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03.11 LETTER FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Good Government in a time ofausterity

Gabriel Metcalf is

SPUR's executivedirector

2 Urbanist> March 2011

This issue of the Urbanist commemorates one

of my favorite things we do each year, which is the

Good Government Awards for management excel­lence. This is the only citywide awards program for

exemplary management in the city's public sector.Managers are nominated by their department heads

and are reviewed by a panel that includes City staffand members of MFAC, Over nearly three decades,

this event has honored hundreds of nominees andwinners, of whom many have gone on to become

department heads,

As you can read on page 8, this year we arerecognizing three individuals and two teams for their

extraordinary accomplishments. These are someof the people, usually un-heralded, who make San

Francisco work. They exemplify the best of Citygovernment and we are proud to honor their commit­

ment and service.

We also introduce our new Good GovernmentPolicy Director, Corey Marshall, who shares his

thoughts on how to approach the City budget begin­ning on page 4,

We've got our work cut out for us this year, as the

City's good government organization, Caught between

declining tax revenues and exploding costs, SanFrancisco, like virtually every city in the country, is

faced with serious cuts - to services, to employeecompensation, or both.

The dip in tax revenues is almost certainlytemporary, because we will climb out of the recession.

The increase in pension and especially in healthcosts is only going to get worse, unless fairly drastic

action is taken, Pension and health-care costs haveescalated more than 172 percent in the past decade,

and nearly 65 percent in the past five years alone,totaling more than $820 million in the current fiscal

year. And the trend line is only moving upwards.No one wants to be the one to say that people

need to have less money in their retirement or paymore for their health care, While City workers certainly

have better benefits than most of their private-sectorcounterparts, no one in City government is getting

rich, and we are talking about a workforce filled withidealistic and dedicated people.

If there can be such a thing as "progressive budget

hawks," then I suppose that's how I would describe

at least a part of SPUR. We believe deeply in themission of local government as a force for good, and

we believe it needs to be generously funded to provide

Our urbanist values teach usthat we need public transit,public parks, public education,public safety and the othercore services we organizethrough our local government.We at SPUR are going to doour best to find a way forthese services to not onlysurvive intact, but to grow andexpand over time.high levels of public service. On the other hand, we

want the money we pay as taxes to be used carefully

to achieve maximum public value. This is not alow-tax city, which is OK, so long as we are providing

real value for the amount of money we give our publicsector.

Reader, for several years you have watched us

wrestle with the issue of how to reform employeebenefits in a way that is fair, and unfortunately, weare far from finished, There is more than one "right

answer," perhaps, more than one way to bring the

cost of government in line with the available moneywhile being fair to City employees. But no one is

going to be happy with the inevitable trade-offs andcompromises,

Our urbanist values teach us that we need publictransit, public parks, public education, public safetyand the other core services we organize through

our local government. We at SPUR are going to do

our best to find a way for these services to not onlysurvive intact, but to grow and expand over time, so

that we can make this city the best possible place itcan be. We're in a difficult moment, but the problems

are too important not to solve.•

March 2011

What we're doing

SAVE CALTRAINCaltrain faces an immediate budget deficitof $30 million - nearly one-third of itsbudget - and has threatened major servicecuts. Although this rail system is one of themost efficient parts of the Bay Area transitinfrastructure, it lacks a dedicated fundingstream and relies on annual payments fromthe SF Municipal Transportation Agency(MTA), Samtrans and Valley Transit Authority(VTA). Caltrain has increased ridership byone-third since 2000, doubled revenue andkept the increase in operating costs belowinflation. Given the importance of Caltrain asan armature for future regional growth andmobility (and the corridor for the future high­speed rail system), SPUR has convened aworking group to identify solutions to provideCaltrain with a sustainable long-term fundingsource. Interested in supporting Caltrain?Email: transportation@spur.org.

SAN FRANCISCO'S JOBGROWTH STAGNATESAs unemployment remains highand housing prices struggle

to recover in the Bay Area,

what are the prospects for city

revenues? What industries are

thriving, and which appear tobe trailing? City Controller Ben

Rosenfield and newly minted

SPUR Good Government Director

Corey Marshall welcomed local

experts, elected officials and

others at City Hall on February

18 for the Annual Economic

Briefing. City budget staff

and experts analyzed regional

economic trends and projectionsfor the city's major revenue

streams, and examined how

the recession has disparately

affected economies throughout

the region. San Francisco wasamong the last Bay Area cities

to enter the recession and our

housing prices have stabilized.

However, San Francisco

continues to lag behind the

region in job growth in most

sectors. Meanwhile, San Jose's

job growth is strong across

multiple sectors including

technology and electronicsmanufacturing, professional

services, tourism and hospitality,

WHERE 00 HOUSINGGROWTH TARGETS COMEFROM, ANYWAY?SPUR Deputy Director Sarah

Karlinsky has been appointed

to the Sustainable Communities

Strategy Housing Methodology

Committee. This committee

helps guide the development of

regional housing-needs targets

for jurisdictions across the Bay

Area. Technical, yes - but

also very important. For more

information go to: onebayarea.

org/housing.htm.

SAN FRANCISCO HOUSINGELEMENT BEGINS ADOPTIONPROCESSDraft III of the San Francisco

Housing Element has beenreleased and is making its way

through the adoption process.

The Housing Element is part of

San Francisco's General Plan,

the document that providespolicy guidance for housing

growth in San Francisco.

Updated every five years in

accordance with state law, this

round of the Housing Element

has been in development for

two years and counting. SPURhas provided substantial input

into the document, consistently

advocating for increased housing

near transit. While the Housing

Element does contain policies

that support new housing

projects where households

can easily rely on sustainable

transportation modes, the recent

draft also adds policy support formaintaining housing densities as

they are. For more information

on the Housing Element, go to:

housingelement2009.sfplanning

org/.

TREASURE ISLAND MOVESFORWARD TO PLANNINGCOMMISSIONPlans for Treasure Island are

moving forward to the Planning

Commission in March. SPUR

has long been a supporter of

this plan, which contemplates

the creation of 8,000 units of

housing, 30 percent of which

will be affordable. In addition,

the plan will create up to

450,000 square feet of retail

space, rehabilitate and re-open

the existing historic structures,

create 300 acres of open space,

add new ferry service, and

enhance Muni and AC Transit

service to and from the island.

