Shared Risk, Shared Resilience
New governance structures for community wildfire resilience
Heeding the Call for Affordable Housing in Silicon Valley
News / San Francisco housing fights may make the headlines, but the median home sales price in the San Jose metropolitan area is the highest in the nation, at $980,000. A new advocacy group launched this year will focus directly on Santa Clara County’s affordable housing issues. SV@Home will advocate for more policies, programs, funding and land for affordable housing in the county.
A Roadmap for St. James Park
Policy Brief / Like older downtown parks throughout the country, San Jose’s St. James Park has suffered from disinvestment in recent years. Today downtown San Jose is experiencing new vitality and growth, creating an opportunity to transform St. James Park into the jewel it deserves to be. SPUR recommends steps to create a renewed vision for the park through improved stewardship and governance.
The Return of Passenger Rail in the North Bay
News / Many communities in Marin and Sonoma County grew up around rail. The remnants of this legacy are the walkable downtowns adjacent to former rail stations in many North Bay cities. Now, after decades of hard work by locals, passenger trains will once again connect the North Bay's communities: Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) will begin passenger rail service in December 2016.
Managing Transportation to Create Great Places
Urbanist Article / Two of the best examples of urbanism in San Jose are Santana Row and Westfield Valley Fair, wildly successful retail, commercial and residential destinations that pull in millions of visitors from all over the region. As these projects prepare to expand, opportunities for enhancing transit and walkability in San Jose can, too.
Learning to Live With Water
Urbanist Article / Resilience and adaptation have become buzzwords in public policy, but the experience of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina shows how imperative these ideas are as we face a changing world. SPUR's recent city trip to New Orleans brought back lessons from planners, engineers, policymakers and residents who are tackling pressing challenges that were neglected for generations, yielding exciting ideas and impressive results.