Editordude: We couldn’t help but elevate the following comments by Paul Webb and Roy McMakin into full-blown “reader rants”. Their writings are worthy of more attention and touch on the Sports Arena redevelopment, the 30 foot height limit, CirculateSD, Jen Campbell and the mayor’s race.
Regarding the Sports Arena Redevelopment ….
By Paul Webb
This is not a case of a developer buying a piece of land, formulating a plan and then going through the entitlements process. This is publicly owned land, and has been for a very long time.
There is absolutely no fundamental necessity for any uses other than public uses on this property. We live in a city, and, in the case of those of us in the Point Loma/OB area, a neighborhood that fails to meet any standards for parkland per 100,000 population put forth by any rating organization. If there is a need for housing, there is also a great need for increasing park land available to the public.
There is also a great need to improve the traffic circulation of the the Midway area and surrounding communities. Any development of this, I repeat, PUBLICLY OWNED PROPERTY should address park deficiencies and circulation/transportation issues first, before we even consider what other uses can or should be made of the land.
I would also take issues that “everything is within a quick walk.” We don’t actually know what types of uses would go in all those buildings. What we have in front of us are two extremely vague conceptual development plans, which do not commit to providing public amenities, do not commit to a firm number of parking spaces, and do not specify or commit to any specific uses or development types other than the sports arena.
We don’t actually know if this will in fact be a walkable community where people both live and work. I’ve been hearing about these magical communities for my entire career as an urban planner and, with the possible exception of downtown, I have yet to see one.
I would also point out that the process put forth by the city was nothing less than insulting. There was no opportunity to criticize either proposal or question the overall process. All you could do was tell what things about each concept you liked. This is not public outreach, it is a charade. At a minimum, there should have been a charette process to develop ideas for what good development of the property should be. If a public process was not possible due to the pandemic, at least a charette involving major stakeholders should have been conducted.
Finally, there’s Dr. Jen Campbell. She undoubtedly knows about health and healthy living, but my experience has been that she does not know a lot about urban planning, transportation, parks or many of the other issues over which she now has influence. I have not observed her listening to informed people and gaining insight from what she has heard. I have heard her stubbornly clinging to notions that are wrong-headed and in some cases actually factually wrong.
Thoughts on Circulate SD and 30 Foot Height Limit
I’ve thought for a while that Circulate SD deserves a deep investigative journalist look. And I know I’m not alone in that feeling. Colin Parent and team seem to almost be begging for some serious scrutiny, or feel they are immune from it. I think in many ways different generations see their tactics and agenda very differently. Their supporters see them as having found a way to get important stuff done, making alliances with Big Money. But their critics see them corporate shills, who traffic in green/housing washing.
Circulate SD seems to exemplify the late stage capitalist marriage of progressive social beliefs and an almost libertarian belief in big corporate money’s power for transformation of cities. I have no idea if Circulate vets their many corporate donors. My take is they feel the end justifies the means. But their top donor is Deloitte, and I assume they want something for the money they give them.
I think its also interesting that the above description applies to their preferred mayoral candidate, Todd Gloria. I think this is because there is a symbiotic relationship between some elected officials and Circulate SD. I believe Circulate does consulting work for the City of SD. Many people are generally aware Mr Gloria’s decisions are lobbyist / big money controlled, as are Circulate’s I assume. To many of us this seems counter what we want to see in our elected officials. But it seems that to his supporters if he can add housing and bike lanes they don’t care what goes on behind the curtain.
As Dems take power in San Diego (and the country hopefully) I think we are going to continue to see the tensions between the corporate arm and the anti-corporate arm of the party. Given’s SD’s legacy of conservative politics I think Circulate and Gloria are essentially taking the place of the Republicans, as I mentioned above, with progressive social policies. They are pro big business, anti-regulation etc. To me they seem to be against some democratic concepts if they are in the way of achieving their goals. Colin himself has written about this, he suggests taking power from communities as they stand in the way of what he feel is right. I assume he feels the urgency of our times justify getting rid of the messiness of democracy.
So I think the support Circulate SD has for removing the 30? height limit has to be seen in this light. They not only see nothing wrong with handing development and more over to corporate control, essentially letting big developers be our City planning department. I suppose Colin also enjoys having a large and powerful lobbying not-for-profit, even if its really just a lobbying business.
I think hippies, like me, prefer not only the messiness of decisions being made in open and transparently democratic way, but the quality of a city that evolves in a more accretive way from that process. Maybe the hippies are still holding on to an illusion of some shred of an utopia, and maybe the YIMBYs are trying to make the best of a dystopic future. But I do know folks like me also have a deep set skepticism of big corporate control of our lives. But Colin and his followers don’t see that as a concern……
I suppose we will see how this plays out in November, I assume we will be greatly outspent.
I’ve thought for a while that Circulate SD deserves a deep investigative journalist look. And I know I’m not alone in that feeling. Colin Parent and team seem to almost be begging for some serious scrutiny, or feel they are immune from it. I think in many ways different generations see their tactics and agenda very differently. Their supporters see them as having found a way to get important stuff done, making alliances with Big Money. But their critics see them corporate shills, who traffic in green/housing washing.
Circulate SD seems to exemplify the late stage capitalist marriage of progressive social beliefs and an almost libertarian belief in big corporate money’s power for transformation of cities. I have no idea if Circulate vets their many corporate donors. My take is they feel the end justifies the means. But their top donor is Deloitte, and I assume they want something for the money they give them.
I think its also interesting that the above description applies to their preferred mayoral candidate, Todd Gloria. I think this is because there is a symbiotic relationship between some elected officials and Circulate SD. I believe Circulate does consulting work for the City of SD. Many people are generally aware Mr Gloria’s decisions are lobbyist / big money controlled, as are Circulate’s I assume. To many of us this seems counter what we want to see in our elected officials. But it seems that to his supporters if he can add housing and bike lanes they don’t care what goes on behind the curtain.
As Dems take power in San Diego (and the country hopefully) I think we are going to continue to see the tensions between the corporate arm and the anti-corporate arm of the party. Given’s SD’s legacy of conservative politics I think Circulate and Gloria are essentially taking the place of the Republicans, as I mentioned above, with progressive social policies. They are pro big business, anti-regulation etc. To me they seem to be against some democratic concepts if they are in the way of achieving their goals. Colin himself has written about this, he suggests taking power from communities as they stand in the way of what he feel is right. I assume he feels the urgency of our times justify getting rid of the messiness of democracy.
So I think the support Circulate SD has for removing the 30? height limit has to be seen in this light. They not only see nothing wrong with handing development and more over to corporate control, essentially letting big developers be our City planning department. I suppose Colin also enjoys having a large and powerful lobbying not-for-profit, even if its really just a lobbying business.
I think hippies, like me, prefer not only the messiness of decisions being made in open and transparently democratic way, but the quality of a city that evolves in a more accretive way from that process. Maybe the hippies are still holding on to an illusion of some shred of an utopia, and maybe the YIMBYs are trying to make the best of a dystopic future. But I do know folks like me also have a deep set skepticism of big corporate control of our lives. But Colin and his followers don’t see that as a concern……
I suppose we will see how this plays out in November, I assume we will be greatly outspent.