SPUR Publications

SPUR addresses Muni’s deficit, by sharply reducing costs and linking financial goals to long-term transportation goals.

San Francisco's contracting process is inefficient and confused; amongst other things, SPUR recommends consolidating administrative processing and decentralizing implementation for departments capable of managing it.

SPUR addresses Muni’s deficit, proposing to boost revenues by increasing the speed of boarding, reducing waits at lights, improving transit stop spacing, and favoring primary transit corridors.

SPUR’s review of CEQA found that after the law’s 30-plus years of operation, developments are environmentally worse than before. We need to change the way CEQA is applied in urban settings.

San Francisco must face the problem of neglecting its capital investments as its physical foundation shows signs of deterioration.

New mixed-use areas raise parking congestion issues. Instead, SPUR recommends transit improvements, wider sidewalks, bike lanes, and supports plans for the Central Subway.

SPUR recommends several organizational changes for Muni, including the creation of a Multimodal Planning and Project Development Department to oversee all transit and consolidate Muni and DPT.

While condominium conversion is one way of expanding home ownership, it frequently results in tenant displacement. SPUR analyzes how to promote homeownership while mitigating the negative consequences.

San Francisco's planning and building process is in trouble. Funding for the Planning Department and Department of Building Inspection has been cut. Staff morale is down. The Planning Commission is overwhelmed with fights around specific proposals and doesn't have time to work on true long-range planning. SPUR recommends steps to reform the city's planning functions.

Though businesses weigh benefits beyond tax rates when choosing a location, there is a point where types and rates of taxes do matter. This report compares the varying business taxes and their extents.

Proposition A has played a decisive role in expanding the production of affordable housing in San Francisco. SPUR analyzes the success of the measure and describes how it should be expanded.

Hundreds of millions of dollars are spent on addressing the symptoms of homelessness in San Francisco each year. Supporting social services that focus on the causes of homelessness may provide a better solution.

This paper explores the potential to revitalize the Mid-Market Area -- a stretch of Market Street between the downtown commercial/office core and Civic Center.

SPUR makes four recommendations to expand the successful transit impact development fee.

SPUR suggests using the City's building and planning code as instruments to allow, encourage and, in some cases, require the use of green building techniques in private sector development.

Following the success of Proposition E, SPUR calls on the SFMTA to expand transit through programs to for obtaining funding and building infrastructure.

This report suggests several ways that the approval process can be reformed in order to add certainty and reduce the time it takes to obtain project approval.

The answers to SOMA's problems can be found simply by looking at what makes our downtown successful: small block sizes, mixed land uses, housing, transit and better parking management.

This report concludes that San Francisco is well positioned for continuing economic success, and that the benefits of projected economic growth can be shared among workers at all income levels. The report describes the effects of the city and region's hugely successful economic evolution on land use, housing and transportation, and identifies illconceived public policy, and insufficient investment in housing and transportation as the most significant challenges to continued economic prosperity. San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR) recommendations for increasing the city's housing stock and improving transportation are related to the needs of the city's economy.

The outlook for San Francisco's parks is much brighter after the successful passage of Propositions A and C in the March 2000 election. SPUR makes recommendations to the Recreation and Parks Commission to fully implement the measures.