San Diego UrbDeZine

Urban Design + Development + Economics + Community

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East Village Focus Plan

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Downtown San Diego’s East Village South Focus Plan – Draft

 

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What San Diego will soon mar for a parking garage

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Guidebook cover Panama California Expo 1915

The photo above shows how the historic Cabrillo Bridge was conceptualized to serve as the grand and ceremonial entrance to Balboa Park.  The bridge was designed by Bertram Goodhue for Panama California Exposition of 1915.   It has fulfilled its concept admirably.  However, a bypass bridge will soon mar the bridge in such as way that defeats the intended effect of the design, i.e., the lone elegant arched viaduct entrance into the park. [Read more…] about What San Diego will soon mar for a parking garage

Demystifying Rent Control

Rent control can help solve California’s housing affordability and homelessness crisis by decreasing displacement and protecting the rights and dignity of working families, the elderly, and long-term tenants. To demystify rent control in California, here are seven rent control myths followed by seven anti-poverty tenant protection ordinances cities can implement.

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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

Innovative Community Bike Center coming to San Diego in . . .

“Waste not, want not!”   -  Poor Richard’s Almanac. Non-profit's idea for bike center in abandoned Navy building slowed but not deterred by red tape.

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San Diego Community Cycling Center slideWe think of “sustainability” as a new idea, a concept underlying our hoped-for environmental stewardship of the planet, but as Poor Richard first voiced a related concept at the beginning of our national existence, it really isn’t a new idea at all.  I’m not going to use this opportunity to go tree-hugger on you (although it’s not a role foreign to me), but I do want to highlight how an unused asset of the City’s could be turned into a brilliant community treasure.  Sadly, this is an asset the City was prepared to waste.  [Read more…] about Innovative Community Bike Center coming to San Diego in . . .

San Diego High School in Balboa Park – Statement of Position Balboa Park Conservancy

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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

Convention Center Expansion?

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Convention CenterEarlier this year, a hosted panel of local decision makers was brought together to discuss future of San Diego.  Much of the conversation was around the convention center expansion.  If you’ve been following the local news, you’ve noticed much of the dialog is about the benefits of a larger meeting space.  The conversation is often about the need for more space to keep Comic-Con in San Diego or the heavy regional impact, the tax revenues, or the attention it all brings to our city.  At the end of the panel discussion, a younger, seemingly naive gentleman stood up to ask a question.  The question was, “Why do we need a larger convention center when it seems vacant for most of the year?” [Read more…] about Convention Center Expansion?

Downtown San Diego’s East Village South Focus Plan – Draft

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The following text and images comprise the East Village Draft Focus Plan released on July 30, 2016, including subsequent minor corrections and additions made by its authors.  It has been reconstituted here from the PDF original version to enable web and mobile viewing (there are formatting variations from the original).  To view a gallery of images, or view any image in its full size, click directly on the image.  The original version may be downloaded from this PDF link (warning: downloading PDF may require high capacity broadband connection).   

[Read more…] about Downtown San Diego’s East Village South Focus Plan – Draft

Is San Diego’s Horton Plaza Park Portland’s Pioneer Courthouse Square 2.0?

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Horton Plaza Park image 6
Newly expanded Horton Plaza Park

Downtown San Diego’s Horton Plaza Park expansion opened last week . . . more or less.  Construction is not quite complete.  San Diego’s downtown (at least post-WWII downtown) has thus far lacked a vibrant town square like San Francisco’s Union Square or similar successful plazas in other major cities.  This major expansion of the small historic plaza is intended to fill the bill.  The design team for Horton Plaza Park included Walker Macy | Landscape Architecture, the same firm that designed Pioneer Courthouse Square in Portland. Features include cafe-style tables and chairs, amphitheater-style steps / bleachers, and pillars / obelisks that double as lighting for events.  There’s a Starbucks, Sloan’s Ice Cream, Arts Tix Kiosk, and a yet to be named vendor all built into the park. [Read more…] about Is San Diego’s Horton Plaza Park Portland’s Pioneer Courthouse Square 2.0?

Five reasons losing an NFL football team is good for a city

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Qualcomm Stadium aerial GoogleMy family will attest, I’m a San Diego Chargers football fan. During football season, not only is the TV tuned to Chargers games, but so are multiple strategically located radios around the yard, lest I miss any action while attending to a honey-do task or breaking up an argument between my children.  Then there are the pre and post game shows, and wasted hours reading about the draft, trades, and other team side shows. Lest I forget to mention, I’m also a San Diego County resident – just outside the city’s boundaries.

However, the Chargers are one of several NFL teams, along with the St. Louis Rams and the Oakland Raiders, considered likely to move to another city unless they receive a new football stadium.   [Read more…] about Five reasons losing an NFL football team is good for a city

Who Hijacked La Mesa’s Trees?

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La Mesa Streetscape Masterplan Figure 5The City of La Mesa has cut down all the shade trees along its commercial mainstreet. This occurred as construction began on the La Mesa Downtown Streetscape “enhancement” project. Some of these trees were tattered, unhealthy, or buckling the sidewalks. However, the city removed nearly all the trees, problematic or not.  Rather than replacing these trees with environmentally and pedestrian friendly shade trees (e.g. native varieties like Western Sycamores, Live Oak, or Black Oak), the replacements tree choice is being guided primarily by maintenance concerns, leaving a limited selection of relatively small non-native and non-shade trees.  Additionally, the Streetscape Masterplan shows an abundance of the grossly overused fan palm, sparing only La Mesa Boulevard between Acacia and 4th, and a few other blocks.   [Read more…] about Who Hijacked La Mesa’s Trees?