Here are 2 very poignant rants by Rag readers.
Long Past Time to Take Our Neighborhoods Back
By Missing Old San Diego
It is long past time to take our neighborhoods back. Our zoning laws are being violated daily and too many of our green spaces are now cheap, ugly concrete high rises.
Seeing this story gives me some hope! [Revolt in Encanto]
The density that is being creating is insane. It is very clear San Diego City government is no longer representing taxpayers or the communities we live in.
We’ve lived in North Park for 15 years, ugly, cheap apartments are flying up all around us. Horrid constant construction noise, grime and all day highjacked parking spots for construction workers.
University Street is down to one lane heading east/west in some places. The traffic lights are creating choke points every few blocks. No master plan whatsoever. We don’t need to continue to build 1 bedroom $3000 a month apartments and ADU’s.
Stephen Whitburn our City Council representative recently sent out a flyer boasting he had pretty much solved our homeless problem. Maybe he hadn’t been down here for a while? The streets are filthy along University, gross.
Stop the madness! Why was this self serving regime at city hall voted in for a SECOND go at ruining our city?
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Most People – Regardless of Ethnicity — Don’t Want Large Apartment Complexes Next to Them
By Diego
While growing up in San Diego, democrats were the minority party comprised of a diverse coalition of whites, minorities and other marginalized groups. They were for limited smart growth, improved mass transit and greater investment in poorer parts of the city. This was counter to what developers and other pro-growth supporters wanted, and they funded republican candidates who won elections and championed their cause.
Over time, San Diego became less conservative and democrats took over elected offices. Developers and other corporate interests realized they had to pivot to this new group of leaders.
To do this they decided to use race (minorities against whites) as a wedge issue to divide the new democratic majority. It can be seen on a variety of fronts. For example, residential solar panels have come under attack by the big utilities using “equity” as the reason for dialing back solar incentives. Another is the City’s Bonus ADU policy, where the narrative goes, if you are against ADU apartment complexes you are trying to keep people of color out of your majority white neighborhoods.
The truth is most people, whether they are black, white, Hispanic, Asian…don’t want a large apartment complex to go in next to them, radically changing the character of their neighborhood without having a say in the matter. While the developer warriors at city hall got reelected, the backlash is coming and it will be from a diverse coalition of people that care about San Diego and the neighborhood where they live.
It is not a question of asthetics, although in a city as beautiful as ours monolithic eyesore after eyesore is being built en masse.
It’s not a matter of “having to live” next to unimaginitive, utilitarian Soviet bloc style housing warehouses with burnt orange and olive green doors. It is all about the corporate monopolization of housing.
https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/supply-and-the-housing-crisis-a-debate/
All politics is local. The sustained rise of Trumpism is inextricably tied to the unmitigated corruption of “one party rule” and the California Democratic Party is directly to blame.
Until all registered and former registered “Democrats” join in unison to rid ourselves of the failed, self serving, lobbyist- syccophants masquarading as “champions of the common folk” that have strongarmed control over our electoral process “the Party” will continue to callously crush everyone as long as there is money in it for them. (See Toni Atkins, Todd Gloria, Sean Elo-Rivera, Jen Campbell, Vivian Moreno, Joe LaCava, and real life corporate Smithers, Stephen Whitburn)
Precisely. Even the chosen one to replace in the county sups is using Rottenstreich as a campaign mgr. We used to call it the good ol boys network.
We can’t continue to allow greedy developers and ambitious politicians to railroad us into accepting over-development of luxury housing. This is not solving any of our real problems, and is only serving to further exacerbate existing problems such as traffic, parking, and the lack of affordable housing. Thoughtful city planning, as well as the will of the voters, should not be ignored! This is especially important as we are witnessing the very real and dangerous problem of evacuations in areas that don’t have the roads to support a swift and safe evacuation.
Both major political parties in California and elsewhere have allowed their priorities to be hijacked by developers and special interests, all while ignoring the needs of everyday citizens. The Democratic Party in California, much like the Republican Party on a national level, has become increasingly compromised, serving the wealthy few instead of the many.
There is no denying that the development boom in San Diego — and the relentless march toward density — is being driven by forces that don’t care about maintaining the character of neighborhoods or the well-being of the people who live in them. Ugly (nothing cheap about them) apartments are going up everywhere, and the impact on quality of life is undeniable: construction noise, overcrowded streets, loss of green space, and an ever-worsening homeless crisis. But what’s even worse is the lack of accountability from the city, county, state, and federal governments.
It’s easy to see that the city, county, and state governments are no longer acting in the best interest of the people. The push for high-density living and “smart growth” has turned into a rush for profits, leaving long-time residents to deal with the consequences. The city’s lack of a coherent, community-centered master plan has turned many neighborhoods into areas of constant disruption. And the narrative being pushed — that opposition to these developments is rooted in racism or exclusion — is a cheap and divisive tactic to silence legitimate concerns from people of all backgrounds.
The answer to this issue is clear: we need leaders who are more interested in doing right by the people than by their pocketbooks or their political ambitions. We need leaders who are willing to stand up to developers, corporate interests, and the political establishment, and put the needs of neighborhoods first. Until that happens, we’ll continue to see the same cycle of growth without conscience, change without care, and voices without a platform. The question is, when will we finally demand leaders who will do what’s right, not what’s politically expedient? We certainly did not do so in the last election……….
A recent trip to the DMV was horrifying! minimum 5-story buildings with no setbacks, locked metal doors for entryways, with what look like doll-houses adjacent, what used to pass for single family homes. The developers are buying property, bringing in investors, and building housing they can’t rent, with no parking and sky-high rents. The developers skimmed their profits, and the investors hold on to a mostly empty building. It is like the takeover of Los Angeles in the 1990 by Japanese corporations with good exchange rates.