SPUR is particularly supportive

of the way in which the proposed

new development is clusteredaround the new ferry terminal,

as opposed to dispersed across

the island. Interested in lending

your support to this important

project? Contact Sarah Karlinskyat skarlinsky@spur.org. For

more information, go to: bit.ly/

sftreasureisland.•

Urbanist> March 2011 3

ANALYSIS I by Corey Marshall Good Government

Costs of City government are rising while revenues are stagnating.DeficitRevenues

Meanwhile, our need for core services has not decreased. WhatPension Reform

began as a national recession may have triggered a rare momentCore Servicesof opportunity to deal with the causes of our structural deficit. So

what is the way forward?

Defining Good Government inthe New RealityHow can San Francisco deliver core City services in anera of finite resources?

Corey Marshallis SPUR's goodgovernmentpolicy director.

1 San FranciscoController's Officereports, City andCounty of San FranciscoEmployee Benefits,Executive InformationSystem extract ofFinancial Accounting andManagement InformationSystem data (Feb. 17,2011); FY 201O-llSix-Month Budget StatusReport (Feb. 9, 20t 1);Comprehensive AnnualFinancial Reports, FY2000-2010.

4 Urbanist> March 20ll

First the bad news: City revenues are falling,

costs for the health and pension benefits of retiredpublic employees are exploding, and experts

disagree on whether an end to the current recession

is anywhere in sight. The City is embarking onits fourth consecutive budget process requiring

reductions of nearly half a billion dollars per year.

As if this weren't enough, Governor Jerry Brown'sproposals for the state budget could dramatically

change the very relationship between state and

local governments, shifting services (and costs) tothe counties and cities.

And the good news? What has begun as a

national recession may have triggered a rare

moment of opportunity to deal with the causes ofour structural deficit. There is an opportunity to

correct past mistakes, reinforce core services and toput San Francisco back on the right path.

It is time for everyone to acknowledge that it is

not merely the national recession that has causedour current budget crisis and reduced funding for

city services. Instead, both falling revenues andescalating costs lie at the root of this budget crisis.

We cannot afford the government we have. It is not

sufficient to merely balance costs and revenues forone fiscal year. Rather, we must change the core

structure of our City budget.

DECREASING REVENUES,INCREASING COSTS

The recent recession has had an enormous

negative impact on City revenues. Sales tax receiptsare down more than 10 percent since 2008.

Business taxes have declined more than 8 percent

since 2008. Hotel tax revenues - a bellwether for

tourist activity and other business activity - are

down more than 10 percent since 2008. Propertytax revenues are projected to be down by nearly 4

percent for fiscal year 2010-11, the first decline this

decade in a revenue source that has grown morethan 120 percent since 2001.

As if this perfect storm were not enough, the

financial challenges of the state have repeatedly

affected City funding in recent years. While anumber of one-time solutions and borrowing

have been used to bridge the state deficit ­

including federal stimulus funds, redirection of

funds designated for local public transportation,and widespread worker furloughs - more recent

discussions have centered on permanent, structural

changes such as eliminating local redevelopmentagencies.

While some of these revenues may soon recoverto previous levels, any gains would be virtually

erased by the growing cost of retired publicemployees' health care and pension benefits

the City is obliged to pay, now more than $820

million per year.1 Pension and health-care costshave escalated more than 172 percent in the past

decade, and nearly 65 percent in the past five

years alone. For years, the City's pension systemreported that it was "over-funded" due to higher­

than-projected investment returns, leading the City

to underfund annual pension contributions. The

money was then redirected to start or fund existing

programs that everyone is now loath to eliminate.

But the combination of a sudden and severe drop

in asset values, longer life spans and modest

pension increases has resulted in the City having

to significantly increase annual payments to the

pension plan.

Retiree health-care costs, meanwhile, continue

to present a challenge for the City. San Francisco

Proposition B (2008) created a two-tier structure for

funding retiree health care. The current unfunded

health-care liability (which includes all future

payments for City employees and retirees) for thelargest group of employees - those hired before

January 9, 2009 - currently sits at $4.3 billion

and continues to be completely unfunded. 2 These

benefits are funded on a "pay as you go" basis,

meaning that the cost of these benefits is paid as

they come due each year.Retiree health benefits for the second tier of

employees - those hired after January 9, 2009 ­

are prefunded through a combination of employee

and employer contributions. Benefits for this group

of employees are expected to be fully funded

through these combined contributions and will notalter the unfunded liability for the other tier.

Since 2008, the Government Accounting

Standards Board - an independent organization

on which state and local governments rely to set

accounting and reporting practices - has required

municipal governments to report the costs of their

health-care benefits for retired employees, but does

not require funding for these future costs. Pensions

must be reported under a separate requirement.

While the City began reporting these liabilities in

2008, actual health-care costs have been climbing

for quite some time. Health-care costs for current

and retired employees combined have increased

147 percent over the last decade - and nearly 43

percent just in the past five years. Meanwhile the

number of City employees has declined more

than six percent since 200l,3 The combined cost of

all employee benefits has risen from $408 millionin FY 2000-01 to $978 million in FY 2010-11.

We need to begin driving these costs down to

sustainable levels while being sensitive to the fact

that City employees have already agreed to wageconcessions multiple times in the last ten years.

In November 2010, SPUR gave its reluctant

endorsement to a pension reform measure,

Proposition B. SPUR's support was ambivalent

because the measure had some serious downsides,

but nevertheless we believed that something likeProp. B was necessary to begin getting costs under

control. Prop. B would have saved the City around

$120 million per year starting in fiscal year 2013­

14 by increasing the contribution required from

employees toward the cost of their pension and

health care. It was defeated at the ballot, sending

all of us back to the drawing board for reform ideas.

SPUR pledged to be more proactive in coming up

with solutions this time around and, indeed, that is

1 Memorandum to MayorGavin Newsom from Con­troller Ben Rosenfield,Dec. 15, 2DlD, "Report onRetiree (Postemploy­menU Medical BenefitCosts."

3 San Francisco Control­ler's Office reports,City and County of SanFrancisco EmployeeBenefits, Executive Infor­mation System extract ofFinancial Accounting andManagement InformationSystem (Feb. 17.2011).

Since 2001,combinedpension andhealth-carecontributionsfrom the Citybudget haveincreased tomore than $820million per year,an increase ofmore than 172percent.

HOW MUCH ARE WE SPENDING ON HEALTH CARE AND PENSIONS? CITY EXPENDITURES IN FISCAL YEARS 2000-01 TO 2010-11

$1,000,000,000Total Pension Costs

II Health Benefits Cost for

800,000,000 Active Workers

II Health Benefits Cost fortJ) Retired WorkersQ::

S 600,000,000...J0c~I-tJ)0(,) 400,000,000

200,000,000

O....-_......._-..J.J

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

FISCAL YEAR END

Source: San Francisco Employee Benefits, Executive Information System, extract of Financial Accounting and Management Information Systemdata, Feb. 17, 2011.

