People walking in San Jose's San Pedro Square

The SPUR Annual Report

Learn about our impact

new multifamily housing under construction

Permitting Progress

How charter reform can help San Francisco speed delivery of housing, transit, new businesses, and more

Photo of Muni bus driving down Geary in SF

Taking Muni's Vitals

Data show the agency performs well compared with peers across the country

Illustration of a crane stacking cargo containers that say "sound fiscal policy," "structural change" and "economic growth"

Balancing Oakland's Budget

Closing the city’s structural deficit to move toward fiscal solvency and economic growth

photo of San Francisco with orange skies from wildfire smoke in September 2020

Shared Risk, Shared Resilience

New governance structures for community wildfire resilience

Building storefronts in downtown San Jose

Getting In on the Ground Floor

Activation strategies for downtown San José

No Question: California Is in Fiscal Crisis

News / October 18, 2012

Three California cities have filed for bankruptcy protection since June. Since 2008, local governments in California have shrunk by nearly 190,000 employees and property values over the same period declined by 21.3 percent. What comes next? The Institute for Government Studies at the University of California at Berkeley convened an impressive panel of experts last month to move that debate forward.

PARK(ing) Day and the Legacy of Iterative Placemaking

News / October 10, 2012

On September 21 SPUR celebrated PARK(ing) Day with an original form of alchemy: transforming asphalt into mini-golf and pizza. The annual event, celebrated in more than 160 cities, invites the public to reimagine metered parking spots as new types of urban space— a temporary disruption that invites the community to inhabit and new spaces and give shape to the permanent solution.

A Policy Agenda for the Sharing Economy

Urbanist Article / October 9, 2012

From carsharing to clothes-swapping to couchsurfing, collaborative consumption is not only reinventing what we consume but how we consume it.But as it moves out of infancy and toward greater adoption and acceptance, it’s time to look at the ways policy might help facilitate its growth — and how government might help, or hinder, its progress.

November 2012 Voter Guide

Voter Guide / October 1, 2012

It doesn't happen every election, but this November some of SPUR's top priorities appear on the ballot. See how we weighed in on: the Gross Receipts Tax, the Housing Trust Fund, the Parks Bond and four more city measures.

SPUR Supports Housing Trust Fund Legislation

Advocacy Letter / July 13, 2012

SPUR strongly supports the Affordable Housing Trust Fund and Housing Production Incentive Program. We believe this measure will support the production of housing at all income levels by creating a housing trust fund for affordable housing and incentives to support the production of market rate and below-market rate housing.