Bay Area Visionary, Richard Goldman, Dies at 90
News / Last week the Bay Area lost one of its most generous and influential environmental leaders. Richard Goldman, co-founder of the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund, died at home on November 29. Through their family foundation, Richard and his wife Rhoda have given away hundreds of millions of dollars to a variety of arts and environmental initiatives. The Goldmans are perhaps best known for the…
Are Smaller Homes Here to Stay?
News / [Photo Credit: flickr user Dean Terry] The post-recession trend toward smaller homes in suburban communities has grown over the past few years – and as the economy continues to lag, it’s likely these more modest homes will only rise in popularity. It remains unclear, however, if Americans have really begun to reevaluate the excesses of 6.5 bathrooms and a “celebrity-style media and screening room,”…
Planning the future of Ocean Beach
News / Ocean Beach is one of the gems of the San Francisco landscape, drawing more than 2 million visitors each year. It is an important piece of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, a wild landscape, an urban sea strand, a grand public open space. Ocean Beach is also home to major elements of San Francisco’s wastewater and stormwater infrastructure. The recent erosion events South of…
How to Improve the Bay Plan's Guidelines for Sea Level Rise
News / Over the last two years, the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) has been working to amend its guidance document, the Bay Plan, to include new policies related to climate change and sea level rise.
SPUR's Take on Amending the Bay Plan
Advocacy Letter / SPUR believes that it is possible both to encourage true urban infill development in the right locations and to meaningfully plan for sea level rise. We also believe some changes should be made to the Bay Conservation and Development Commission’s proposed amendments to the Bay Plan.
SPUR Tours Recycle Central
News / Just because you can recycle it, doesn't mean you should be using it San Francisco is successful at many things, but there is one place where we shine above all other cities in the country – our recycling and compost programs. San Francisco was the first major city in the U.S. to implement a citywide curbside composting program open to all residents and businesses. Almost…
DIY Urbanism: An Interview with PlantSF Founder Jane Martin
News / This fall SPUR has featured the projects of local "Do-It-Yourself" urbanists in DIY Urbanism: testing the grounds for social change. In lean economic times, individuals have become the driving force behind some of the most successful initiatives to make San Francisco a better city, often providing the crucial impetus to address problems on a larger scale. SPUR spoke with Jane Martin, whose image as…
World Series Also a Victory for BART
News / [Photo Credit: flickr user NicoleAbalde] As those who follow the Bay Area transit blogosphere already know, Wednesday's Giants World Series victory parade spurred BART on to its highest ridership ever"”by a huge margin. The system carried over half a million riders — 522,000 to be exact, which beat the previous record (from Oct 29, 2009, when the Bay Bridge was closed for…
Exploring Future Job Centers of the Bay Area: Hacienda Park, a Midpoint for the Megaregion
News / Across the Bay Area, only one in 10 commuters takes transit work each day. And half of those transit commuters go to one job center: downtown San Francisco. But since most work is outside of downtowns, SPUR is trying to understand a little more about emerging suburban and non-downtown job centers. This series will look at the Bay Area's evolving and emerging business districts…
Urban Field Notes: Columbarium Is One Rare Place to Connect With the Dead
Urbanist Article / In 1902 San Francisco made a law — no more burials within city limits — followed by an even more restrictive law in 1910: no more cremations. An additional requirement was that all graves be dug up and relocated to the tiny town of Colma. But the Columbarium, an imposing and solidly built repository-of-ashes, still stands at the end of Loraine Court.
Proposition A - Earthquake Retrofit Bond
Voter Guide / This measure appeared on the November 2010 San Francisco ballot. We know how to make sure our soft-story buildings don't collapse in the next earthquake. Photo flickr user Eve Fraser-Corp.What it does Soft-story buildings are those with many openings (such as garage doors or large windows) and a lack of interior partition walls on the ground floor. They are considered to be…
Proposition AA - $10 vehicle registration fee
Voter Guide / This measure appeared on the November 2010 San Francisco ballot. Revenue from the vehicle registration fee would go to funding projects like the new Valencia Streetscape Project. Photo by Colleen McHugh.What it does This measure would add $10 to current vehicle registration fees to fund congestion and pollution mitigation projects and programs. If approved by voters, the fee will generate an estimated…
Proposition B - Increasing Employee Contributions to Benefits
Voter Guide / This measure appeared on the November 2010 ballot. What it does This proposed amendment to the San Francisco City Charter would increase the required employee contributions to the City's pension and health care system, and would limit the City's contributions to both pension and health care. Proposition B would make a number of changes to the pension retirement system: Active uniformed members of the…
Proposition C - Question Time
Voter Guide / This measure appeared on the November 2010 San Francisco ballot. What it does This measure makes two specific changes to the San Francisco City Charter. One is to add to the 19 existing responsibilities and powers of the mayor a requirement to appear monthly, in person, at a meeting of the Board of Supervisors to formally discuss policy matters with supervisors. The other requires…
Proposition D - Non-Citizen Voting for School Board
Voter Guide / This measure appeared on the November 2010 San Francisco ballot. What it does The measure would enfranchise a large number of parents and guardians who are not currently allowed to vote for school board candidates. The measure's lack of specificity, however, raises some questions about how it will be implemented. Photo by flickr user lovebuzz. This measure establishes a pilot program, lasting from 2012…
Proposition E - Election Day Voter Registration
Voter Guide / This measure appeared on the November 2010 San Francisco ballot. Photo by flickr user Christopher S. Penn.What it does Currently, voters must register at least 15 days prior to an election. Proposition E is an amendment to the San Francisco City Charter that would allow eligible San Francisco residents to register to vote on Election Day, or at any time leading up…
Proposition F - Health Service Board Elections
Voter Guide / This measure appeared on the November 2010 San Francisco ballot. What it does The Health Service System Board is a board established by the San Francisco City Charter. It is responsible for overseeing the city's Health Service System. The system provides medical, dental and vision benefits, flexible spending accounts, employee assistance programs, and other health insurance services to over 110,000 current and former City…
Proposition G - Setting Transit Operator Wages Through Collective Bargaining
Voter Guide / This measure appeared on the November 2010 San Francisco ballot. What it does Proposition G is an amendment to the San Francisco City Charter that would require San Francisco transit operators to negotiate their wages and benefits through collective bargaining. Currently, transit workers are automatically guaranteed wages and benefits equal to the average of those paid by the two highest-paying transit systems in the…
Proposition H - Dual Office Holding
Voter Guide / This measure appeared on the November 2010 San Francisco ballot. What it does Currently, those who hold elected public office in the City and County of San Francisco are prohibited from concurrently holding additional elected offices within the city and county, as well as in state or federal governments. This measure would extend that restriction against service on local political party county central committees…