2019 Silver SPUR Honoree Charles M. Collins is president and CEO of YMCA of San Francisco and serves on numerous commissions. With his leadership, the YMCA is a sustainable organization focused on human growth and potential, especially on empowering children in leadership. His extensive experience in law, city planning and real estate led to the Downtown Plan for San Francisco.

2019 Silver SPUR Honoree Nínive Calegari is an educator, nonprofit co-founder, award-winning film producer, and bestselling author. She advocated for the importance of teachers with her book, Teachers Have it Easy, and her film, American Teacher. The Teacher's Salary Project fights for wages to reflect the prestige of the profession. She engages community youth through Enterprise for Youth and 826 National.

California can address many of its issues at once by adding new jobs and housing around passenger rail stations. In September, SPUR partnered with Governor Newsom's Regions Rise Together initiative to hold a half-day workshop for California cities with rail stations. Together we asked: How can the state help cities spur compact growth and economic development near rail?

At this year's Silver SPUR Awards, Alicia John-Baptiste, SPUR’s new president and CEO, shared her approach for addressing the problems facing the Bay Area: Our challenges have divided us, she argued, but working on them collectively could bring us together.

San Jose — long known as the bedroom community for Silicon Valley — has struggled to grow its job base. But four new trends in downtown development may be about to change that. In 2014, SPUR made recommendations for how to encourage growth downtown. Five years later, we are seeing these ideas unfold — with positive indications for San Jose’s financial footing.

Oakland’s annual rent increase has slowed dramatically as the amount of new housing has skyrocketed. Some developers are even offering free rent to lure prospective tenants. This is welcome news for renters who can afford market-rate rents, but the benefits are not limited to them. New research demonstrates that construction of market-rate housing can have positive effects for those who already live in the neighborhood.

San Francisco and Oakland will spend a combined $29.5 million in soda taxes this year. Now that elected officials have passed budgets in both cities, we can answer two questions: How do both cities plan to spend the revenue? And have San Francisco and Oakland followed the recommendations of their respective soda tax advisory committees?

As Silicon Valley’s economy and population grow, the Peninsula is in dire need of transportation solutions. Caltrain has the potential to provide frequent, all-day transit service that could greatly reduce driving and serve more people. To deliver on this service vision, Caltrain must also develop a bigger organizational vision. One that enables it to meet the needs — and challenges — of the future.