San Francisco City Hall lit up red, white and blue during election season

Good Government

Our goal: Support a high-functioning public sector that serves the collective good.

SPUR’s Five-Year Priorities:

• Provide voters in San Francisco, San Jose and Oakland with in-depth analysis and recommendations for all ballot measures at the state, regional and city level.

• In each of our policy areas and cities, develop the government capacity necessary to address the region’s most pressing challenges.

 

Read our policy agenda

SPUR Voter Guide

The SPUR Voter Guide

The SPUR Voter Guide helps voters understand the issues they will face in the voting booth. We focus on outcomes, not ideology, providing objective analysis on which measures will deliver real solutions.

SPUR Event

Good Government Awards

The Good Government Awards honor outstanding managers working for the City and County of San Francisco, recognizing them for their leadership, vision and ability to make a difference in city government and in the community.

SPUR Report

Back in the Black

San José has the highest median household income of any major city in the country, but years of budget cuts and staffing reductions have left the city in a precarious position. SPUR and Working Partnerships USA explore how San Jose can bolster its resources and deliver high-quality public services.

SPUR Event

SPUR Impact Awards

The Impact Awards Luncheon, honors the outstanding contributions by employees of city and county governments, public agencies and nonprofit organizations in Santa Clara County. The awards celebrate significant accomplishments in the areas of housing, transportation, placemaking and urban design, community advocacy, and sustainability and resilience.

Updates and Events


In Defense of Ranked-Choice Voting

News /
Professor Corey Cook’s article in the December 2011 Urbanist assesses San Francisco’s ranked-choice voting (RCV) system in the 2011 mayoral election. His opening statement concludes that “by most objective measures the system held up rather well: The election results were clear and uncontroversial, individual ballots contained fewer errors than in past contests and most voters chose to participate fully by ranking their first-, second- and…

California's Latest Experiment in Democracy: Deliberative Polling

News /
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?

Prioritizing Neighborhood Schools

Urbanist Article
WHAT HAPPENED The San Francisco Board of Education adopted a new policy for the 2011–12 school year that again attempts to address community concerns and the academic needs of students. The new system gives greater weight to those applying to a neighborhood school, with priority given to students living in census tracts with low academic performance to provide increased opportunity. WHAT IT MEANS Even…

Ranked Choice Voting

Urbanist Article
WHAT HAPPENED San Francisco’s first competitive mayoral election using ranked-choice voting is on the books, and by most objective measures the system held up rather well: The election results were clear and uncontroversial, individual ballots contained fewer errors than in past contests and most voters chose to participate fully by ranking their first-, se cond- and third-choice candidates. WHAT IT MEANS Despite these results…

The 2011 Election's Real Winner? Getting Back to Basics

News /
Outside of the much-discussed mayor’s race, there were some important items on the ballot this year, and voters appear to have ignored the noise and focused on the business at hand. Here's our take on the election results, and an analysis of how SPUR's recommendations fared in the final count.

What San Franciscans Need to Know About Ranked-Choice Voting

News /
In the weeks leading up to the November 8 election, San Franciscans find themselves up to their necks in news articles (from the Chronicle , the Mercury News and even The Economist ) about our ranked-choice voting (RCV) system and how the tallying of voters’ first, second, and third preferences might affect the outcome of the mayoral election. In principle, ranked-choice voting is simple: If…