Balancing Oakland's Budget
Closing the city’s structural deficit to move toward fiscal solvency and economic growth
Keep Building Oakland
News / As the pace of residential development picks up in downtown Oakland and the Broadway-Valdez area, it’s worth remembering that Oakland is much, much bigger than those two small neighborhoods and that very little is being built anywhere else. If we really want to alleviate the housing shortage, we need to build much more housing, in many more parts of the city.
Why Brisbane Baylands Matters to the Bay Area Housing Shortage
News / The Brisbane City Council will decide this summer whether to allow 4,400 housing units and 7 million square feet of commercial space within walking distance of an underutilized Caltrain station. Seems like the perfect place for homes, amenities and jobs, but so far the Brisbane Planning Commission has favored a low-density plan with no housing. Here’s why this matters — to all of us.
How Caltrain’s Business Plan Can Reinvent the Railroad
News / Now that Caltrain’s electrification project has federal funding, leaders and the public can start designing the Caltrain of the future. Finishing the $2.25 billion modernization project will mark the beginning of a completely new era for the railroad. As Caltrain begins the process of developing a business plan, here are five important questions we think the business plan should tackle.
How Do We Transform Diridon Station?
Urbanist Article / The remaking of Diridon Station is San Jose’s largest and most significant city-building project to date, but success is not assured. We have a lot to learn from other cities that have undertaken ambitious projects to transform transportation services and remake the areas around train stations. Based on our lessons from Rotterdam, Toronto and Denver, we recommend 17 ideas for creating a great train station.
What’s Going Up in Downtown San Jose? Our Take on Three Trends
News / The number of proposed developments in downtown San Jose is up — but only one project broke ground in the last year. Blocks are filling in with new businesses — but beloved Camera 12 Cinemas has shut its doors. These mixed signals make it hard to predict what the market will do next, but we’ve seen three clear trends play out in recent months.