SPUR is calling on the Governor to sign AB 841 by Assembly Member Ting. This bill creates a program to make the air safer to breathe and the water safer to drink in public schools, while reducing energy bills. It also accelerates installation of infrastructure for zero-emission vehicles needed to combat the largest source of dangerous local air pollution.

SPUR, in coalition with more than 10 community based organizations, requests the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors take additional steps to implement the Good Food Purchasing Policy prior to 2021.

SPUR encouraged the Caltrain to authorize a 1/8th-cent sales tax ballot measure for San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara Counties to create dedicated funding for Caltrain operations and capital improvements. In addition, SPUR applauded Caltrain's work on its Draft Equity, Connectivity, Recovery, & Growth Framework. This framework promotes improved equity in service planning, fares, and communications policy.

Bike and scooter sharing have provided a transportation lifeline to essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Last week, a state a state assembly bill emerged out of committee that would significantly increase the cost of providing bike and scooter sharing services and may force companies to suspend service in California. SPUR supports these services and opposed AB 1286.

Will the rise of new mobility services like Uber and bike sharing help reduce car use, climate emissions and demand for parking? Or will they lead to greater inequality and yet more reliance on cars? SPUR proposes how private services can work together with public transportation to function as a seamless network and provide access for people of all incomes, races, ages and abilities.

Different countries have vastly different ways of organizing their housing policies and real estate markets. Could some of them hold solutions to the Bay Area’s housing crisis? To find out, SPUR and AECOM explored housing delivery in Copenhagen, Berlin, Vienna, Amsterdam, Tokyo and Singapore. Each has a compelling and noteworthy approach that could inform future policy innovation in the Bay Area.

SPUR has joined with California YIMBY to provide comments on the California Department of Housing and Community Development's (HCD) updated guidelines for implementation of SB 35 (Wiener) of 2017, the streamlined ministerial process for multifamily housing approvals. SB 35 has been a success to date and we are pleased to support the Department's latest version of the guidelines and provide additional recommendations for minor modifications.

SPUR is joining with the San José Downtown Association to call for a Downtown San José station entrance on the south side of Santa Clara Street. In addition to the restaurants and other entertainment venues that make it a destination, major office and residential developments are currently being planned and moving forward south of Santa Clara Street.

SPUR is calling on the Envision San José 2040 General Plan Task Force to be bold and recommend adoption of the Opportunity Housing policy citywide by-right in order to allow gentle density building types that can create greater housing affordability by design and without public subsidy.

SPUR encourages the Caltrain Board to focus on setting aside differences to avoid a fiscal cliff.

A future without high-quality rail service connecting communities along the Peninsula is not a future we wish to imagine. Unfortunately, there is no certainty that we will see, in the near term, another federal COVID-19 fiscal rescue package for public transit. However, without a dedicated source of revenue, Caltrain could be forced to cease operations by the end of the year.

AB 1063 is a bill that was amended on June 29, 2020 and would allow jurisdictions, through the housing element certification process, to identify fewer adequate sites for multifamily housing development by counting potential Accessory Dwelling Units and conversions of market-rate residential units to affordable that may or may not happen during the planning period. SPUR has joined a coalition of housing advocates in opposition.