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Top SPUR Priorities Head to the Ballot

News /
It’s not often that the SPUR agenda features so prominently on the ballot in San Francisco. But the November 2012 election hits on three significant issues at the forefront of our work: affordable housing, business taxes and funding for parks. Our policy work has helped shape three important measures on the upcoming ballot, all of which we will support this fall. Housing Trust Fund…

Recycled Water Study Shows SF Will Still Need Hetch Hetchy

News /
This November, San Francisco’s Prop. F asks voters to approve an $8 million planning process to find a way to drain Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, the city’s most important water system asset. SPUR believes that this is a bad idea for many reasons, and we strongly oppose Prop F (stay tuned at www.spur.org/voterguide for our full ballot analysis in early October). The measure also calls…

Realizing the Potential of Bay Area Boulevards

News /
Los Angeles is in the midst of discarding its stereotype of exclusive auto-mobility and reshaping itself as a transit metropolis. (See the August/September issue of The Urbanist for more on the expansion of transit in L.A.). Pedestrian plazas, food trucks, CicLAvia (L.A.’s version of Sunday Streets), planned bike sharing, 1,600 miles of planned new bike lanes, and $40 billion for transit over the next…

Transit, Transformed

Urbanist Article /
Yes, L.A. may be notoriously auto-dependent, but you’d be hard-pressed to find any American city doing so many transit projects in so little time.

A New Course for the L.A. River

Urbanist Article /
Channelized and diked for nearly its entire 51-mile length, the Los Angeles River has appeared in numerous Hollywood action scenes as a wide, dry concrete ditch not resembling a river at all. On our recent study trip to L.A., SPUR learned about long-term plans to restore the river as the centerpiece of a cross-town greenway that offers new open space, recreation and natural habitat in the dozens of communities along the river’s course.

A Farmers’ Market in the Heart of the City

News /
For more than three decades, San Francisco's Heart of the City Farmers’ Market has been operating at UN Plaza, along Market Street and within sight of City Hall. The market is unique not only for its central location but also for its dedication to offering fresh produce to low-income customers living in the nearby Tenderloin neighborhood while also supporting the livelihood of California farmers. Since…

The Benefits of Big

Urbanist Article /
Los Angeles differs from the Bay Area in many ways, but one of the biggest differences is its sheer physical size. San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose — the three central cities of the Bay Area — could all fit inside Los Angeles’ city limits with nearly 190 square miles to spare. And the County of Los Angeles is the most populous in the nation, home to roughly 9.8 million people.What does this mean for Los Angeles as an urban place? Our visit revealed that one of the best things about the size of Los Angeles is that it allows for experimentation.

SPUR Endorses 8 Octavia Project

Advocacy Letter /
SPUR finds this project to be a very positive additional to the Octavia Blvd corridor. It creates a strong visual presence at the prominent portal to the boulevard while fostering a positive pedestrian experience; it adds needed housing to the neighborhood; and it does so with an imaginative and compelling design.

New Challenges to Funding Affordable Housing in San Jose

News /
In January 2010, San Jose passed an inclusionary housing law to help do three things: address the city’s affordable housing needs, meet the state’s requirement for regional fair share housing and promote economic integration. But now a successful legal suit has thrown the future of this law into question.

A New Season for San Francisco’s Support of Urban Agriculture

News /
San Francisco will soon have a new urban agriculture program. On July 17, the Board of Supervisors passed legislation — introduced by Supervisor David Chiu and co-sponsored by Supervisors Avalos, Cohen, Mar and Olague — that sets clear goals and timelines for how the city government can better support urban farmers and gardeners. The following week, the board put funding behind the program when it…

Status Report: Bus Rapid Transit Around the Bay

News /
Bus rapid transit projects are in the works around the Bay Area, but progress has been intermittent. Oakland and San Leandro have voted to approve a 9.5-mile line in the East Bay. After delays, San Francisco is making progress on designs for Van Ness adn Geary. Meanwhile, the South Bay's plan to implement BRT on El Camino Real has hit a hurdle.

SPUR Endorses 100 VanNess Project

Advocacy Letter /
The SPUR Project Review Committee finds this project to be an exciting and welcome improvement to one of the City’s larger buildings in a very prominent and transit accessible location. The combination of a design upgrade, the introduction of residential usage and the addition of retail at street level combine to make this a winning project.

$195 Million Parks Bond Goes to November 2012 Ballot

News /
Following extensive community outreach and planning — and months of negotiations over specific projects — the San Francisco Board of Supervisors has placed the $195 million 2012 Neighborhood Parks Bond on the November ballot. That's nearly $200 million that will help repair and upgrade facilities throughout San Francisco. The bond follows others in 2000 and 2008 to maintain and rebuild a parks system that makes…

Housing Trust Fund Heads to Voters in November

News /
After many months of work by SPUR and other housing advocates, the Housing Trust Fund, has made its way through San Francisco’s legislative process and been placed on the November ballot. We were very involved in crafting this measure, which would provide a permanent source of funding for affordable housing, encourage the creation of moderate-income housing and stimulate the production of market-rate housing. This…

Historic Vote Kicks off the Real Journey for High-Speed Rail

News /
An epic battle over the California high-speed rail project ended with a nail-biter on July 6, when the state senate got exactly the 21 votes needed to move ahead with funding the first segment of the project. The California Assembly had already passed the bill authorizing $2.6 billion in state bonds for the first segment, and Governor Brown’s signature is assured. [Update: Governor Brown signed…

SPUR Supports Housing Trust Fund Legislation

Advocacy Letter /
SPUR strongly supports the Affordable Housing Trust Fund and Housing Production Incentive Program. We believe this measure will support the production of housing at all income levels by creating a housing trust fund for affordable housing and incentives to support the production of market rate and below-market rate housing.

Getting High-Speed Rail On Track

Urbanist Article /
Much of the debate around high-speed rail revolves around federal funding. But with — or without — that revenue stream, SPUR believes that California can fund much of high speed rail on its own.