With new construction heating up in Oakland, local groups are asking developers to pay for “community benefits” beyond what the city requires. But as Uber backs away from its plans for downtown, Oaklanders should beware that pushing too hard may lose the city the most important community benefit of all: the long-term increase in tax rolls that the city desperately needs.

The Bay Area has more than two dozen public transit operators, but few people use more than one service — and many don’t use them at all. Getting more people onto buses and trains will mean making it easier for potential riders to understand what services are available. A new partnership is looking at how a user-friendly regional transit map might help bridge the gap.

How much affordable housing should San Francisco require market-rate developers to build? A new study offers recommendations, and city supervisors will soon vote on a permanent requirement. The question they’ll face next is whether to stand by recommendations grounded in technical analysis or yield to political pressures to approve a higher requirement that sounds good but could backfire.

In January, two new laws were introduced in Congress to limit public information on the racial makeup of communities and the race of those struggling to afford housing. These proposals could impact how the U.S. Census collects data. In effect, they would blot out our ability to measure institutional racism — or track our progress to reverse it.