We are pleased to announce that Fred Buzo will join our team as San José director today. Fred joins SPUR with the desire to bring urban planning and the policy work SPUR is engaged in to everyday people. “All too often, communities are unaware of the importance of land use decisions — decisions that can affect the look and feel of their neighborhoods for decades,” he says. “I am honored that SPUR has asked me to lead its efforts in San José to secure long-term trust and support from diverse stakeholders throughout the city.”

Imagine if insurers paid for the prevention— not just the treatment – of severe medical conditions. What if the health care system could help people improve their health today while also preventing diabetes or reducing the risk of heart attacks tomorrow? With the end of the COVID-19 pandemic in sight, the California Department of Health Care Services is working on doing just that.

Long-time SPUR board member and former Board Chair Anne Halsted, one of the organization’s great champions and a vital civic leader in the San Francisco Bay Area, passed away on March 13. Anne was a phenomenal woman with a distinguished history of civic engagement, neighborhood activism and mentoring women in their careers.

Metropolitan areas have had a difficult year, navigating concurrent crises from rolling out mass vaccination campaigns, reckoning with impacts of systemic racism and addressing climate change — all while preparing for challenges such as impending evictions and the uncertainty of what the future of work will be. SPUR, Chicago’s Metropolitan Planning Council and New York’s Regional Planning Association believe that there is one urgent priority our federal government can address to help cities jump start their recovery: investing in infrastructure.