Urbanist> March 2011 5

The largestCity budgetcategories fundpublic safety;transportation,utilities andpublic works;and publichealth. Health­care and pensioncosts are risingat rates that mayimpact fundingfor criticalprograms.

one of my major responsibilities this year as SPUR's

good government policy director.

We are talking t6 anyone who will listen, from

labor leaders to advocates for public services. We

are open to many kinds of solutions, as we think

everyone should be. There is more than one wayto reform San Francisco's pension and health-care

systems, and it is very important to us to find a way

that feels as fair as possible to City workers. Some

big ideas are in circulation:1. For higher-paid City employees, create a mix

of "defined benefit" and "defined contribution"

pension plans. The idea here is that the taxpayerswould give City workers a traditional public sector

guaranteed pension up to some dollar amount:

say, $100,000 in salary. Above that amount, thepension would switch to something more like what

non-profits and businesses give - a program in

which the City contributes to employee retirementplans, with incentives for employees to contribute to

their own plans as well.

2. Raise the retirement age to 65 to match theage when Medicare kicks in. City public-safety

employees now can retire as early as age 55, and

all other City employees can retire at age 62. But

modern life expectancy projections predict thatretirees will collect their benefits for many years,

and projections for pension fund earnings suggest

that earnings will not keep pace with benefit

obligations. A compounding factor is that younger

retirees represent greater health-care costs for theCity because these retirees are not yet eligible for

Medicare. Gradually raising the retirement age for

full benefits to 65 for employees not in the public­

safety field would do a lot to reduce the costs ofretiree health care while also recognizing that most

people continue to lead active, productive lives past

that point.

3. Establish a cap on the amount of salary that

can be used to calculate pension earnings. The

IRS caps maximum pension earnings at $245,000

a year. Proposals include reducing that limit to

$200,000 or $135,000.4. Increase baseline pension determination to

average either three or five years of earnings and

mitigate effects of "pension spiking." In pension

spiking, an employee boosts his or her earnings

by some combination of promotion, special pay,

and other retention or training incentives thatinflate pension earnings. These increases artificially

inflate employee earnings for the final years ofemployment. But because pension benefits are

calculated based on the employee's earnings

in this period, this also boosts the benefits theCity must pay for the entire duration that former

employee receives a City pension. Increasing the

period over which earnings are averaged - andpension benefits determined - will help to provide

a more accurate reflection of earnings. A related

reform would be to limit the categories of earnings

included in baseline benefit calculation to basepay, rather than including overtime, comp time and

bonus pay.5. Increase pension contributions of public­

safety employees or modify their pension formulato more closely match other City employees.

Police officers and firefighters may retire at 55

and collect 90 percent of their final-year earnings.

Other City employees have a higher retirement age

and lower benefits: 75 percent at 62 years. Thereis room to recognize the special contributions and

risks that public-safety employees make, while

still ratcheting down these benefits somewhat in

the interest of fairness and the long-term financialviability of the pension system.

HOW DO WE SPEND OUR MONEY? SAN FRANCISCO SERVICES AS APERCENTAGE OF THE TOTAL BUDGET

GeneralAdministrationand Finance8%

Public Health20%

Cultural Institutionsand Parks4%

General CityResponsibility7%

Note: Percentages do not add up to 100% due to rounding. Source: City/County of San Francisco Annual Budget Ordinance, FY 2010-11.

6 Urbanist> March 2011

There are a number of legal questions relatedto making changes to benefit plans for currentemployees and retirees. All of these complexproblems require thoughtful well-analyzed solutions,which SPUR wants to facilitate and support.

THE WAY FORWARDThe good news is that the City has a robust

finance and accounting operation as well as anactive audit and management-review function,and it consistently receives awards for exemplaryperformance in financial and performancereporting. In recent years the City has analyzedand provided valuable recommendations on avariety of topics that could yield dramatic impact- including analyses of public transportation, themanagement of City relationships with nonprofitservice providers, and ways to improve theprovision of police services. In many ways this

provides an excellent foundation on which to buildand strengthen the City organization.

What else can the City do to better prepare forthe future?

1. Confront the cost of known, unfundedliabilities. Bringing out all known liabilities is an

important first step to truly balance the budget.The City's retiree health-care liability was largely

unknown and unreported until required bythe Government Accounting Standards Board.Enumerating the $4.3 billion liability has enabled ameaningful public discourse about how to addressretirement-related liabilities, and how to limit theimpact of ongoing pension responsibilities withoutjeopardizing high-priority services.

2. Reinforce financial stability via long-termplanning. Thanks to Proposition A (2009), abudget reform measure, the City is in the processof defining a five-year financial plan that will helpto clarify program needs and available revenuesources. Multiyear budgeting helps to identify long­term structural budget problems early so they canbe addressed in the process. On the revenue side,many agencies already are actively investigatingrevenue opportunities that can supplement existingfunds or replace those that have disappeared.

3. Aggressively pursue revenue diversificationstrategies. Given the heavy subsidies manydepartments receive from the City's General Fund- of which more than 20 percent in turn consistsof federal and state subsidies -the current trendsof declining federal and state funding indicate thatdiversification of departments' funding sourceswould be extremely beneficial. Some departmentswill have the opportunity to generate revenue tokeep up service levels through philanthropy, fees forservice or other creative methods. This won't be anacross-the-board solution, but if used carefully and

selectively it could benefit some departments thatdirectly interact with the public.

4. Define measurable outcomes for Cityservices. While many City programs carry withthem an implicit understanding of their goals,being able to measure the outcome of programsis critical-for general oversight and accountability.Though not all outcomes lend themselves readily tomeasurement, there must be some means by whichto gauge whether programs are working. Arguably,the most critical component of determining aprogram budget should be how much funding isrequired to achieve the program objectives. The Cityshould develop explicit prioritization for programswhose outcomes can be measured.

5. Define program priorities to balance thebudget rather than simply imposing across-the­board cuts. The easy way out of an imbalancebetween income and expenses is to cut allfunctions equally, but almost always the better wayis to make some explicit decisions about where toinvest and where to cut. This is, of course, easiersaid than done in a public budgeting process.

