Rising Together is SPUR’s coordinated policy and advocacy response to the COVID-19 pandemic, its economic fallout and the systemic racial inequities it has highlighted.
The COVID-19 pandemic presents a profound threat to the future of transit. It’s hard to speculate how the future will play out when the world today looks so different from the one we inhabited just two months ago. But one thing is certain: We will still need transit.
During the last recession, homebuilding ground to a halt. We can’t let the same thing happen this time. What can be done to keep the pipeline of new housing open through this crisis and recovery? SPUR and the Terner Center offer four principles to help guide new housing construction and facilitate economic recovery.
SPUR has released Keeping the Doors Open, a set of 10 recommendations for cities to implement as they work to assist ground floor businesses in reopening while shelter-in-place orders remain in effect. We recommend three principles to keep in mind: move quickly and remain flexible, focus on neighborhoods, and center equity in the allocation of resources and staff time.
SPUR urges BART to work with transit agencies and MTC to develop a coordinated response to service cuts and restoration, develop the capacities to respond rapidly to changing demand, and to pursue short-term and long-term cost savings outside of service cuts. Now, more than ever, the region’s many operators need to come together to design service cuts and restoration plans.
SPUR urges Congress to: 1. Provide at least $1.3 billion to Bay Area transit for 18 months to enable states, regions, and local governments to help maintain our transit system and keep projects moving. 2. Provide a supplemental, large-scale transportation investment in the form of a Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act reauthorization. 3. Advance policies aimed at expediting transit and sustainable transportation project delivery.
SPUR supports SB 882, which would simplify the state's CalFresh food assistance application for many older adults and people with disabilities and would increase access to CalFresh during the COVID-19 pandemic. The bill would eliminate burdensome ongoing reporting requirements and would ensure all applicants can complete the application and interview processes by phone, rather than having to complete the process face-to-face with staff.
SPUR calls on Honorable Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye and members of the Judicial Council to clarify that Emergency Rule No. 9 does not change the statutes of limitations for CEQA and land use claims. Unless it is amended, this rule will impose a hold on housing developments that are desperately needed to address California’s housing crisis – a crisis that is intensified by the COVID-19 emergency.
SPUR joined the Bay Area Council, labor unions and housing organizations in calling for all construction — given proper health and safety protocols — to be allowed to move forward as "essential" to our region's long-term health.
SPUR joined NPH, All Home and more than 100 other organizations in calling on Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the California Congressional Delegation to implement rental/debt relief for households unable to pay for housing as a result of COVID-19 and to designate affordable housing as essential infrastructure in any future stimulus packages.
COVID-19 Does Not Have to Be the Death of Transit
Four Tools for Stimulating Economic Recovery Through New Homebuilding
How Cities Can Support Ground Floor Business Survival