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SPUR Publications

SPUR articles, research, policy recommendations, and our magazine, The Urbanist

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Charging Ahead: How the Bay Area Is Leading the Country on Electric Vehicles

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At SPUR we promote transit policies that help people get around without cars, but we also recognize that there will always be some amount of driving and have advocated for policies that will move us toward a future with more electric vehicles. A recent EV event hosted by the Center for Sustainable Energy gave an update on how the EV transition is progressing.

Where to Put the Downtown San Jose BART Station: Go West

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In the next few months, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority will make big decisions about where and how BART will come to San Jose. One of the big decisions is where the downtown San Jose station should be located. Of the two options on the table, SPUR strongly supports the west downtown option. Here's why.

What 2016 Meant for Bay Area Cities

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So much happened in 2016. It was a year that saw major progress, along with major setbacks. And the outcome of the national election raised the stakes even higher. Here’s a look at the highs and lows — and where SPUR will be focusing its energies in the new year.

Lessons for Diridon: Revitalizing Toronto’s Union Station

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Over the next few months, public agencies will be working together to set the remaking of Diridon Station in motion. During this critical period, it’s important to be thinking boldly about what’s possible. Toronto’s primary transit hub, the historic Union Station, is nearing completion of a major revitalization project scheduled for completion in 2018. Its context and complexity make it a good parallel to Diridon.

After the Ghost Ship

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The fire at the Ghost Ship artists collective in the Fruitvale district was the most lethal fire in Oakland’s history and the worst in the state since the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire. How can property owners and the City of Oakland make places like the Ghost Ship safe without making them so expensive that they cease to be affordable?

VTA’s Big Move to Grow Transit Ridership

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What kinds of changes can we make to encourage more people to use transit more of the time? The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority will be asking questions like this as it launches the Next Network, a system-wide redesign intended to grow ridership, improve its fiscal footing and serve BART.

How to Spend the Bay Area’s New Transportation Dollars

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Bay Area voters have approved more than $10 billion in new transportation funding. The majority of the new revenue is for projects and goals SPUR supports, but if we have learned anything over decades of being involved in urban transportation, it’s that well-intentioned and well-funded projects can still fail if we don’t get the details right. Here’s what we’ll be watching closely.

Yes in My Backyard: More In-Law Units in San Jose

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Last week San Jose became the latest Bay Area city to update its in-law unit ordinances to better serve the need for housing solutions. Once illegal in many cities, this simple way to add more housing — create an additional unit in the backyard, basement, attic or garage — has become a welcome tool in the fight to make urban housing affordable.

Plan Bay Area Reveals the Need to Change Regional Planning Tools

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The latest update to Plan Bay Area is now underway — and its findings have revealed some troubling flaws in the planning tools we have for managing our region’s biggest challenges: making housing affordable and maintaining our transportation infrastructure. Now that these issues have been made apparent, it’s time to ask what we should be doing differently.

Where We Go From Here — and How You Can Help

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Regardless of what our nation’s new leadership will mean for the issues SPUR works on, here in the Bay Area we are moving ahead, taking dramatic steps to make the world better. SPUR is tackling the big issues our cities face, from fighting climate change to putting economic prosperity in everyone's reach — but we can't do it without your help.

2016 Silver SPUR Awards: How Rose Pak Empowered a Community and Transformed the City

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The late Rose Pak championed San Francisco’s Asian-American community for more than four decades. Her life work of building the community’s social, cultural and political influence empowered and gave voice to Chinese-Americans in San Francisco politics. Among her legacies are the many neighborhood nonprofits which prospered through her support, as well as the Central Subway station.

2016 Silver SPUR Awards: How Mark Buell Preserves Open Space For Future Generations

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Mark Buell is the president of the Recreation and Parks Commission and chair of the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, Buell has sought to ensure Bay Area parkland remains accessible and protected for future generations. His legacies include the $35 million restoration of Crissy Field, the Muir Woods Visitor Center and Cavallo Point.

2016 Silver SPUR Awards: How Ira Hirschfield Transforms Philanthropy to Benefit All

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Ira S. Hirschfield is the longtime head of the Evelyn & Walter Haas, Jr. Fund, supporting causes that embody fairness, equality and opportunity for all. He is one of four individuals recognized at the 2016 Silver SPUR Awards, held on November 17, for his achievements which have made San Francisco and the Bay Area a better place to live and work.

2016 Silver SPUR Awards: How Kimberly Bryant Creates Next-Gen Tech Leaders

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2016 Silver SPUR honoree Kimberly Bryant founded Black Girls Code in 2011, with the mission to bridge the digital divide and change how we educate girls of color about science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Under Bryant's leadership, the organization has expanded to include 11 chapters in the U.S. and 1 in Johannesburg, South Africa; serving more than 6,000 girls.

Bay Area Election Results: A Lot to Celebrate

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This election, Bay Area voters chose to make critical investments in transportation, infrastructure and affordable housing. And in San Francisco they rejected a series of harmful measures that would have undone years of good government reforms.

What the Presidential Election Means for the Bay Area

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The presidential vote was about many things, but it was in part a protest against what the Bay Area stands for. Our embrace of diversity. Our high taxes and social programs. Our willingness to challenge traditional norms of gender. Our love of cities. What do those values mean — and what should we be doing to support them going forward?