SPUR Publications

As the economy struggles to recover in the Bay Area, what are the prospects for city revenues in San Francisco? City budget staffers and experts on the local economy gathered at the 2012 Annual Economic Briefing, hosted by SPUR's Municipal Fiscal Advisory Committee, to discuss regional trends and projections for the city’s major revenue streams. The upshot: Our experts are starting to see some good news on the horizon. Unemployment has finally begun to decline, and San Francisco appears to be poised for revenue growth.

Redevelopment agencies across the state closed their doors on February 1, marking the end of an era for planning in California. How are San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose dismantling their agencies? What’s going to happen to the on-going projects and existing assets held by redevelopment agencies? And will any new planning tools emerge to do some of the work previously done by redevelopment agencies?

Can you make a living selling what you grow in a city? That’s a question a number of urban farming entrepreneurs have been working to answer in the past few years, and initial numbers are beginning to become public. The short answer is … maybe. For many new urban-farming businesses that have started in the past couple of years, it may be too soon to…

Ocean 海灘總體規劃建議草案 在過去的一年，三藩市規劃及城市研究協會 (The San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association, SPUR) 正與公共機構、社區人士、權益關注者和其他持份者一同 工作，為 Ocean 海灘總體規劃建議草案提供建議。這份總體規劃建議的目標旨在應對 Ocean 海灘一系列複雜的問題，當中包括基建、消閑娛樂、開放空間、瀕危的動植物、 以及在將來的可持續性等。在一系列讓公眾參與的研討會中，每一個備受關注的領域都已 被清楚解釋和作出討論。 最終建議包括以下六項重要舉措 : 重要舉措 1 改變位於動物園後 Great 高速公路在 Sloat 大街和 Skyline 街之間的路線 重要舉措 2 引入多用途海岸保護 / 修復 / 入口系統 重要舉措 3 為管理設施的用地而減少 Great 高速公路的寬度 重要舉措 4 中段海灘沙丘的收復 重要舉措 5 為金門公園通往海灘提供更好的連接 重要舉措 6 改善 Balboa 街以北的自行車道及行人道 要閱讀整個 Ocean 海灘的總體規劃，可瀏覽網頁 : http://www.spur.org/ocean-beach 。 歡迎公眾提供意見，如果想知道如何去提出您的意見，可到網頁 http://www.spur.org/ocean-beach 查看相關的指示。請將您的意見在 2 月 29 日之前提 交。

Members-only walking tours are one of the great benefits of joining SPUR . Tour leaders such as planners, architects, elected officials and other insiders spend a few hours with us, sharing their expert lens on our region. Want to know what's in store for 2012? Our new calendar of spring tours and other events is now online. For a peek at the kind of insight…

Thank you very much for your interest in the Ocean Beach Master Plan and for your help reviewing this draft document. The Ocean Beach Master Plan process was built around public and stakeholder input. The main purpose of the document review is for you to confirm the message and content is consistent with the past 12 months of discussion, input and alternatives development. The draft document review…

How can a rich historical space welcome visitors and new community members while ensuring that it continues to work for current residents? This question is central to the future of San Francisco’s Chinatown. Stockton Street, one of the busiest corridors in the city, must decide how to accommodate additional growth and change in the coming years. To address these concerns while maintaining affordable housing, transit equity, pedestrian safety and a sense of community, SPUR and the Chinatown Community Development Center are undertaking a re-envisioning process for Stockton Street. Join us!

On December 20, the California Supreme Court upheld the legislature’s elimination of redevelopment agencies. Each city now needs to figure out how to do what has been traditionally been done with redevelopment funds. What does this surprising turn of events mean for the urbanist agenda in California?

The Draft Ocean Beach Master Plan will be available for public review on January 27, 2012. It will be available for download here. The public will have until February 29 to provide comments and feedback on the draft plan. The Final Plan will be available in early March.

Starting a garden or farm in San Francisco just got a little bit easier. Pulling together the most recent changes to city laws, the San Francisco Urban Agriculture Alliance recently released a guide to the regulations for growing and selling food within San Francisco . The guide covers a host of topics including: Finding land Gardening on private versus public land Water access Selling what…

SPUR is pleased to issue a call for applicants for a twelve-week fellowship in the summer of 2012. The Piero N. Patri Fellowship in Urban Design is a hands-on position for a current graduate student or 2010/2011 graduate in urban design, architecture, landscape architecture or a related field. The fellowship provides the opportunity to gain firsthand experience working in the urban design and planning field on a project that will have a positive impact on the city of San Francisco and the Bay Area.

Ever the pioneer in the political process, California is once again experimenting with its democracy, this time with new approach to helping the public understand reform proposals. Conducted earlier this year, the What’s Next California Project is California’s first state-wide deliberative poll, in which a random sample of the population is polled on important public-policy issues, then gathers to discuss them and is polled again. Is this the future of polling?

This is a time of significant flux in the Bay Area’s regional planning landscape. There is a serious proposal in the California State Legislature to change the way the Metropolitan Transportation Commission is governed and increasing talk about whether it and other regional agencies can play a stronger role in economic development.