Upcoming Events

Sea-level rise is climate change’s sleeper impact. By the end of the century, flooding could displace 80,000 homes, subject 30,000 socially vulnerable residents to daily flooding and expose bayshore communities to resurfaced toxic waste. But because the results of gradual increases in water levels are not immediately visible, these risks can slip out of sight and out of mind. How do we spread the word about these hidden but impactful consequences of climate change? Join this conversation with two journalists, who serve an essential role as expert storytellers, bringing the abstract notion of sea level rise to life.

As we approach the November election for Mayor of San Jose, local communities working in the Food Access System, such as Urban Gardeners/Farmers, climate crisis advocates, urban planners, and water managers, are organizing a Mayoral Forum . In this forum the San Jose Mayoral candidates: Cindy Chavez and Matt Mahan will have the opportunity to share their Environmental agenda and hear from these communities.

Californians — and citizens worldwide — are feeling the effects of a changing and warming climate. Sea levels are rising, ice caps are melting and wildfires are more intense and frequent. As California grapples with how to address the impacts of climate change, the California Natural Resources Agency has been tasked with building California's climate resiliency, preserving the state's biodiversity and expanding equitable access to natural areas. Join our chat with California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot as we discover what the California Natural Resources Agency is working on and how it's preparing California for a more climate-resilient future.

Every election, the SPUR Voter Guide provides in-depth analysis and recommendations on the complex measures up for vote. Join our policy staff in a beloved tradition as they explain the local measures on the November 8 San Francisco ballot and SPUR’s stance on each one. Grab your ballot and your brew and join us in person for this San Francisco spotlight! (See October 4 for our event on statewide measures.)

Every election, the SPUR Voter Guide provides in-depth analysis and recommendations on the complex measures up for vote. Join our policy staff in a beloved tradition as they explain the local measures on the November 8 Oakland ballot and SPUR’s stance on each one. Grab your ballot and your brew and join us in person for this Oakland spotlight! (See October 4 for our event on statewide measures.)

Elected to the California State Senate in 2016, following three terms in the California State Assembly, Senator Nancy Skinner is a social justice and climate change advocate and leader in the legislature. She currently chairs the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee, the Joint Legislative Budget Committee and is vice chair of the Legislative Women's Caucus. In her six years in the senate, she’s authored and successfully passed landmark legislation that has tackled housing affordability, criminal justice reform, income inequality and far more. Join us for a one-on-one conversation with the senator to learn more about what she plans to accomplish this year and her outlook for the current legislative session.

With Mayor Libby Schaaf's final term coming to a close, Oakland residents will soon have the opportunity to cast their votes for a new mayor. Join SPUR, East Bay For Everyone, Seamless Bay Area, East Bay Young Democrats, Greenbelt Alliance, and Transport Oakland for a virtual mayoral candidate forum, moderated by KQED's Priya David Clemens. At this event, candidates Ignacio De La Fuente, Gregory Hodge, Treva Reid, Loren Taylor, and Sheng Thao will share their views on the most pressing civic issues in Oakland, such as housing, transportation, and sustainability.

Homeownership is an important tool for building intergenerational wealth, but is also unequally distributed, a result of systemic racism that has been reinforced across generations. In the second installment of our multi-part series examining the lasting impacts of property ownership on families, neighborhoods and cities, Joaquín Torres, San Francisco's Assessor Recorder, will explore the relationship between homeownership and wealth disparity and how we can level the playing field for future generations. Join us to learn how housing markets have excluded families of color from home ownership and what we can do to change that.

Open-air drug sales and public drug use have escalated in San Francisco in recent years, causing distress and harm in many communities. Understanding the root causes of this epidemic and developing policies to address them have proved challenging, and there’s widespread consensus that the status quo isn’t acceptable. Join us as we learn the facts surrounding substance abuse and drug dealing in San Francisco, and how public health officials, city governments and community groups are working together to develop solutions that work.

For generations, Black communities have been stripped of access to wealth, prosperity and opportunity, particularly the economic benefits of home ownership and affordable housing. The Bay Area Black Housing Advisory Taskforce—a coalition of over 35 Black-led organizations—is proposing a $500 million state budget allocation to create the Bay Area Regional Black Housing Fund to assist Black housing developers and invest in Black-led community-based organizations. Join us to learn about the fund’s proposed uses, advocacy efforts at the state level, and what’s necessary to ensure this request is included in the next state budget.