6. Develop a long-term labor strategy thatresults in more balanced negotiations. Over andover, the City has agreed to wages and benefitsthat it mayor may not be able to afford, only tosubsequently be confronted with an economic

downturn that makes negotiated labor contractsuntenable. Over the last decade, the City has onmultiple occasions had to implement workforcereductions and re-open contracts to ask Cityemployees to "give back" some amount of wagesor benefits. This is terrible for morale, as well asbudget planning. While it is true that public-sectorunions may often negotiate with elected officialswho have little incentive to strike a "hard bargain,"the City cannot keep making deals that arefinancially unsustainable. There needs to be a wayof moving the labor-management culture into moreof a shared problem-solving effort, perhaps similarto the spirit in which union leaders and seniorCity management are now working on solutions topension and health costs.

Taken independently, these principles have the

potential to better prepare and position the City forsuccess, whether conditions improve or financesremain constrained. In fact, they can help the Cityto expand its capacity through collaboration ratherthan through additional employees. Together, thesehave the potential to improve services, programeffectiveness and access through a combinationof improved transparency, service capacityand operational focus. We must confront thesechallenges in a way that reinforces our priorities andstrengthens the services in a sustainable way. _

Urbanist> March 2011 7

31st AnnualGood Government Awards

Monday

March 21, 2011

5:30 PM

spur.org/ggawards

MFAC is a project of the San Francisco Planning & Urban Research Association, and has been at the

service of each San Francisco Mayor since its establishment over 30 years ago by Mayor George

Moscone and the esteemed Richard Blum. MFAC serves as the coordinating body for many efforts to

help government work better.

The Good Government Awards celebrate the accomplishments of outstanding public servants who,

when faced with extraordinary fiscal pressure, have found creative ways to serve the City of San

Francisco with distinction and excellence. Awardees are managers in City agencies who have taken in­

novative approaches to good government, and who have made an impact on our City, Please join us in

recognizing this year's awardees, highlighted in the following pages.

Thank you to our generous sponsors (Partial sponsor list as of2/22/77)

STEWARD

Academy of Art University' Bank of the West· KPMG LLP • PB • Recology •

San Francisco International Airport· Wells Fargo & Co.

CHAIR

Michael Walker

President, U.S. Bank Northern California

[!!jbank.

ADVOCATE

A:COM ANONYMOUSBlum~Capital

.. Pacific Gas and~~ Electric Company·

HONORARY AWARDS COMMITTEE

The Honorable Edwin M. Lee

The Honorable Gavin Newsom

The Honorable Willie L. Brown, Jr.

The Honorable Frank Jordan

The Honorable Art Agnos

The Honorable Dianne Feinstein

Mrs. Gina Moscone

8 Urbanist> March 2011

PARTNER

Arup North America Ltd.• Catholic Healthcare West· Forest City Development· HawkinsDelafield & Wood LLP • Jacobs' Jones Hall' macys.com • MunicipalTransportation Agency' San Francisco Waterfront Partners, LLC • Seifel Consulting, Inc.

SUPPORTER

AGS, Inc.• Andy & Sara Barnes' Emerald Fund, Inc.• Hathaway Dinwiddie' Anne Halsted &

Wells Whitney' MJM Management Group' Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP •San Francisco Public Utilities Commission· Westfield San Francisco Centre

Sponsorship & Tickets ($85) available online at spur.org/ggawards

GOOD GOVERNMENT AWARD WINNERS

DR. SUSAN FERNYAKDeputy Health Officer and Director, Communicable Disease Control andPreventionDepartment of Public Health

Juggling a portfolio that includes management

of infectious disease emergencies, the City's

Bioterrorism Program, one-on-one clinical care and

a number of things in between, Dr. Susan Fernyak

has an extremely difficult job. As Deputy Health

Officer and Director, she manages a staff of more

than 50 clinicians and analysts and an annual

budget of $7 million.

Dr. Mitch Katz, director of the Department of

Public Health (DPH), notes, "Whether in staffing or

how to deal with a rabid bat exposure, [Dr. FernyakJ

brings tremendous common sense to the decisions

she must make."

Her "common sense" stood out recently as she

recommended against school closures during the

HINI flu outbreak. "Every county around us was

[closingJ," explains Fernyak. "We'd just been out

there very early saying ... the disease is mild, and

you're not gaining anything except keeping kidsaway."

Fernyak brought together public health officials

from across the Bay Area to support her position

that mandatory closings would only disrupt the lives

of students and parents. Ultimately, the decision

helped inform state and national policy regarding

school closures to contain the epidemic and kept

HINI cases per capita in San Francisco lower than

in other localities. Fernyak's team was also ableto communicate directly with those most at risk,

minimizing any potential fear or panic that may

have resulted.

The HINI flu also provided a testing ground

for Fernyak's groundbreaking Infectious Disease

Emergency Response (IDER) plan. The 2008 plan

provides the city with a structured response and

decision-making framework in the event of large

outbreaks, including a Point of Dispensing plan to

facilitate expedited distribution of antibiotics and

immunizations. While HINI was not as severe in

retrospect, the IDER plan provided the city with an

approach to handle the prospective pandemic. DPH

and Fernyak implemented a vigorous vaccination

program for HINl, sponsoring 27 public clinics

in one month and vaccinating more than 18,000

people. Thanks to her work, San Francisco has the

capacity to treat 1.2 million people within 32 hours.

In addition to managing daily priorities and

planning for emergencies, Fernyak works withcommunity-based organizations such as San

Francisco's Hep B Free campaign and others to

generate public awareness. She has coordinated

activities with Safeway, Kaiser Permanente and San

Francisco Unified School District.

Fernyak is grateful not only to serve the public,

but also to do so in a city with such progressive

values. At every turn, she is keenly aware that whatshe does "touches potentially every single person in

San Francisco."

Urbanist> March 2011 9

GOOD GOVERNMENT AWARD WINNERS

CAPITAL PLANNING PROGRAM STAFFBrian Benson Business Analyst. Fran Breeding Senior Administrative AnalystBrian Strong Director, Adam Van de Water Principal Administrative AnalystGeneral Services Agency .

10 Urbanist> March 2011

Before the Capital Plan existed, if the mayor or

a supervisor wanted to know what infrastructure

projects were underway, they'd have to call everyCity department manager, who would manually

shuffle through files and submit dozens of Excelspreadsheets over the course of weeks.

Contrast that with 2009, when federal stimulus

funds became available for shovel-ready projects.The Capital Planning Program (CPP) team

responded within days, utilizing its centralizedsystem that tracks capital improvements. The

team's swift response resulted in federal funds for

Doyle Drive, street repaving and numerous lightingupgrades, among others.

The CPP was born out of the extensive work

of SPUR and others in 2004, resulting in the

2005 legislation creating a lO-year Capital Plan toaddress planning and financing of capital projects

in San Francisco. Among the key tools is an

application that tracks investment priorities for Cityfacilities, including replacement of roofs, boilers and

other systems within City-owned buildings.

