Reinstate the Commercial Energy Conservation Ordinance (CECO)
Urbanist Article / Reinstate the Commercial Energy Conservation Ordinance (CECO)
Require Retrocommissioning Upon Resale or Renovation of Commercial Buildings
Urbanist Article / Require retrocommissioning upon resale or renovation of commercial buildings
Require home energy performance testing at time of sale or renovation (RECO)
Urbanist Article / Require home energy performance testing at time of sale or renovation (RECO)
Update the Residential Energy Conservation Ordinance (RECO)
Urbanist Article / Update the Residential Energy Conservation Ordinance (RECO)
Critical Cooling
SPUR Report / In the fight against global warming, there are many things San Francisco can do. In this report, SPUR evaluated 42 options for the city to reduce carbon emissions in San Francisco and the Bay Area.
It's Getting Wetter Around Here
News / A new report by the Pacific Institute reveals that a 1.4 meter sea level rise will inundate thousands of acres in California and impact almost half a million people by 2100. Hardest hit will be low income people and communities of color, the Bay Area in general, and critical infrastructure like ports, railways, and water treatment facilities. Property damage alone could cost $100 billion. The…
Take the California Budget Challenge
News / The newly-released California Budget Challenge lets you choose your priorities for the state while attempting to balance the budget. Users decide on policy options including whether or not to raise income taxes, restructure Proposition 13, or change parole supervision for non-violent offenders. You can send your choices on to your representatives, view pro and con arguments for each choice, and see the choices other Challenge-takers…
Reinventing America's cities
News / Nicolai Ouroussoff presents one of the most cogent arguments for reinvestment in our cities ever written in the New York Times. His vision is eco-urbanist, to use a term to describe the current era of urban planning, prevalent today after a half dozen previous eras that will be explicated brilliantly in the exhibit to mark the grand opening of SPUR's Urban Center
A Bay Area Economic Recovery Plan
News / With so much interest in how to access the Federal stimulus funds, the Bay Area Economic Institute is organizing the region's agencies and business groups to develop a coherent regional plan for recovery. This document here is the process and timeline for how the region will come up with its strategy, all of which should be completed by June 1. Project concepts are due in…
How Does the SF Budget Compare with Other Cities?
News / A new report from the Controller provides comparative information on how much the City and County of SF spends per capita on key services relative to other communities. While making clear that it is not advocating cuts to particular services, it provides an objective set of data points to make appropriate policy decisions. The report also provides information on how certain revenue sources have changed…
Skyscrapers are Green - Especially in California
News / Harvard economist Ed Glaeser blogs in the New York Times about why skyscrapers are the greenist form of development - particularly in California's mild climate. In his post he makes that case that urban living and working - often in high rises - is the greenest development form. See also Glaeser's article in City Journal. This post also reinforces SPUR's argument about adding jobs near…
The Future of Downtown San Francisco
SPUR Report / How can we bring more jobs into the region's most transit-rich employment center? SPUR proposes a sustainable plan for transit-oriented job growth in the Bay Area.
Urban Field Notes: Seven (of the Many) Wonders at Pier 70's Shipyard
Urbanist Article / With the passage of Proposition D, the 65-acre Pier 70 waterfront, home to a 150-year-old still functioning shipyard, is poised for its badly needed makeover. The current scheme will incorporate existing industrial use with some combination of new offices, shopping, restaurants, a hotel, at least one museum and multiple open spaces. But one hopes the new Pier 70 will not become a historical theme park. Today it is still possible to see its buildings — some are among the oldest industrial structures in the city — in their ungussied and authentically aging state.
Lifelines
SPUR Report / We all know the big one is coming. But are we ready? It's a question we must confront now, with boldness and with honesty: what will it take to make San Francisco a resilient city?
Building It Right the First Time
SPUR Report / We all know the big one is coming. But are we ready? It's a question we must confront now, with boldness and with honesty: what will it take to make San Francisco a resilient city?
The Dilemma of Existing Buildings
SPUR Report / We all know the big one is coming. But are we ready? It's a question we must confront now, with boldness and with honesty: what will it take to make San Francisco a resilient city?
Defining Resilience
SPUR Report / How do we decide when a structure is "safe enough”? Engineering standards define how many deaths, how many building demolitions and how long a recovery time we will have. Currently, the City of San Francisco has no adopted performance objectives for these factors. SPUR provides a new framework for improving San Francisco's seismic mitigation policies.
Urban Field Notes: Seven Good Things about SF's Multifamily Houses
Urbanist Article / They're small and individual in character — dare I say lovable? — like single-family houses. And yet they shelter several families under one roof: maybe two, three, six or some other small number. Lots of cities have single-family houses that have been split up into apartments, but San Francisco's wooden multifamily houses were designed to have multiple units from the start.
Secrets of San Francisco
SPUR Report / Dozens of office buildings in San Francisco include privately owned public open spaces -- or "POPOS." Some are merely provisional, while others are hidden gems.
Proposition R - George W. Bush Sewage Plant
Voter Guide / Proposition R is an initiative ordinance to change the name of the Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant, located on the Great Highway in the Outer Sunset in San Francisco, to the George W. Bush Sewage Plant.