Trivia Night is back! Five themed rounds of searing questions relating to cities, urban planning, policy and more make this event the ultimate showcase of urbanist geekery. Bring together your own team for a night of trivia at one of our favorite local watering holes, Standard Deviant, to compete for the title of San Francisco's Smartest SPURbanists.

Market Street and Montgomery Street, parallel to the Salesforce Transit Center and Park — serve as two of San Francisco’s most significant transit arteries. Every day, cars, buses, cyclists, and pedestrians travel these streets, likely unaware of a neighbor that’s been present since the 1970s: the Western Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly. To the butterfly, the city landscape resembles its natural habitat: a tree-lined "river" of vehicles, nearby parks, rooftop gardens and plazas make up an urban canyon. But a lack of nectar sources and larval food—as well as pending tree removal—call for a revamped place for our winged friends to call home. This year, Nature in the City, in partnership with BART, is launching two living roof pilots atop the new Montgomery and Powell Street BART stations, where 1,800 sq ft of elevated habitat will bring each station to life with insects, birds, and our beloved Swallowtails. Join us in BART's 50th anniversary year to learn about the potential opportunities and challenges for this exciting project.

Building housing, jobs and services near quality transit can increase the Bay Area's ability to accommodate new residents, improve conditions for vulnerable communities, and support mobility that isn't reliant on a private car—a concept known as a “Transit-Oriented Community” (TOC). In January, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) introduced a proposal for a new regional TOC policy, aiming to support new housing across income levels, add new jobs, and support sustainable transit access and protection from displacement. With MTC's TOC policy expected to be finalized in September, join us to discuss where this effort landed and what it will take for jurisdictions to comply.

Since 1990, affordable housing projects have been able to use what the Housing Accountability Act calls “builder's remedy” to bypass zoning codes and plans not in compliance with Housing Element Law. However, even with the Housing Element Law recently strengthened by lawmakers in Sacramento, developers are not submitting building remedy projects to bypass local ordinances. Join us as we take a deep dive into Christopher Elmendorf's paper "A Primer on California's 'Builder's Remedy' for Housing-Element Noncompliance" to learn more about builder's remedy, why it's not being used today, and what could enable builders to make use of this tool in the future.

The November election puts hot-button issues before the voters. What will the results mean for the city? In a much-loved tradition, SPUR and local political analysts provide a witty and incisive post-election recap.

Transportation leaders throughout the San Francisco Bay Area are looking to invest in other modes of transportation, as well as deliver more efficient transportation design, scope and infrastructure. The Metropolitan Transportation Commission has been diligently working on a study that examines how rail agencies throughout the region can work collaboratively on larger rail projects and operations. Join us as we discuss the findings from this new Regional Rail Study with Metropolitan Transportation Commission staff and other transportation partners throughout the region, and learn what these findings mean for the future of rail transportation in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The City of San José currently has 1.9 million existing parking spaces. With the City on the verge of eliminating minimum parking requirements, new tools can help minimize how much new parking developers will choose to build. How can smart parking technologies such as Parknav and Parkade be deployed to convince developers to build less parking? Join representatives from TransForm, Catalyze SV, the San José Downtown Association and the City of San Jose to learn how technology can help communities better manage and utilize their parking.

The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) is crucial to the safety net that supports millions of Californians. Whether it's with CalFresh food assistance, CalWorks cash assistance, or through numerous other programs, the agency serves, aids, and protects needy and vulnerable children and adults throughout the state. In the past few years, CDSS, with the support of the legislature and governor, has taken steps to broaden and deepen its reach, significantly expanding who is eligible for programs and the benefits that people receive once enrolled. Join us for a discussion with the agency's Director, Kim Johnson, about the successes, challenges, and opportunities for making the safety net better for Californians.

Even though San Francisco is known as the birthplace of the freeway revolt, the City is still scarred by those freeways that did get built. While significant progress has been made to remove these wounds, the Central Freeway, I-280 north of Cesar Chavez and the Bay Bridge West Approach through SOMA all still impact civic life, depress property values, consume valuable land and impact health. First considered in MTC’s visionary Horizon Program as a transformative project, and with federal Reconnecting Communities funds now available to make detailed studies of freeway options, it may be time for the community to build consensus on finally addressing inequitable freeway placement and returning about 50 acres of land to better uses, including open space, housing, cultural amenities, and the restoration of Mission Creek to provide ecological and recreational benefits. Join us to learn more from the design firms leading this pro-bono effort that could be the City’s signature transformative program.