Taking a Wide Lens on Mission Valley

Qualcomm Stadium

Qualcomm Stadium / Photo by Sam Hodgson

New developments don’t exist in isolation — they can have a big impact on a neighborhood. That’s why the Citizens’ Stadium Advisory Group decided early on to take a holistic approach once we selected Mission Valley as the preferred site for a new Chargers stadium.

Less than three months ago, Mayor Kevin Faulconer asked us to do two things:

  • Select the most viable site from two potential sites for a new multi-use stadium. We chose the current Mission Valley location for a number of reasons, including development expediency and cost.
  • Develop a financing plan to pay for it.

With the site selection behind us, we’re focused on vetting the different financing tools and potential pools of money we can draw upon. Our goal is to finalize the financing plan and send it to Faulconer for his review by the end of May.

A few of us are also looking at the overall development of Mission Valley. It’s important for us to consider what’s next for this growing community of 22,000 residents, and how best to accommodate growth that is coming to Mission Valley with or without a new stadium.

WATCH: San Diego Explained: Take a Tour of Mission Valley’s Big Plans

Meanwhile, San Diego is working against the clock to hang onto its football team. The Chargers are competing with other NFL teams for a stadium in Los Angeles, and the team has made a series of moves to try to win that contest.

In order to present the mayor with a fair and workable plan that serves as a starting point for negotiations between him and Chargers owner Dean Spanos, I suggested we take a step back and look beyond the 166-acre site in Mission Valley to explore how other opportunities and constraints could affect the stadium.

We assembled a team of top designers and land use professionals from Urban Land Institute San Diego-Tijuana and the San Diego Chapter of the American Institute of Architects to help us look deeper into the ramifications of a new Chargers stadium. San Diego River Park Foundation experts and a representative from the Mission Valley Planning Group were also on this team.

Creating a new, mixed-use, transit-oriented village will more than likely be one funding source in the advisory group’s financing plan. We’re looking at what would be an appropriate scale for this village, and projecting its impact on the Mission Valley community.

Meanwhile, the site would need major improvements to boost game day mobility. One thing to consider would be expanding the existing east-west trolley line, along with constructing a state-of-the-art transit hub near the interstate. It would connect to a new trolley line, the Purple Line, which would run north and south along I-15.

As we start to address these mobility issues, an early step should be updating Mission Valley’s community plan. And to finance infrastructure improvements, we could take advantage of a new state program called Enhanced Infrastructure Financing Districts, which uses property tax increment to finance and construct or rehab a wide variety of public infrastructure and private facilities. Mission Valley might also explore a shuttle to connect residential areas to existing transit stations.

Building the San Diego River Park along the southern edge of the site would create a new regional asset and bring the river back to life, offering several dozen acres of open space and parkland. Bike and pedestrian paths would run along the river and link to greater Mission Valley.

With all this in mind, it’s important we make sure San Diegans are able to take advantage of the amenities year-round. A carefully planned mixed-use village could bring restaurants, shops, museums, an interpretive center for local history and outdoor sports activities that would benefit everybody throughout the year.

In order to keep the stadium site alive outside of Chargers game days, decision-makers need to retain a proven event management company to book year-round activities like concerts, special events and conferences. The design of the stadium needs to be flexible to accommodate expanded seating for Super Bowls and smaller events that won’t require use of the entire stadium.

Creating a new and smaller sports stadium with a mixed-use, transit-oriented center, rich with amenities and a regional park would enhance the business model for the Chargers like no other option the team is exploring. Further, it would boost our civic pride, through the creation of an iconic regional park with year-round activities for all to enjoy.

We’ll continue to work on behalf of all the stakeholders using holistic planning to find the nexus where the Chargers, Mission Valley, San Diego County and all the citizens who live here win.

Mary Lydon is executive director of Urban Land Institute San Diego-Tijuana.

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Planners’ new slogan: Winner or dud?

‘Complete community’ offered as replacement for ‘smart growth’

Roger Showley • UT

 

The Urban Land Institute panel included, from left, Diego Velasco, Reese Jarrett, Joe LaCava and Darin Dinsmore.

The Urban Land Institute panel, from left: Diego Velasco, Reese Jarrett, Joe LaCava and Darin Dinsmore

Urban planners and developers, always on the hunt for a new catchphrase, admitted Wednesday that they have largely failed to tell the public what’s ahead as San Diego enters an increasingly urbanized future.