In addition to prioritizing capital improvements

and forecasting infrastructure needs, the CPP alsoidentifies revenue to address these needs. The CPP

conducted significant pre-ballot planning to facilitate

passage of three consecutive bond measures

totaling nearly $1.5 billion. Voters overwhelminglyapproved the Clean and Safe Neighborhood

Parks bond (with 71 percent of the vote), the San

Francisco General Hospital bond (84 percent) andthe Earthquake Safety bond (79 percent).

Exemplary communication has proven to be a

vital part of the CPP's success. With develop­

ment of ONESF and the program's website,

www.onesanfrancisco.org, staff is educating the

public on the importance of a central infrastructureplan. Brian Strong understands the necessity for

clear public outreach. "ONESF is trying to bring

some consensus to all the different fiefdoms....

We need to have a functional hospital before webicker about some of the details."

And San Franciscans aren't the only ones who

are interested - representatives from Seattle and

Austin are exploring the CPP's best practices toimplement in their own municipalities.

The CPP team has impacted numerous city

projects and initiatives. In his nomination of theteam, then-City Administrator Ed Lee counted

no less than 13 significant outcomes, including

increasing the General Fund investments for capitalimprovements by 29 percent and stabilizing the

City's credit rating by demonstrating sound andtransparent policies for long-term debt.

As the CPP looks ahead, Brian Strong sounds anote of caution. "[The city is] definitely much better

off than five or 10 years ago ... but we still have along way to go."

GOOD GOVERNMENT AWARD WINNERS

CHERYL NASHIRAssociate Deputy Director, Revenue and Management DevelopmentSan Francisco Airport Commission

When you next enjoy a delicious, organic mealat SFO that tastes more like it came from the Ferry

Building, you might have Cheryl Nashir to thank.

"I describe my job as the mall manager of

SFO," Nashir says. It's an apt description for the

supervisor of a team that develops and manages

commercial revenue for the airport. That task

includes attracting and retaining retail tenants such

as food and beverage proprietors, and vendorsproviding luggage carts rental cars, and even the

mini-spas that help rejuvenate weary travelers.

All that property translates into revenue for the

City as well as for SFO In fact, after joining SFO

in 2006, Nashir's work to maximize rents through

new leases and new types of locations for retail

stores helped increase revenue by $19.3 million(24 percent). In FY 2010-11, SFO expects to

receive $98.7 million from commercial services,with nearly $24 million of that going to the City's

General Fund.

To increase retail sales, Nashir worked

strategically with commercial tenants at SFO,

developing guidelines for better storefront designs

and helping tenants improve merchandise offerings.Simultaneously, she completed 15 separate

business negotiations resulting in considerable

savings for the airport.

Amid all this, Nashir motivates her team to think

big and picture the traveler's perspective. After all,

her job is customer service. "While [passengers]

are here," she says, "I want them to be comfortable

and relaxed."

Recently, Nashir led the space-planning

and concessions program development for

SFO's renovation of Terminal 2. Typically, large

development planning is performed by consultants,

but Nashir decided that her staff might enjoy

leading the project, saying, "I'll delight in their

delight when they see what they've done."

Such an engaged management style is, perhaps,

one reason why job satisfaction ratings have

increased dramatically for her group - from 66

percent to 81 percent.

Some of the changes Nashir has envisioned will

premiere in the new Terminal 2, but she notes that,

coming at the height of the recession, the timing

for seeking commercial tenants for the renovated

terminal was very challenging. But her efforts have

paid off: SFO received 69 proposals for 16 leases

that comprise Terminal 2's new food/beverage/retailprogram and will generate $41.5 million in gross

sales annually.

Nashir constantly strives to keep SFO on the

cutting edge, exploring new ways to enrich both

the airport environment and increase revenue. She

takes inspiration from airports in Europe and Asia,

and would like to bring different retail concepts,

lounges, VIP services and maybe even sleepingrooms to SFO someday. "We want it to be the

coolest airport in North America."

Urbanist> March 2011 11

GOOD GOVERNMENT AWARD WINNERS

DANA KETCHAMManager, Permits and ReservationsRecreation and Parks Department

Dana Ketcham says it all started when her chil­

dren participated in the city's baseball and soccer

leagues. "I wanted to help and, before you knew it,I was running it," she says. After getting involved in

the recreation programs that utilized the city's play­

ing fields, Ketcham became frustrated when she

noticed there were kids the City wasn't successfully

serving. After inquiring with the City, she learned itwas due to lack of space in the fields.

That put Ketcham on a mission to address the

capacity problem of the athletic fields. Walking all

103 of the city's sports grounds and creating aninventory, complete with dimensions and ameni­

ties, she catalogued the fields that were candidates

for additional capacity and renovation. She also

surveyed users and facilitated public meetings todevelop a season-by-season plan and an online

reservation and permit system, all while still a

volunteer. Net result: 35,000 additional hours offield playtime.

Two years into this labor of love, notingKetcham's ability to solve an "intractable problem,"

the Recreation and Parks Department offered her

a paid position. She jumped at the opportunity."You're trying to change the way a river ran," she

says. "If you move it just for a little bit, it'll just go

right back to the way it was before."

Ketcham now supervises a 15-person team man­

aging over 57,000 different permits - races, music

and arts performances, walks, cultural celebrations,

12 Urbanist> March 2011

weddings - for the city's 225-plus parks and 103

athletic fields. On any given day, her team can be

negotiating a festival in Golden Gate Park and ac­

cepting reservations for picnic tables.

After starting her paid position, Ketcham com­pletely reengineered and modernized the Permits

and Reservations operations. Previously, "all

reservations were kept in big calendar books," she

explains. "If you wanted to book Civic Center, therewas a book labeled 'Civic Center,' and you ... had

to decipher the handwriting of the person who had

written what was there." These systems are nowcompletely automated and online.

Subsequently, Ketcham led a staff reorganiza­tion to optimize efficiency and customer service,

and built a website to improve public access. The

changes have resulted in improved transparency,access and service delivery accountability, which

have had a direct effect on revenue. Permit feeshave increased from $3.5 million to $4.5 million.

As a leader, Ketcham manages from the middle,

positioning her own workspace in the center of herstaff and cultivating an intense loyalty among her

employees. Her focus, however, continues to be

on quality service. In his nomination, DepartmentHead Phil Ginsburg noted, "Dana is the consum­

mate public servant. ... Her single motivation is the

public good."

