The next mayor of San José will take the lead in guiding policy decisions that will shape the region for decades to come. SPUR and six partner organizations held a forum on April 28 to help voters get to know the frontrunner candidates and their positions on some of the city’s most pressing issues. We’ve compiled the candidate’s answers to questions spanning equitable planning, regional transit, parks and open space funding, affordable housing and senior housing.

SPUR has welcomed 19 new members to its board of directors. These new appointees bring extensive knowledge in planning, housing, transportation, economic justice, good government, food and agriculture, sustainability and resilience to the organization’s leadership. We look forward to their advisorship as we continue our work to make the Bay Area a place where everyone can thrive.

California is dangerously behind on cutting carbon emissions, but this year’s budget surplus can be a weapon in the fight to address climate change, with Governor Newsom announcing plans to spend $37 billion over the next six years on climate resilience. Here are SPUR’s suggestions for how to focus those resources on eliminating fossil fuels in buildings, securing safe and abundant water, ending car dependence, improving transit, building affordable housing where we need it and more.

With the California State Legislature back from its spring recess, key SPUR-sponsored housing legislation is making its way through the Assembly Local Government and Housing and Community Development committees. We’re supporting bills to prohibit minimum parking requirements for new buildings near transit, allow faster permitting of shelters for unhoused people, make development fees more transparent and more.