For years, people have asked why downtown San Jose’s skyline is so … diminutive. This month, the city made a big decision that will finally allow its downtown to grow upward: Changing flight paths at Mineta San Jose Airport will allow taller buildings — meaning more jobs and housing near transit.

SPUR has been advocating for comprehensive, visionary and ambitious Downtown Oakland Specific Plan ever since we published our Downtown for Everyone report in 2015. After many years of work, the City of Oakland has released a preliminary draft of that plan. SPUR offers suggestions to help realize a vision and strategy for building a true downtown for everyone.

The 2019 SPUR Impact, held on March 22, recognized outstanding job performance of those serving San Jose and the surrounding communities. The ceremony honored the Silicon Valley Clean Energy Core Staff Implementation Team for educating the community and other cities on Silicon Valley Clean Energy (SVCE), a community choice energy program that redefines where and how electricity is supplied in the South Bay.

The 2019 SPUR Impact Awards, held on March 22, recognized outstanding job performance of those serving San Jose and the neighboring communities. The ceremony honored Martin Alkire for leading the transformation of a predominantly suburban office environment into a mixed-use area while preserving its unique wildlife and habitat.

In her first address to the SPUR Board of Directors and staff, incoming President and CEO Alicia John-Baptiste shared her vision for the next era of SPUR's growth as an organization and how we can create sustainable change by expanding what people believe is possible.

The 2019 SPUR Impact Awards, held on March 22, recognized outstanding job performance of those serving San Jose and the neighboring communities. The ceremony honored The Vallco Town Center Specific Plan team for transforming the declining mall into a mixed-use area that offers a wide variety of housing choices for all income levels and abilities.

The 2019 SPUR Impact Awards, held on March 22, recognized outstanding job performance of those serving San Jose and the surrounding communities. The ceremony honored Consuelo Hernandez for building and leading a team that manages funds from the 2016 Measure A Affordable Housing Bond and the state’s No Place Like Home Program to increase supportive and affordable housing units in Santa Clara County.

The 2019 SPUR Impact Awards, held on March 22, recognized outstanding job performance of those serving San Jose and the neighboring communities. The ceremony honored Better BikewaySJ for allowing hundreds of thousands of people to safely bike (or scoot) for their daily transportation needs, and transforming the role of San Jose streets into public spaces.

The 2019 Good Government Awards, held on March 6, recognized outstanding job performance of those serving the City and County of San Francisco. The event honored the SF Prepared team for executing complex but essential finance and administrative projects and a “Disaster Academy” curriculum to prepare city finance and admin staff to respond in an emergency.

The 2019 Good Government Awards, held on March 6, recognized outstanding job performance of those serving the City and County of San Francisco. The ceremony honored The Child Support Services team for piloting a new approach to address delinquent child support so that parents can focus their financial attention on their children.

The 2019 Good Government Awards, held on March 6, recognized outstanding job performance of those serving the City and County of San Francisco. The ceremony honored Gigi Whitley for building a new Department of Homelessness from the ground up and creating tools and systems that are radically transforming how San Francisco approaches homelessness.

The 2019 Good Government Awards, held on March 6, recognized outstanding job performance of those serving the City and County of San Francisco. The ceremony honored Diane Oshima for leading the process to build a world-class public waterfront.

The 2019 Good Government Awards, held on March 6, recognized outstanding job performance of those serving the City and County of San Francisco. The ceremony honored Kate Conner for creating innovative new avenues to approve housing with unprecedented speed and certainty.

The success of e-scooters and other micro-mobility vehicles has created challenges over safety and the allocation of street and sidewalk space. As cities look for ways to better balance their rise, new regulations should focus on four objectives that will promote their use while keeping cities safe and welcoming for everyone.

2018 was the deadliest and most destructive fire season in California history — and climate change will only accelerate this dangerous trend. What is Santa Clara County doing to prepare? At a recent SPUR forum in San Jose, fire and open space officials discussed how they are working together to prevent a fire event from devastating the South Bay.