“It was instructive to me about how we are perhaps not communicating with the average person,” said Joe LaCava, one of the panelists at an Urban Land Institute breakfast panel Thursday, recalling the feeling after one explosive neighborhood meeting earlier this year.

The group toyed with the latest buzzword, “complete communities,” as a new way to communicate what they’re up to. The phrase is meant to entice the public to accept growth by offering a higher quality of life that’s free of congestion, full of housing they can afford and closeby shopping, recreation and workplaces.

Previous slogans have apparently fallen flat: smart growth, city of villages, transit oriented development.

Mary Lydon, executive director of the local ULI chapter, said the search for a new way forward began last year, when a larger meeting reviewed six case studies and eight cities’ stories in how they coped with neighborhood opposition and produced a successful project or program.

“How do we move forward to realize that vision?” Lydon asked the four-member panel, moderated by Voice of San Diego’s Andrew Keatts.

LaCava, chairman of the city’s Community Planners Committee, said too often community planning meetings attract the in-crowd of professionals and civic activists, while the grassroots, silent majority remain absent and unheard.

Then it’s the developer who unwittingly must implement the new rules in the face of skeptical citizens, who have been disappointed when completed projects look nothing like the pretty renderings previously released.

“To me it’s unfair burden on the private developer,” LaCava said.

To Diego Velasco, a Barrio Logan planner at the M.W. Steele Group and president of the Citizens Coordinate for Century 3 good-planning group, the debate about San Diego’s future is muddied by generational disconnects — young people want to live in urban centers and do without a car, while their elders like the suburbs.

But with little open land left to develop new suburbs, the projected growth of San Diego by a million people over the next 30 years means suburban life will change.

“We’re living in an increasingly urban world and San Diego is no different,” he said. “There’s a disconnect between that group of people (in the suburbs) and that group of people who are choosing to live in urban neighborhoods.”

To bridge the gap, Darin Dinsmore, CEO of the Crowdbrite consulting firm, said new technology allows for more broad-based, online community participation in public policy.

“One of the biggest challenges is how to engage people in an authentic way in planning the future of cities and communities,” he said.

That’s one of the goals at Civic San Diego, said its president Reese Jarrett. The city’s development arm for downtown and inner-city neighborhoods is trying to find new funds and partners to make improvements while involving local residents and business leaders.

“We need to spend more time asking them how to complete their neighborhood and make it better,” Jarrett said.

The complete communities concept was promulgated by the Reconnecting America public transit advocacy group, which has since disbanded. It rated how complete America’s 366 metropolitan areas, including San Diego County are in four key areas — living, working, moving and “thriving” in the 21st century

Its 2012 report — “Are We There Yet?” — rated 366 metropolitan areas, including San Diego, in four key areas — living, working, moving and “thriving” in the 21st century.

San Diego earned three C’s and a B, while six other metro areas got all A’s — Denver, Honolulu, New York, Portland, San Francisco and San Jose.

In San Diego the debate over what Jarrett called the “D-word” — building density — reached a fever pitch earlier this year when residents of the Clairemont-Bay Park area objected to preliminary plans for development along the trolley line that will link Old Town and University City in the next few years.

LaCava cited that experience as an example of how not to roll out a visionary plan to the public before educating them on what the benefits might be.

He said once plans are approved, elected officials and other civic leaders need to share the concepts with the public and win their support.

“They need to stand tall and defend what they do,” he said.

Click here to download the PDF, “Are We There Yet”

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Silo Takes Co-working Outdoors

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Some early adopters were the first to show up at Silo’s first “Bring Your Own Work” Day in Makers Quarter Wednesday.

By Katherine Poythress

The event planners for Silo, the art-splashed icon of the burgeoning Makers Quarter district in San Diego’s East Village, launched a series of co-working days this week.

Makers Quarter, Moniker Group and the Downtown San Diego Partnership are hosting Bring Your Own Work Day every Wednesday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. for the foreseeable future. You bring the work, food, beer and pets, and they’ll provide the (almost) vacant lot.

BYOW Day

When: Every Wednesday from 1-5 p.m.

Where: Silo in Makers Quarter, 753 15th St., San Diego.

Who: Anyone who wants to come.

What: Co-working. Bring your own food, booze, pets and work. Silo provides the workspace and games.

