the many ways that parking impacts neighborhoods and quality of life.
Close Off Some Streets — for the Health of the Public
News / The mayors of the region should follow Oakland’s lead and close some streets to through traffic to create space for walking and biking. By making it safer for us to be outside in a socially distant way, “slow streets” help us combat another public health crisis: chronic diseases caused by inactivity. They also equalize the opportunity to be outside for communities that lack open space.
Bay Area COVID-19 Housing Resources
News / Homebuilders, residents, housing advocates, city staff and elected officials across the Bay Area are working to understand the fluid and challenging circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic and shelter-in-place orders. SPUR and partner groups have created a database of up-to-date information and resources about finding and staying in housing, planning, construction and more.
The Magic of Empty Streets
News / Writing in The New York Times , SPUR's Allison Arieff reflects on the opportunity COVID-19 presents to fix our cities: "Ultimately, what we really need to figure out is how the world gets put back together. Our new COVID-19 reality shows that behavior can change. It is also, however, making it glaringly apparent how poorly existing systems (and places) have been working for most."
This Crisis Is an Opportunity to Build a Stronger and More Affordable Region
News / The COVID pandemic has highlighted a fundamental truth: Housing insecurity is a threat to our society — both at the height of the market and during crises like this one. By understanding what caused Bay Area housing prices to escalate over the past decade, and how that changed who can and can’t afford to live here, the region can make a course correction.
How Policymakers Can Keep Food Flowing and on the Table During This Pandemic
News / Only a couple of weeks into shelter-in-place orders, COVID-19's impact on the economy is crashing down on us. To keep food flowing and avoid historic levels of hunger, SPUR recommends 14 steps that policymakers at the local, state and federal level can, and should, take immediately.
Bail Out People and the Planet, but Don’t Bail Out Polluters
News / Congress is considering an almost two trillion dollar relief package to help those impacted by COVID-19 and jumpstart the economy. As part of this stimulus package, the Trump Administration is considering a multi-billion dollar bailout for Big Oil and Big Coal. Instead, Congress should use this stimulus to lay the foundations for shared economic prosperity founded in a clean and restorative economy.
The Best Response to COVID-19 Is to Exercise Our Collective Action Muscle
News / The COVID-19 pandemic is teaching us something extraordinarily important: We are part of a collective whole and our individual actions determine the health of that whole. This is an opportunity to develop our understanding of our interdependence and exercise our collective action muscle. To do this effectively, there are practices we can put in place right now, even before we begin post-pandemic rebuilding.
2020 SPUR Impact Awards: Senator Jim Beall Creates Solutions to California's Toughest Problems
News / The 2020 SPUR Impact Awards recognize outstanding job performance by public sector leaders in Santa Clara County. This year’s ceremony recognized Senator Jim Beall for his three decades of public service during which he worked on legislation to address some of California's toughest issues, including transportation infrastructure and affordable housing.
2020 SPUR Impact Awards: Ed Solis Transforms Streets Into Public Space for Everyone
News / The 2020 SPUR Impact Awards recognize outstanding job performance by public sector leaders in Santa Clara County. This year’s ceremony recognized Ed Solis for his work expands the Viva CalleSJ Open Streets Program; he utilizes the city's largest public space--the streets--to bring communities together.
2020 SPUR Impact Awards: Rebecca Garcia Helps Provide Housing and Shelter for All
News / The 2020 SPUR Impact Awards recognize outstanding job performance by public sector leaders in Santa Clara County. This year’s ceremony recognized Rebecca Garcia for her leadership on issues of affordable housing and homelessness for the City of Morgan Hill. Ms. Garcia built cross-sector partnerships to develop unique solutions to the full spectrum of housing needs.
2020 SPUR Impact Awards: SJSU's CommUniverCity Team Partners with City Residents to Support Community-Based Planning
News / The 2020 SPUR Impact Awards recognize outstanding job performance by public sector leaders in Santa Clara County. This year's ceremony recognized San Jose State University's CommUniverCity team. CommUniverCity is a multi-sector partnership between SJSU, the City of San José and local residents to support community-based planning and advocacy.
2020 SPUR Impact Awards: Building Reach Code Team Helps San José Go Carbon Neutral
News / The 2020 SPUR Impact Awards recognize outstanding job performance by public sector leaders in Santa Clara County. The 2020 SPUR Impact Awards recognize outstanding job performance by public sector leaders in Santa Clara County. This year’s ceremony recognized the City of San José’s Building Reach Code team that developed new building requirements to advance the city’s climate action plan and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Safety First
SPUR Report The Bay Area is both a treasured place and a hazardous environment where flooding, wildfires and earthquakes are common today. These hazards are likely to become more frequent, larger and more damaging as climate change puts the region’s people, built environment and natural habitats at risk. As a region exposed to multiple hazards, how can we manage for all of them at the same time?
Physically Distant but Still Together: How Cities in the Bay Area and Beyond Will Survive the Coronavirus
News / Thanks to COVID-19, life in the Bay Area is very different than it was only a week ago. Our cities have a lot to learn from the current situation, and a lot to teach as well. The following are some lessons that we at SPUR are taking from the pandemic, which we hope will help guide future thinking and policymaking.
Let’s Fulfill the Vision of High-Speed Rail
News / California is long overdue for a world-class transportation system that can support a growing economy, help expand economic opportunity to long-underserved areas of the state and support our ambitious carbon reduction priorities. The high-speed rail network currently under construction in the Central Valley can deliver on those bold objectives, but we must remain committed to fully funding its completion.