2020 SF Good Government Awards: Emylene Aspilla Improves Working Conditions for More Than 46,000 SFO Employees
The 2020 Good Government Awards, held on March 4, recognized outstanding job performance by those serving the city and county of San Francisco. The ceremony honored Emylene Aspilla for her work improving work conditions for more than 46,000 SFO employees by working with organizations like BART, engaging the community and developing the innovative Workforce Employee Board.
2020 SF Good Government Awards: Danielle Mieler Ensures the Safety of San Francisco’s Tall Buildings
The 2020 Good Government Awards, held on March 4, recognized outstanding job performance by those serving the city and county of San Francisco. The ceremony honored Danielle Mieler for putting together San Francisco’s Tall Buildings Study, a multi-departmental analysis of the seismic safety for our city.
2020 SF Good Government Awards: Goal to Roll Team Tackles a Backlog to Let City Revenue Flow
The 2020 San Francisco Good Government Awards, held on March 4, recognized outstanding job performance by those serving the City and County of San Francisco. This year’s ceremony recognized the Goal to Roll team, a multi-year, cross-division initiative that, as of June 2019, eliminated the City’s property tax assessment backlog for the first time in over twenty-five years.
2020 SF Good Government Awards: CalFresh Expansion Team Makes Food Stamps More Accessible
The 2020 San Francisco Good Government Awards, held on March 4, recognized outstanding job performance by those serving the City and County of San Francisco. This year's ceremony recognized the CalFresh Expansion team, a cross-departmental effort to ensure increased access to nutrition benefits for more than 40,000 seniors and persons with disabilities.
One Simple Way SF Can Get More Affordable Housing and Public Benefits
By Kristy Wang, Community Planning Policy DirectorSan Francisco supervisors are about to vote on a plan amendment that would bring affordable housing, community benefits and open space improvements to the Market Octavia area. Some are calling for the amendment to set affordability and public benefit requirements even higher. But the way to get the most benefit for San Francisco from this proposal is simply to pass it as it stands.
Four Key Actions to Solve for Coastal Flooding and Sea Level Rise in the Bay Area: a Governance Proposal
By Laura Tam, SPUR, and Julie Beagle, SFEIAround the San Francisco Bay, a number of different processes are underway to address sea level rise, coastal flooding and other climate change impacts on the Bay shoreline. To bring all of these efforts together and make sure they complement — rather than compete with — one another, SPUR and SFEI propose four policy ideas for how to govern adaptation strategies across the region.
There Are No Cars in Wakanda
By Allison Arieff, Editorial DirectorIn an essay for the exhibition Cars: Accelerating the Modern World, SPUR’s Allison Arieff asks: What would happen if we didn’t let the car determine the design of our cities and the pattern of our daily lives? Cities, she argues, might end up looking a lot like the fictional world at the center of the film Black Panther.
Transit Fare Integration Wins Transformative Projects Competition
By Arielle Fleisher, Transportation Policy DirectorThe results of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission first-ever Transformative Transportation Projects competition are in: We are thrilled to share that integrated transit fares — a proposal from SPUR, Seamless Bay Area and others — rose to the top as not only the most transformative of the 11 finalists but one of the highest-performing projects overall.
Remembering John Kriken
By Jim Chappell, former Executive Director of SPURArchitect, urban designer, city planner, teacher and long-time SPUR member John Kriken died on January 23 after a long illness. A retired Skidmore, Owings & Merrill partner and the founder of the firm’s Urban Design and Planning Studio, he helped turn the firm into one of the world’s most famous designers of cities. His plans and designs are legion across the Bay Area and Asia.
Leading With Public Space: The Case for Guadalupe River Park
By Michelle Huttenhoff, Placemaking and Public Life Policy DirectorWe are excited to announce that, through investment made by the Knight Foundation and in partnership with the Guadalupe River Park Conservancy, SPUR will embark on a three-year research and planning project for Guadalupe River Park. Our work will focus on understanding the park’s current challenges, investigating what is possible, raising community understanding and awareness, and inspiring a conversation around the power of place.