This year SPUR welcomes 18 new members to our board of directors and our three city advisory boards. These new appointees bring extensive knowledge in planning, housing, transportation, good government, and sustainability and resilience. We look forward to their leadership as we continue our work to make the Bay Area a place where everyone can thrive.

SPUR is cosponsoring two bills inspired by the leadership of cities and counties working to streamline climate-friendly housing construction and residential retrofits. Both bills would dramatically reduce the permitting and inspection barriers encountered in electrification projects. Both represent common-sense reforms that reduce unnecessary bureaucracy, lower household costs, and accelerate decarbonization in the building sector.

BART, Muni, AC Transit, and Caltrain are staring down a fiscal cliff and the potential for drastic service cuts. As campaigns work to place transit funding measures on the November 2026 ballot, voters may be wondering whether these agencies are doing their part to operate more efficiently. A new report highlights more than $1 billion in savings they’ve achieved since 2020 and outlines additional steps they must implement to be eligible for funding.

120 years after the Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fire, the city is still grappling with the safety of buildings constructed before modern seismic safety codes. These older buildings are integral to the city’s identity and economy, but without proactive retrofitting, they pose significant risks to public safety and economic stability in the event of a major earthquake. We talked to SPUR’s Sarah Atkinson about her latest policy brief, which outlines the city’s current seismic safety efforts and vulnerabilities.

SPUR is sponsoring or supporting more than a dozen state bills to reduce housing construction costs and timelines in California. Among them are proposals to enhance affordable homeownership opportunities through condominium construction financing, promote housing construction innovation through factory-built methods, improve development fees transparency, and streamline existing housing approvals.