Articles and studies from newspapers to academic journals warn the public against the havoc and devastation caused by rent control ordinances. However, it is not tenants and community based organizations that are funding these articles and studies, it is real estate investors, developers, and corporate apartment owner associations. For decades, tenants and community based organizations across California have worked tirelessly to enact rent control ordinances to decrease displacement and protect the rights and dignity of working families, the elderly, and long-term tenants. Tenant advocates continue to direct their limited resources to local initiatives and ballot measures, not to fund studies, articles, and lawsuits. [Read more…] about Demystifying Rent Control
Planning
How to Program Social Equity into Planning Sustainable Communities
Due to today’s housing crisis, it seems west coast cities are taking on Not-In-My-Backyard (NIMBY) opposition that has stymied new projects and developments via polarizing and protracted public processes. These ‘no-growth’ individuals group together out of an innate fear of change to stop planned development intended to benefit their larger community. In my hometown of San Diego, these polarizing projects range from bicycle lanes, stadiums, house rentals, and to building more homes to address our housing crisis. Their innate ‘fear of change’ response to anything new creates an ethical challenge for every major city trying to build housing or transit. [Read more…] about How to Program Social Equity into Planning Sustainable Communities
A New Grand Pedestrian Promenade Through Downtown San Diego?
Report of the planning workshop for the proposed 14th Street Promenade
The idea for grand pedestrian routes through downtown San Diego is not new. In 1908, John Nolen famously had vision of a Promenade from Balboa Park to San Diego Bay along what is now Cedar Street. Just imagine how that would be today if it had been implemented 100 years ago, with the beautiful County Administration Building at the bottom of the gentle hill from Park to Bay. Sometimes I think ‘so many opportunities lost’ should be San Diego’s motto.
But, in the fertile minds of planners, this idea hasn’t died. Now, they are being called Green Streets, and six are planned for downtown. [Read more…] about A New Grand Pedestrian Promenade Through Downtown San Diego?
Support the Morena Corridor Specific Plan
The San Diego Region will struggle in every neighborhood to accommodate the population growth forecasted by SANDAG – as many as a million new residents by 2050. San Diego already has a widely-recognized housing shortage that results in major annual price increases and undermines the city’s climate action plan as commuters go farther afield in search of affordability. The problem will only get worse unless we take bold steps to sensibly accommodate this inevitable growth. [Read more…] about Support the Morena Corridor Specific Plan
Labor, Environment, and Social Justice Groups create coalition to facilitate and advocate for affordable housing in San Diego.
AIA-SD and E+DC open letter regarding the Soccer City proposal for the Qualcomm Stadium site
To: Citizens of San Diego, Mayor Faulconer, and City Council Members
From: The American Institute of Architects San Diego Chapter (AIASD)
The Environment + Design Council (E+DC)
RE: Qualcomm Site Developer Selection Process [Read more…] about AIA-SD and E+DC open letter regarding the Soccer City proposal for the Qualcomm Stadium site
UN advocates a more disorderly urban form in New Urban Agenda document and Quito Papers film
The future is urban. Per the World Bank, 70% of the world’s population will live in cities by 2050. A vision of and plan for housing this mind-boggling percentage is crucial. And that was precisely the task undertaken at the October 2016 meeting of the UN-Habitat III conference in Quito, Ecuador. The conference produced what will surely be a crucial document, the New Urban Agenda (the complete text can be found in PDF here). [Read more…] about UN advocates a more disorderly urban form in New Urban Agenda document and Quito Papers film
Public Transit as a Social Justice Issue
One crucial aspect of contemporary debates on spatial politics, socioeconomic stratification, and immigration is the issue of public transit. Prior to the question of a person’s right to be in a city (or supposed lack thereof in the case of undocumented immigrants), there is the question of a city’s duty to provide feasible means for moving around in its space. Albeit mundane, it is a key factor determining a person’s economic and educational opportunities, to name only two. And it hardly bears mentioning, but moving around in San Diego all but requires a car. [Read more…] about Public Transit as a Social Justice Issue
Barrio Logan vs Stadium: why it matters
Barrio Logan is little known to most San Diegans – beyond being a predominantly Mexican-American neighborhood near downtown. Yet it is one of San Diego’s most historically significant and culturally important neighborhoods.
San Diego High School in Balboa Park – Statement of Position Balboa Park Conservancy
The Balboa Park Conservancy acknowledges that San Diego High School has been located on park lands since 1892. The City and School District entered into a lease agreement in 1974 with the stated intent of the lease to return the site to the City for park purposes in 2024 when the lease expires; however, there appears to be consensus among the School District, City officials and many in the community that continuation of San Diego High School in its current location would be the best use of the 34-acre site in the foreseeable future. [Read more…] about San Diego High School in Balboa Park – Statement of Position Balboa Park Conservancy