GOOD GOVERNMENT AWARD WINNERS

JOBS NOW MANAGEMENT TEAMDave Curto Director of Contracts, Tony Lugo Program DirectorLeo Sauceda Manager, Jim Whelly ManagerHuman Services Agency

If words like "nimble" and "innovative" sound

like shorthand to describe a San Francisco start-up,

think again. In just over one month, the Human

Services Agency's Jobs Now team created a

program that put 4,127 San Francisco residentsback on the job rolls in record time.

Tucked into the federal stimulus was a provision

to provide employment support to unemployed

parents, with $5 billion set aside nationwide.

Employers could receive 100 percent of a worker's

salary for hiring a person with at least one minor

child either in CalWorks or with a family income

less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level.

That presented a monumental opportunity. The

City tasked several divisions of the Human Services

Agency (HSA) with developing the infrastructure to

promote and manage the program.

The initial goal was to get 1,000 people back to

work. What does it take to implement a program to

screen 22,000 people for potential employment?

"An entire village," says Tony Lugo, program director

for HSA Workforce Development Services. Lugo,

who manages 119 employees, had to develop a

road map for the project in the absence of federalimplementation guidelines.

Lugo and his colleagues, Jim Whelly, Dave

Curto and Leo Sauceda - with more than 50

years of combined experience in public service

- developed a program that demanded close

coordination among numerous departments

and prioritized Jobs Now applicants. "We were

working hand-in-hand, everybody just rolled up

their sleeves.... I've never seen something like this

before."

The speed of Jobs Now applicant processing

- from initial contact to job descriptions, signed

contracts and bringing new workers into the

system - demanded streamlined coordination,

clear communication and decisive action. Sauceda,

manager of examinations and operations at the

HSA, notes, "We established a close relationship

with the Department of Human Resources. They'dsee 'Jobs Now' and they'd fast-track it."

In addition to promoting and managing the Jobs

Now program for private employers, the team hired

750 Jobs Now employees to work for the City

itself. Because the eligibility criteria was so broad,the City was able to hire workers in more than 30

departments, many with years of work experience.

In the end, San Francisco and Los Angeles were

the only counties in California to take advantage of

the program before funding expired in September2010.

While Congress did not ultimately renew funding

for the program, the team remains hopeful that

others might benefit from Jobs Now innovations,

and is working with a San Francisco foundation to

develop a replicable model of the program goingforward.

Urbanist> March 2011 13

103.11 !INSIDE SPUR

New faces at SPUR

Corey Marshall is SPUR's good governmentpolicy director. In this role, he is responsible forpromoting an effective, well-managed publicsector and nurturing a climate of civic engagementthroughout the Bay Area. This includes researchand advocacy, policy development, and engagingSPUR members and partners to provide strategicpro-bono consulting assistance to help improve theefficiency, effectiveness and governance of localgovernment.

Prior to joining SPUR, Corey worked in andaround local government for more than ten years.His experience with the City and County of SanFrancisco included work with the San FranciscoMunicipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), theController, San Francisco Police Department(SFPD), and Department of Public Works (DPW);and on issues related to local, regional and nationalfunding and policy, strategic planning and businessimprovement initiatives. Before working for the City,Corey was a public-sector management consultantwith Accenture; mayoral fellow in the office ofChicago Mayor Richard M. Daley; and a campaignconsultant in San Francisco.

Corey earned his master's in public policy fromthe Harris School of Public Policy at the Universityof Chicago.

14 Urbanist> March 2011

Gretchen Hilyard is the public programmingmanager at SPUR, where she oversees all of thepublic programs and exhibitions at the SPUR UrbanCenter and assists with planning special donorgroup events.

Prior to joining SPUR, Gretchen worked as ahistoric preservation consultant for Page & Turnbull,where she contributed to the San Francisco historicneighborhood surveys, the Treasure Island Designfor Development and other planning and researchprojects. Gretchen has also worked for the NationalPark Service's Olmsted Center for LandscapePreservation and is the current president of theNorthern California Chapter of Docomomo US

Gretchen earned a master's degree in historicpreservation from the University of PennsylvaniaSchool of Design, where she wrote a thesis oncampus planning and its role in Kevin Roche'sWesleyan Center for the Arts in Middletown, Conn.She earned a bachelor's degree in architecturalhistory from the University of Virginia.

In her free time, Gretchen enjoys yoga, sewingand culinary experimentation, and is often foundexploring the sights and sounds of San Francisco'sdiverse neighborhoods and parks.

•~."-Y'-=

Will Adams is a native of the

Peninsula, growing up in the

San Mateo area. Will graduated

from Santa Clara University in

2008 with a B.S. in politicalscience, with an emphasis in

political philosophy and a minor

in religious studies. He loves

to travel and has spent extensive time abroad,

including three months in Australia studying

international relations. Will is an avid snowboarder

and lived in Tahoe after graduating from college. Healso builds fixed-gear bikes from scratch and loves

to work out as much as possible.

Christina Fukumoto recently

graduated from UC Berkeley

with a major in architecture and

a minor in sustainable design.

She spent last summer walking,

biking and traveling by bus and

train through some of Europe's

most sustainable cities, studyingEuropean planning, design and management

practices and discussing their applicability to U.S.

urban areas. At SPUR she is looking forward to

learning more about our own wonderful city.

Will Heywood is currently

finishing up his final semester at

San Francisco State University,where he is receiving a B.A.

in urban studies and planning,

with a minor in geography. His

areas of interest in the field of

urban planning are sprawl repairand land-use politics. Will hopes to someday enter

a graduate program in urban planning in either

the Bay Area or back home in Southern California.

When he is not at SPUR or studying hard, you maysee Will and friends riding on their skateboards ­

being chased out of a schoolyard, empty parking lot

or office complex by one of San Francisco's many

private security guards.

Cygridh Rooney received a

B.S. in interior design from

San Francisco State University

and is now pursuing a B.A.

in urban studies and planning

with a minor in geography from

SFSU. She plans to further

her education by obtaining amaster's in urban design. Her interests include

urban transportation, economic development and

urban design issues. She would like to travel the

world and gain insight first-hand on the many

urban issues that exist globally. Eventually she

would like to be part of the movement to renovate

Detroit's built environment.

Alexis Smith is passionate

about housing, urban

design and nurturing urban

neighborhoods that people of all

income levels can call "home."

