parking vs. housing

24 Jul
2010

- should developers of lower-income housing in high-density areas of san diego be required to provide the same number of parking spaces per unit as suburban areas?  healthycal.org looks at projects in lincoln park and serra mesa that have wrestled with this issue.

- the mid-city trolley route from old town to ucsd/utc has been selected and will hopefully be rolling in 2015…

- as a cyclist it’s been a relief to see some beat-up streets around town get a fresh paving, especially in hillcrest and university heights.  pacific highway near the airport has long been a minefield and that’s in the process of being stripped for re-paving now.

- academy of our lady of peace in university heights continues to bully its neighbors and the community, with plans to tear down nearby historical homes to put up a parking garage and other structures.  now they’re suing the city for stopping the project, claiming religious discrimination.  there’s a closed city hall session on monday 7/26 at 2pm; for more information, contact Dionne Carlson (dionneleighcarlson-at-cox.net) of the Between Heights Community Association Committee.

- since when did bangkok spices thai on el cajon, just west of 30th, become so popular?  the restaurant, a reliable option for cheap and spicy thai with a former-pizza-hut decor, was jammed last night past its 9:30 closing time.  each time we go it seems more people have discovered this spot, but then there aren’t a whole lot of good thai options in that area.  and the recent closing of dao son down the street couldn’t have hurt.

- thanks to san diego magazine for including sdurban.com in its list of best blogs in san diego!

july cry

22 Jul
2010

shed a tear for the summer that wasn’t.  another day, another record minimum high temperature – 10 for the month now, or nearly one every other day.  after a brief taste of beach weather last week (the “5 days of summer”), it was back to the gloom again at the coast.  by any measure – ocean temps in the low 60′s, high temps on pace for the second coldest july ever, or a mere 3 days above normal out of the past 72 – this has been one bummer of a summer for beach-goers.  it’ll be warm in september, when the days are short and the ocean’s even colder.

…keeping things positive:  java jones has filed for bankruptcy. does this mean the closure of both the east village and newly-opened mission hills locations?   use up those groupon coupons if you’ve got ‘em.  and it’s the end for san diego news network, which had some interesting local stories but could have used more – looking at their final front page, nothing much jumps out as a must-read.

- searsucker is open downtown, with a grand opening set for next week.

- bike to mcasd on sunday 8/1 and get 2-for-1 admission, then take part in a bike tour of the viva la revolucion street art project downtown.

- construction on a rapid bus route from sdsu to downtown is set to begin next spring.  among the controversies: ripping out the old state theatre terrazzo and removing the center median on park boulevard from el cajon to university. while the terrazzo is worth saving, losing the median seems acceptable given the benefit to the rapid line.   and the irony of an auto museum owner at el cajon and park blasting a public transit project is, well, perfect:

“They’re putting in a bus that nobody wants and nobody needs,” Cooley said. “They’re going to shove it down our throats.”

mcasd street art

19 Jul
2010

driving past urban outfitters in hillcrest this past saturday, we were surprised to see this huge mural from san diego artist shepard fairey on the south wall of the building. the next day there was a writeup on the mural in the UT, and another article describing the san diego museum of contemporary art’s street art project, which fairey’s mural is a part of. huff post has more pics, and it’s good to see this project getting attention beyond san diego. when our city has public art like this gracing its harbor, it clearly could use a bit more edge.

here’s another picture of the fairey mural, looking northeast:

as someone who’s worked with climate researchers, this section of the mural rings especially true:

and this part, with a baton-waving cop saying “i’m gonna kick your ass – and get away with it”, is sure to ruffle a few feathers:

when we stopped by sunday to take these pictures, the mural was attracting several people who were doing the same. maybe mcasd’s project will engage san diegans in a discussion of what public art means to them, and its quantity/quality prior to this. based on the pictures in the above articles, these street art installations are a big step forward.

- true north has a fundraiser this saturday, july 24th from 3-8pm for californians against slavery, a group working to strengthen human trafficking laws in the state. from their website:

Human trafficking is a criminal business that profits from enslaving people for sexual servitude and forced labor. It is the second largest and fastest growing criminal enterprise worldwide; 12.5 Million slaves worldwide (80% women and children; 50% children); AT LEAST 100,000 American minors are sex slaves (sold by pimps); 14,500-17,500 people brought in from other countries as slaves each year

donation is $5 and includes music and other entertainment.

- five guys burgers is open in point loma, and it’s the first non-military-base location in san diego for this east coast chain. the yelpers seems to like it…

rtp 2050

17 Jul
2010

- take the san diego 2050 regional transportation plan survey to give your vision of the future of san diego public transportation.

- one bright side to the real estate collapse in miami is that more young people are able to rent the unsold condominiums, resulting in new restaurants and clubs in a formerly dead downtown. while the crash was more severe than san diego, check out this bloomberg article, which isn’t too far from what this voice of san diego piece says about vantage point downtown.

- apparently boi petro, which replaces the former yogotango spot in the gaslamp, has morphed from a frozen yogurt place to a brazilian bbq spot and salad bar… with frozen yogurt. will have to check out that strange combination next time we’re down that way…

- great to see hillcrest packed for the pride parade today, and all the people on the streets around balboa park during the festival there. we need an excuse to throw big parties like that more often. nbc san diego put together a good photo set from the festival; check out picture 78 for a great contrast between the spirit of pride weekend and its protesters. somehow our pictures from the parade didn’t turn out quite as meaningful:

pride line

15 Jul
2010

park 2 park shuttle resumed service a couple weeks back and they’re connecting to hillcrest this weekend for pride. check out their pride line schedule and route map – they’ll be providing rides to the parade saturday morning and both days of the festival. cost is $10/day or $15 for the weekend. and the shuttle runs until 1:45 am on sunday morning, so you won’t miss a single gaga remix at the club. sdgln has more info.

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