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May 17, 2011The Numbers: Sea Level Rise Will Expose 270,000 People in the Bay Area to Flood Risk BY MICAH HILTTomorrow night, we open "Adapt!" an exhibition on the coming effects of climate change in the Bay Area. The show highlights key points from a SPUR policy report released earlier this month, which explains the kinds of changes we can expect to our climate — and what we need to do now to prepare. As our report explains, efforts to slow down greenhouse gas emissions have so far failed, meaning some changes to our climate are now unavoidable. One of the most profound effects...
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May 13, 2011The Numbers: 30.3% of San Francisco Households Do Not Have a Vehicle MICAH HILTCompare this to the national picture: only 8.7% of U.S. household don't have cars. While we're certainly ahead of most parts of the country on carfree living, this still means that more than two thirds of San Francisco households do own a car -- and a higher percentage of San Franciscans, 38.9%, use their cars to drive alone to work. The San Francisco Municipal Transit Agency recently released its 2011 Climate Action Strategy, a plan to substantially reduce the city...
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May 12, 2011Good Government Awards: How Cheryl Nashir Increased Retail Sales at SFO -BY COLE ARMSTRONG AND ELIZABETH HOEHNKE SPUR’s 31st annual Good Government Awards, held earlier this year, honored five City of San Francisco employees and teams who have performed exceptionally, becoming models for other agencies and cities around the country. Cheryl Nashir received an award in recognition of her leadership and vision in making San Francisco Airport a vibrant marketplace and increasing revenue. Since joining the Airport in 2006 she has developed and managed a dynamic mix of food and beverage, retail stores,...
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May 10, 2011The Numbers: SF Bike Rental Revenue Up 2,000% Since 1998 BY PETER ENZMINGERSPUR has made the case that an expanded bike network gives residents a safer option to add exercise and subtract carbon from their transportation diet. Better bike infrastructure would benefit tourism as well — although visitors are already discovering the pleasures of biking San Francisco: in 1998, bike rental businesses in San Francisco had combined earnings of $500,000. Thirteen years later, that figure has ballooned to $10 million, according to a post on Streetsblog. These numbers,...
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May 9, 2011From Port City to Today: San Francisco's Layered Waterfront History BY GRETCHEN HILYARD All eyes are on San Francisco's waterfront, as the city prepares for the 34th America's Cup, to be held in San Francisco in 2013. The recent release of Port City: The History and Transformation of the Port of San Francisco, 1848-2010, provides the opportunity to look back at the long and varied evolution of the eastern edge of the city as we envision its future. This Wednesday, May 11, Port City author Michael Corbett and San Francisco Architectural Heritage’s Mike Buhler will...
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May 9, 2011The Weekly Snapshot: Seattle Looks to Cottages for Affordable Housing BY ANIKA JESIIn an effort to densify single-family neighborhoods and increase the affordable housing stock in the city, Seattle has begun a new rezoning project to allow homeowners to build stand-alone cottages in the yards behind their residences. These cottages, or "detached accessory dwelling units (DADU)," present an attractive alternative for housing Seattle's growing population without expanding further into the forests of the Pacific Northwest, or redesigning many of the...
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May 9, 2011Why We Need to Start Planning for Climate Change — NowOn May 4 SPUR released a major report, "Climate Change Hits Home," that lays out what the Bay Area must do to start preparing for the coming effects of climate change. This project, a multi-year effort by a team of top climate scientists and government leaders, represents a turning point for SPUR. We have long worked to stop climate change, but now we are also addressing the reality that some climate change is inevitable, despite our best efforts. Even if we stopped producing...
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May 3, 2011The Joys of Density: a Blogging Bird Reminds Us Why We Love Cities By Karen SteenThe back window of our office here at SPUR looks out on a building with an entertaining tenant, a green Pacific Parrotlet who has free range of his studio apartment and an impressive collection of plastic toys. After observing his activities, we became curious about our feathered neighbor and Tweeted him the old-fashioned way. We taped a note up in the window:Hi green bird!We think you’re awesome.What’s your name?He responded quickly with his own sign:Hello SPURI am Rico, a 7-month-...
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May 2, 2011Weekly Snapshot: How Adaptive Reuse Can Catalyze Communities BY ANIKA JESIAdaptive reuse has long been praised for being a sustainable form of development that reduces waste, uses less energy, and scales down on the consumption of building materials. However, beyond these environmental benefits, reuse projects may also have the ability to foster a greater sense of community and provide a springboard for the economic growth of a neighborhood. Alan Pullman from architectural firm Studio One Eleven talks about his recent project in Long Beach, CA, where the...
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April 26, 2011Which Transportation Projects Will We Give up on to Help Reduce Emissions? BY STEPHEN TUTomorrow, April 27, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) will vote on a final Committed Funds and Projects Policy for Plan Bay Area. This policy mouthful is an important step in defining which regional transportation projects will receive funding and which ones must undergo more thorough analysis. The vote will determine how many transportation projects will be scrutinized for their impact on greenhouse gases, driving, economic growth and other factors. Affected projects in could...
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