She is a recent graduate of

UC Berkeley's Master of City

Planning program, and is also a

registered architect with a Bachelor of Architecture

from Carnegie Mellon University. Before moving

to California, she worked for several years as a

designer of affordable housing in Washington,

D.C. After arriving on the West Coast in 2008, she

began a quest to see all of the country's national

parks - 12 down, 46 to gol

Stephen Tu is a transportation

policy intern at SPUR. Prior

to joining SPUR, Stephen was

a campaign staffer for the

successful reelection of Rep.Jerry McNerney (CA-ll). It was

one of the closest congressional

races in 2010 and one of two

competitive House contests in California. When not

at SPUR, Stephen is a co-director for a summer

camp developing leadership and communicationskills in Taiwanese-American youth in the Bay

Area. Stephen received a B.S. in biology from the

University of the Pacific in Stockton. He people­

watches on BART during his commute from the

East Bay.

Urbanist> March 2011 15

URBANFIELD NOTES

Five painterly vistas fromKaiser Center Roof Garden

An additive archive of cultural landscapes and observations Caseworker: Mitchell Schwarzercompiled by SPUR members and friends, Send your ideasto Urban Field Notes editor Ruth Keffer at editor@spur,org,

CASESTUDY #36

In the 1920s, European architectsproposed a new city. The chaos ofindustrial civilization would be redeemed bya stupendous landscape of skyscrapertowers rising out of a park-like setting.Nature would ameliorate the tall buildings,adorning their abrupt and jarring artificialitywith dewy grass and leafy canopies. Alas,in American cities, crisscrossed by gridsand streets and their streams of vehiclesand pedestrians, this dream of architecturerising directly from nature was all butimpossible.

Then, in 1959, the new Kaiser Centercomplex at the edge of downtown Oaklandcame up with a solution. Atop a five-storyparking garage that abutted a 28-storyoffice tower, landscape architectsOsmundson & Staley erected a bucolicperch for skyscraper observation.

Visitors originally entered the gardenfrom the top floor of the White Housedepartment store. Now, they walk throughthe parking garage and ascend an elevatorto experience the startling sight of treesrooted in building; trees rising atop theconcrete slab that underlies the breadth ofthe three-and-a-half-acre garden. Six inchesof soil are all that separate the garden froma four-inch layer of aggregate rock, andthen the slab. Here and there moundsextend the soil a few precious feet to allowfor shrubs, and trees like olives, magnolias,and holly oaks.

On gray walkways, I lope around greenlawns and a dark amoeboid pool. Raisingmy eyes, I see the rectilinear towers, but Iread them not as volumes containinginnumerable, invisible worker drones. Mysight today is painterly, and so the KaiserTower and the later Ordway Building (1970)flatten into framed pictures in the sky thattrack its atmospheres and luminosities.

Mitchell Schwarzer is professor of visual studies atCalifornia College of the Arts. He is the author of"Architecture of the San Francisco Bay Area: History andGuide" (200n and numerous other writings,

16 Urbanist> March 2011

Walkway. A path winds through the shade of bamboo and groupings of birds of paradise,

I

Ordway Building. Designed by Chuck Bassett of Skidmore, Owings

and Merrill, the 28-story tower is sheathed in anodized aluminum and

features an H-shaped plan that doubles the number of corner offices. At

404 feet in height, it is Oakland's tallest building.

OrdwayBuilding(detail).Spandrel

panels bend

and reflect

shadows.

A grid of

windows

captures

clouds gliding

through the

sky. And like

the ga rden's

tree canopy,

those panels

and windows

flutter in

flashes of

sunlight.

Aerial view. The biomorphic shapes of the pool and lawns follow the

precedent of Thomas Church's groundbreaking Donnell Garden (1948)

in Sonoma. Here, five stories in the air, the landscape architects massed

vegetation along the perimeter in order to encourage garden-level views

up toward the office towers. Photo courtesy Kaiser Corporation.

Kaiser Tower. The principal volume of the 390-foot tower, designed

by Welton Beckett, gently curves in harmony with the lake beyond. Its

solid ends are clad in pre-cast panels of dolomite. The tower is

enlivened here by a gingko tree in autumnal glory.

Urbanist> March 2011 17

URBAN DRIFTcitynew5from aroundthe globe

RURAL RAIL RUN BYFARMERSAcross Canada, railroads are

closing branch lines in order toincrease their profit margins by

focusing on more profitable lines.

At the same time, local grainelevators are closing and farmers

need to transport their crops by

truck to large centralized facilitieson mainline railroads. Farmers in

the Battle River area of Alberta

have reversed this trend by

joining together to buy their ownrail line and a locomotive to

transport their goods directly and

avoid the terminal operators. Byselling shares in the company, the

farmers who founded the Battle

River Railroad cooperatively own

the company. The financial risk

has been minimal, because therails themselves are probably

worth more than the $5 million(CAD) paid for the line to former

owner CN. Participating farmers

are saving $800-900 per carload

over what they were paying

before, and they are all partowners of Canada's newest short­line (80 km) railroad."Farmers take back rural rail line," Dave Cooper, TheMontreal Gazette 12/31/2010

BIRD BROADCASTS FORHAPPINESSR. Rex Paris, mayor of Lancaster,

Calif., has an idea to improve

public well-being in town thatstrikes many as unconventional.

He recently proposed playing

birdsong on the main street,

alluding to scientific research thatsuggests that listening to birds

can make people happier. While

cheaper than many other urban

improvement schemes, the plan

has met with some skepticism, as

the mayor has proposed a variety

18 Urbanist> March 2011

of other unconventional schemesthat have not come to fruition,

including requiring all city staff

to learn Mandarin in a bid to

lure more Chinese businesses."Lancaster Mayor Wants to Broadcast Bird Songs,"CNBC.com, 01/27/2011.

CUBAN TRANSPORT DOESN'TDELIVERCubans rely on public

transportation for most of their

daily needs, yet buses oftendon't arrive and passengers

are forced to pool together and

take expensive private taxis.After the collapse of the Soviet

Union, Cuba lost its biggest

source of funding and plans

for a metro were put on hold.In its place were large trucks

pulling containers for people

called "camels," named for thevehicles' distinctive humps. In

the past few years, a trade deal

with China brought hundreds of

new modern buses to the country

and people thought things wouldimprove. Unfortunately, without a

dedicated source of funding, the

new buses have already becomeovercrowded and are falling into

disrepair. The inability of peopleto freely move around the country

is a self-defeating cycle that will

be hard to escape without largereconomic reforms."A country literally immobilized,' Yoani Sanchez, TheHuftington Post, 01/30/2010.

NEW YORK CITY'S NEW"ZONING ILLUSTRATED"New York has rezoned huge

parts of the city since 2002.These changes have included

increasing density requirements,

encouraging grocery stores

to open in residential

neighborhoods, and requiring

bicycle parking in new buildings.

