Eating fresh fruits and vegetables, is key to health and a high quality of life. But many Bay Area residents struggle to afford these healthy ingredients. SPUR recently hosted a conversation about how to expand access to healthy food by increasing low-income families’ purchasing power in grocery stores and at farmers’ markets.

The Bay Area is changing. We are living in an age of climate change, housing shortages, income inequality, fiscal stress and — soon — driverless cars, trucks and buses. Our local governments will not be able to take on the significant challenges of these times on their own. We need effective — even visionary — regional government to put its resources toward solving them.

Right now, San Jose is the midst of planning three urban villages: the Santana Row/ Valley Fair Urban Village, the Winchester Urban Village and the Stevens Creek Urban Village. SPUR led a walking tour earlier this summer to explore how the urban village plans can use key urban design concepts to create people-friendly places in this growing part of the city.

Jason Roberts just wanted a coffee shop and bike lane in his Dallas neighborhood. But he found that even the simplest streetscape improvements were too expensive or, worse, illegal. So Roberts and his friends got to work with duct tape and stencils. As a result, the city has since dramatically reduced permitting fees and peeled back ordinances that banned street activity.

Our nation is suffering from a gaping wound reminiscent of the 1960s. During that era, my parents were active in el movimiento, working alongside Cesar Chavez to advocate for better living conditions, opportunities, safety and acceptance. My parents dreamed of a different future than we are experiencing now. We must return to being an inclusive community that provides a path to opportunity and mobility.