Price: Free.

Why: To spark more creative thinking, innovation and community gathering.

Silo is dotted with umbrella-shaded work stations featuring furniture made out of picnic tables, plastic crates, wire spools, plywood and wooden pallets inside its muraled concrete walls.

Anyone is welcome to come with their work of choice, whether it be sculpting or programming, and enjoy the free Wi-Fi, ping pong and a bean bag toss.

The hope is to bring entrepreneurial, creative and artistic types together in the same open space on a regular basis so they can collaborate and share ideas, said events manager Jen Singer.

The crowd started small on the first day, but the gathering grew the later it got. By 3:30, a dozen or so people were working and networking under the umbrellas. A couple were crafting art.

“These are the early adopters,” Singer said. She hopes they will talk about their experience and come back with friends next week.

“I was a little surprised at how small it was, but I think it’ll grow,” said Jerrod New, an entrepreneur specializing in training for what he calls “creative-preneurs,” or people with a business idea that they could make happen with a little training in creative skills.

Urban Land Institute director Mary Lydon was one of the early arrivals with her colleague, Fiona Lyons.

“We like to work wherever it’s up and coming,” said Lydon, explaining that they don’t have a permanent, fixed office space. Lyons added that part of their job is staying on top of cutting-edge development ideas such as the outdoor, art-infused co-working environment.

“We are excited to be here on the first day,” Lydon said. “There’s definitely excitement in the air.”

There is plenty of room in Silo’s creative sandbox for more, but Singer said it might take some time for the idea to catch on. After all, there’s nothing else quite like it available in San Diego.

High Five Digital Marketing co-founder Guenter Bergmann said he would likely come again, but in board shorts next time to beat the heat.

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Up Close with Mary Lydon

When real estate developers get rowdy at professional association get-togethers—this is hypothetical, of course—who herds the cats? Often, it’s the association staff, like ULI San Diego/Tijuana executive director Mary Lydon.

While earning her degree in nutritional sciences at Wisconsin-Madison, Mary had no idea her training would come in handy in her present job. Given ULI’s two-year Building Healthy Places global initiative, though, it’s a perfect fit. Last week, Mary spoke at the Loma Linda University public health conference on the principles for building healthy communities. Sometimes, “You can’t predict how your career is going to intersect with your education.” (We minored in cat herding, so we understand.) She’s also principal of her own association management company, Lydon Associates, and served as a City of San Diego planning commissioner from ’09 to ’13, which gave her a deeper understanding of the entitlement process.

60524_1394651043_MaryLydonULISanDiegoMikeStepnerHere she’s at the conference with New School of Architecture+Design’s Mike Stepner. She’s been at ULI seven years, though a recent major accomplishment stands out: San Diego hosted the annual ULI Global Spring Meeting, which boasted the highest attendance (about 3,700) for a ULI Spring Meeting ever. This year’s goals include working with ULI district councils in the Southwest, including Mexico, to create a global net zero energy use conference.

60524_1394651093_MaryLydonFionaLyonsULISanDiegoMary, here chatting with ULI colleague Fiona Lyons, was born and raised in LaCrosse, Wis. and originally eyed a career in preventative health. Back then, however, there weren’t many jobs in that field, and she found the land-use arena. How do we know she’s usually ahead of the trends? In the late ’80s, she owned a cafe in Hillcrest, which had a Ranchillio Espresso machine—one of about five in all of San Diego, she says. It was pre-Starbucks, and San Diegans were “just waking up to their taste buds for cappuccinos and Viennese coffee.” In her free time, she loves to travel, overdosing on mango and coffee on her most recent trip to Kauai. Her most exotic destination, though, was to Muscat, Oman, where she spoke at an Aspen Institute conference.

dividerRead the full Bisnow article here.

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‘Uncertainty’ surrounds 2014 housing market

New Urban Land Institute chairman offers neutral debate forum

Roger Showley • UT

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Arterro, a La Costa project by Davidson Communities, is one of the newest housing developments to open in the county this year.

Housing, which zoomed up 18.4 percent in price last year, faces “uncertain” prospects this year, according to Tim Sullivan, newly named local chairman of the Urban Land Institute.

Sullivan, a real estate industry consultant, said last year’s housing market was one of “exuberance.”

