In October, Shola Olatoye became the first CEO of the San Francisco Downtown Development Corporation (DDC), a nonprofit organization formed in early 2025 to raise and deploy private investment to transform downtown San Francisco. The DDC is evaluating options to create a long-term entity with regulatory and financing capacity to play a greater role in downtown’s economic vitality. On the heels of our policy brief Reinventing Downtown, we spoke with Olatoye about the DDC’s vision, partnerships, and priorities for downtown.

The League of Women Voters Oakland and SPUR co-facilitated Mayor Barbara Lee’s Charter Reform Working Group over the past six months. The collaborative process engaged more than 750 Oakland residents through public meetings and listening sessions, conducted over 60 interviews with officials and experts, and collected 433 survey responses plus written comments. Residents expressed frustration with unclear accountability and called for structural changes. The working group has released its final report and ultimately recommends adopting a strong-mayor system with a strengthened City Council.

Faster and more frequent service is earning San Francisco Muni its highest customer rating in decades, but without an additional $307 million in revenue by 2027, it could be forced to cut more than a third of its transit service. SPUR and partners have advised the city on a big piece of the solution: a proposed local parcel tax expected to generate $160 million annually. SPUR digs into the details of the tax.

In December, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors adopted the city’s most ambitious zoning reform in decades. The Family Zoning Plan allows dense multifamily housing to be built in most neighborhoods in order to help address the city’s housing crisis. SPUR led advocacy efforts to ensure the plan met state mandates and addressed housing inequality, as well as facilitating public engagement throughout the process. Here’s what went into getting the plan passed — and what it will do for the city.