Guadalupe River Park is San José’s largest urban green space and the physical spine of downtown, but underinvestment and misuse have caused the park’s safety and natural habitat to deteriorate. While discussions about how to reimagine the park have accelerated over the last two years, there has been little talk about the river itself. This report identifies strategies for protecting the Guadalupe River and transforming it into a place that supports natural ecology, improves the human experience and public health of residents, and improves the overall environmental performance of downtown San José.

SPUR encourages MTC to take on a stronger role in project selection, cost estimation, project prioritization and project oversight in order to ensure that the region’s major transportation projects are delivered more quickly and cost-effectively and with better value to the public. The region only has one opportunity to get megaprojects right, and the decisions made today will last for a hundred years.

SPUR has joined with a nationwide coalition of campaigns for highway removal to support a more robust Reconnecting Communities program. The Senate's Bipartisan Infrastructure bill includes a 5-year Reconnecting Communities program aimed toward highway removal. However, the program's been cut down to 5% of the amount that was originally proposed, which probably funds only 1-2 projects at best.

SPUR joined a broad coalition of Bay Area stakeholders, including the Cities of San Francisco and Oakland, the San Francisco Foundation, and the Unity Council, in sending joint letters to Senator Schumer, Senator McConnell, Congresswoman Pelosi, and Congressman McCarthy, asking them to include funding for increased access to child care in upcoming infrastructure legislation.

SPUR, the City of Oakland, the City of San Jose, and others sent a letter to the U.S. Small Business Administration's (SBA) Administrator Isabella Casilla Guzman to urge the SBA to award a Community Navigator Pilot Program grant to an applicant serving the Bay Area.

California is in the midst of an enduring housing affordability crisis that is rooted in a lack of housing supply and perpetuated by the high costs of development. This brief focuses on one obstacle in the development process that can contribute to these steep costs and hamper overall housing production: the lack of transparency around development fees and requirements at the local level.

Many Bay Area freeways and rail lines were designed without regard for their impact on local communities. SPUR and AECOM look at how key regional transportation infrastructure currently intersects in Oakland — and how it might do so differently in the future. The next generation of transportation investments and policy could rectify past planning injustices to facilitate a healthy, climate resilient and equitable Oakland.

Before the July 20th, 2021 vote to advance the Oakland Waterfront Ballpark at Howard Terminal development term sheet, SPUR wrote to the Oakland City Council to support the proposed project and offer considerations for improving the project's elements regarding financing, transportation, economic and racial justice, and housing.

When cities emerge from the COVID-19 emergency and start to organize around economic recovery, California and the Bay Area should look to significantly expand employment in the solar industry. While there’s little money in state and local budgets to support this job expansion, state and local governments can provide a no-cost solar stimulus by streamlining the stack of codes and requirements that delay solar installations and drive up costs.

As the Blue Ribbon Task Force for Transit Recovery wraps up, SPUR pushes for the region to study setting up a network manager as recommended in our 2020 report and urges the region to quickly move forward on simple actions that can make taking the bus faster and more reliable and develop a "connected network plan" --a long-term, durable vision for frequent regional transit service throughout the region--to investments in the network.

California’s system of fines and fees is causing significant financial harm to low-income, Black, and Latinx communities in the San Francisco Bay Area — which runs counter to the region’s commitment to an equitable economic recovery. To address these challenges, California should eliminate its reliance on punitive fees and introduce more effective ways to promote behavior that supports safety and the greater social good.

In 2008, voters support high-speed rail and funded a portion of the project though Prop 1A. The Governor approved the release of the next tranche of Prop 1A funds but the Legislature is holding these funds back.

SPUR strongly supports extending the Clipper® START Pilot by 18 months. This extension brings a more coherent and logical schedule for fare programs during transit recovery.