blight fights back

as the economy continues to sour and foreclosures dominate the resale market in many lower-income san diego communities, it's sad to see the resulting downturn in our neighborhoods. i know these things go in cycles, but when you consider how long it took to turn a lot of san diego's core neighborhoods around, it's disconcerting to think of where we might be headed.

one of the warning signs is the increased 'ho prevalence along el cajon blvd. what had been largely cleaned up a couple of years ago is back with a vengeance, and no longer limited to east of 805. no, they're strutting their stuff in broad daylight along ecb, as shown on a fox 5 san diego news report last night (sorry, can't find link - new station/website... and what was up with that train wreck of a debut last night?! all i could think of was boom goes the dynamite as jokes fell flat, lighting changed freakishly and flop sweat dripped). they interviewed employees and patrons of vesuvio restaurant at 30th/el cajon, who all complained of increased prostitution and associated crime in the area. meanwhile, across the street, starbucks' exit from renaissance could harken even more criminal activity in the area.

voice of san diego has an article up about the city heights housing market and it's not looking good. you have to figure that loads of vacant houses in an already borderline community is not a good thing. while there's always the potential of flippers coming in to fix things up a bit, as the article points out, no one goes searching the internet for homes in 92105 due to its reputation for crime and poor services. yet city heights has some pockets of decent homes, including houses from kensington builders and even a "castle" neighborhood.

one positive sign was the approval of a redevelopment zone for grantville, just down the hill from kensington in mission valley/gorge. as anyone who's driven through the area knows, it's a mish-mash of choked traffic, trashy used car lots and pedestrian-unfriendly strip malls. while many residents seem to like it that way ("i don't want to walk anywhere!") it's a good first step that jim madaffer and the city council made the effort to secure funds to improve the area.