But reading the city's 1,500-page

zoning resolution would be a

challenge for anyone, especiallymembers of the public unfamiliar

with the jargon in planning

documents. Amanda Burden,the planning commissioner, has

pushed for the development of a

guidebook to help make zoningcomprehensible. The 168-page

book is heavily illustrated and

captioned in order to explain tocity residents what you are and

aren't allowed to build. With itscartoon-like illustrations of each

zoning designation, Burden says

the book goes beyond identifying

uses for specific parcels, andcould help activists and residents

shape their neighborhoods.

While the book won't cover

every element of the code, it is

a good start to unravelling thecomplexities of a difficult subject,

and could make zoning "fun toread.""A New City Handbook Demystities Zoning,' Fred A.Bernstein, The New York Times, 02/03/2011.

SHANGHAI REDEVELOPS TOSUBDUE SPRAWLIn the first month of 2011,

China went about clearing thesite of last year's World Expo in

Shanghai. Five of the pavilions

will be retained but the rest of thearea will be redeveloped into a

dense mixed-use neighborhoodwith new parks that will bring

development to the city's core

after years of focus on theperiphery. It is also designed to

tie the older Pudi part of the city

to the newer Puxi. Mayor Han

Zheng is promoting the plan asthe city aims to reduce energy

use by 16 percent by 2016.

China has 600 million urbanresidents today, which will grow

to over 1 billion by 2030. It is

hoped that the redevelopment

of the Expo site will provide a

blueprint for growth.'Taming Shanghai's Sprawl," Bill Powell, Time02/03/2011.

"

SPUR Board of Directors Chairs and committees Welcome to ournew members!

Co-Chairs Board Members Janis Mackenzie PROGRAM Downtown Transit Facility Rental

COMMITTEES Center INDIVIDUALS Emma MarchantAndy Barnes Carl Anthony John Madden Bill Stotler John Abell Duane Martinez

Linda Jo Fitz David Baker Jacinta McCann Emilio Cruz Fiona Akins David Masenten

Ballot Analysis Executive German W. Aparicio Mary McDonald

Fred Blackwell John McNulty Bob GambleCynthia Armour Parker McNulty

Doyle Drive Andy Barnes Eileen Ash amelia mendez

Co-Vice Chairs Chris Block Chris MeanyPeter Mezey Amanda Linda Jo Fitz

Joe Bamberg Zahra MojlahediJerry Barclay Sarah Moore

Lee Blitch Margo Bradish Ezra MerseyHoenigrnan David Bates lucien Muir

Mary McCue Larry Burnett Mary Murphy Disaster Planning Finance Adrien Baudrimont Danielle Murray

Eph Hirsh Steven Bowles Ross Nakasone

Bill Rosetti Michaela Cassidy Paul Okamoto Jacinta McCann Bob Gamble Ryan Carney Jessica Neff

Dick MortenPeter Winkelstein Jessica Coleman Doug Overman

Lydia Tan Charmaine Curtis Brad Paul Human Resources Kevin Cottrell Jessica Partch

V. Fei Tsen Gia Daniller-Katz Chris Poland Chris Poland Regional Planning Masume Dana Colin PiperLydia Tan Christian John Dauer Damir Romano Priskich

Oscar De La Torre Teresa Rea HousingLarry Burnett Jessica Davenport Meghen Quinn

Byron Rhett Libby Seilel Individual Amy DiCarlantonio Al RamadanSecretary Kelly Dearman Ezra Mersey Darin Dinsmore Annabelle Reber

Tomiquia Moss Shelley Doran Wade Rose Lydia TanMembership Sebastien DuBois Marcus Rector

Shaun E!lis Eric Ridenour

Oz Erickson Victor Seeto OPERATING Bill Stotler Lesley Ewing Nadia Secreto

Project Review COMMITTEES James Famolare Geoff Sharp

Treasurer Norman Fang Elizabeth (Libby) Investment Julia Fasick Jess Sheldon

David Friedman SeilelCharmaine Curtis David Fiore Jay Sholl

Bob Gamble Audit Ann Lazarus Jennifer Franco James SIlliman

Gillian Gillett Chi-Hsin ShaoMary Beth Sanders

Peter Mezey Clare Friel Janya Swartzman

Reuben Schwartz Major Donors Julie Germain Lisa Taylor

Immediate Chris Gruwell Raphael Sperry Jack Gold Elizabeth Turnbloom

Bill StotlerBoard Linda Jo Fitz Kimis Haddadan Kit Wang

Past Co-Chair Anne Halsted Sustainable Hans-Christoph Haenlein Chloe Weiller

Stuart Sunshine DevelopmentDevelopment Anne Halsted Laura Hall Walker Wright

Tom Hart Dave HartleyLee Blitch Roger L. Hall Josh Zerkel

Mary Huss Michael Teitz Paul Okamoto Planned Giving Mark Hamilton Natasha Zuhur

Chris Iglesias Will Travis Bry Sarte Building Michaela CassidyErin Hansen

Advisory Jennifer HefHn BUSINESSES

Council Laurie Johnson Jeff Tumlin Management Patrick Heryford Urban Mapping, Inc.

Transportatron Silver SPUR Gabriel Ho Vanir Construction

Co-Chairs Ken Kirkey Steve VetteI Larry Burnett Elizabeth Hoehnke Management

Emilio Cruz Dave Hartley David Hoffer

Michael Alexander Travis Kiyota Debra WalkerBusiness Patricia Klitgaard Tegan HollyAnthony Bruzzone

Paul Sedway Patricia Klitgaard Brooks Walker, III Inge HortonMembership Mad Hunter

Florence Kong Cynthia Wilusz- TASK FORCES Young Urbanists Glen JonesTom Hart

Gwyneth Borden Kevin KahnRik Kunnath Lovell Climate Adaptation Terry Micheau Tanya Kaplow

Ellen Lou Gia Daniller Matthew KruczlnickiWill Travis Mary Kuhn

Capital Campaign Bobifer Lake

Chris MeanyAnna LaRueLauren LeeJames Leventhal

Urbanist> March 2011 19

JainSPUR taday! The San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association

is a member-supported nonprofit organization. We rely on your support to promote good planning

and good government through research, education and advocacy. Find out more at spur.org/join.

spur.org/ggawards

March 1S-April 20, 2011spur.org/exhibits

Exhibit opening!

Local Code: Real Estatesan exhibit by Nicholas deMonchaux

Tickets and sponsorshipsavailable!

2011 Good GovernmentAwards March 21, 2011at San Francisco City Hall

.'

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