- air canada starts flying a daily nonstop flight from the san diego international (barely) airport to toronto on june 17th. flight times are convenient with a 7:25 AM departure from SAN and a 5:25 PM return fight out of toronto. i checked the fare for the last weekend in june and it’ll set you back a mere $574, so hopefully yapta will start tracking those price drops soon – it’s not in their engine yet.

- bad news: the balboa park pedestrian plaza’s cost to rid it of parking: 6 million. good news: it won’t cost taxpayers anything, since they’re hoping to raise the money via donations. i’ll post more info about how to donate once i hear anything.

- and speaking of parking, california senate bill 518 proposes to reward communities that reduce the amount of free parking by steering more public transit funds their way (in theory). it’s been fun to watch the resulting meltdown by the ‘burbers, who insist that all commerce will grind to a halt unless they can continue to park for free wherever they want.

nobody likes to pay for parking, but the reaction to this bill illustrates that many people ignore the impact of free parking on urban communities (see the link above for more info), particularly if fixing the problem inconveniences them. the bill’s potential benefits are numerous and also include reduced pollution, less traffic congestion, increased alternative transit funding, more walkable communities, and healthier people. yet two dollars in a parking meter = apocalypse. i think the guy interviewed on fox 5 san diego summed up the irrationality best when he proclaimed all parking should be free, because it’s in the public domain.

- the port of san diego recently held a public meeting regarding the status of the police headquarters renewal project, and we were surprised to hear that any development there must be “visitor services” (read: tourist traps like seaport village next door) – so drop that dream of a trader joe’s there, downtown residents. once again the port fails to represent the interests of the citizens it’s supposed to serve.

other california cities, like los angeles, directly administer their port via city departments, but the port of san diego was created by the state to manage the bay nearly 50 years ago. it’s time to ask if san diego county residents could get better representation (and a better water front) by dissolving the authority and administering the port areas directly through its bay front cities.