“Now I’d characterize the 2014 outlook as one of optimism but still with a level of uncertainty,” Sullivan said, “because we had such a nutty 2012 and ’13 with home prices moving up quickly and a little bit of land selling — maybe a three-year period of exuberance jammed into one. The market is now reeling again and there’s concern and uncertainty.”

His outlook, offered up during an interview with the U-T on Monday, was brightened somewhat by the firming up of occupancy rates for retail, office and industrial space and rental rates rising enough to justify some new construction, particularly for build-to-suit projects.

Timsullivan“From a residential side, it’s very solid — prices are up — but now we have a concern, after a year of affordability,” he said. “We can’t win for losing and we can’t lose for winning.”

The local 500-member San Diego-Tijuana district council, one of 55 internationally maintained by the Washington, D.C.-based think tank, is enlarging its scope beyond the usual San Diego city-centric set of issues.

Mary Lydon, the local executive director, said 15 local ULI members will participate on a two-day technical advisory panel next month on development ideas surrounding a new convention center complex north of downtown Rosarito Beach.”

All the land around it is vacant,” she said, and the property owner wants advice on how it should be developed to take advantage of the expected growth in convention business.

With San Diego City Councilman Kevin Faulconer scheduled to become mayor Monday, Lydon said ULI stands ready to help improve local land-use policies — from promoting environmental sustainability to working out the future of Civic San Diego, the city’s nonprofit that oversees downtown and arranges public-private partnership deals in other neighborhoods.

Another focus will be promoting zero-net-energy developments, as is ULI’s role in closing the gap between developers and not-in-my-backyard project opponents.

“The days of having money overpowering the little guy or having political connections that circumvent requirements — that window has closed or is so narrow that it’s not even a concept,” Sullivan said. “It’s getting to a point where all parties have to be accountable and participate.”

Read the UT Article

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Planners, builders have bigger impact on health than some might expect

Roger Showley • U-T

Does San Diego deserve the moniker “Fat Diego”? The comments from a panel of experts sure point that way. We drive too much, walk too little, crave too much junk food. And our neighborhoods make us do it.

A developer, research director and walkability advocate laid out how far San Diego County and its many sunny neighborhoods have to go to equal cold-climate places like Minneapolis in living better.

 

At the monthly forum Thursday sponsored by the Citizens Coordinate for Century 3 good-planning group, highlights included:

  • While San Diego has places like Mission Bay to bike, speakers at Thursday’s forum said the area needs fewer multilane streets that offer no buffer from traffic.
  • Alcohol sales help stores afford to stock produce
  • San Diego’s super-wide streets, such as Friars Road, speed traffic but discourage walking.
  • Some of San Diego’s population struggles with obesity, particularly in neighborhoods lacking groceries with fresh fruits and vegetables. The answer? Let neighborhood grocers sell beer and wine.
  • Parks typically include expansive ball fields, but it’s actually parks with running and walking tracks that serve the public better in terms of promoting exercise.

The session was moderated by Mary Lydon, executive director of the local chapter of the Urban Land Institute, which has launched a new initiative, “Building Healthy Places.”

In a short video, Lydon highlighted the comments of University of California Los Angeles expert Richard Jackson on the topic: “Builders, urban planners, architects and transportation leaders are health professionals. They don’t think of themselves as white-coat folks, but they have more impact on the health of Americans than people sitting in hospitals waiting for people to come through the door.”

Andy Hamilton, an air quality expert and founder of Walk San Diego, which is merging with the group Move San Diego, used Friars Road in Mission Valley as an example of San Diego’s emphasis on cars at the expense of biking, busing and walking.

“You create nine lanes to cross the street,” Hamilton said. “There’s no buffer between bikes and traffic. There’s no front accessto the land uses, even if you walk or bike.”

On the question of food choices, Hamilton said Houston has relaxed its code restrictions to allow beer and wine sales in neighborhood groceries as a way to help owners succeed financially and thus be able to afford to stock fresh fruits and vegetables.

Stephen Haase, senior vice president of the Baldwin & Sons development company in Otay Ranch and a member of the San Diego city Planning Commission, chimed in: “Some of the most heated debates in the community and among community members is over this issue about alcoholic sales at grocery stores. It’s a challenge we have to face in order to solve other problems.”

James Sallis, director of research at UC San Diego’s Active Living Research, cited researchthat people in parks with baseball fields sit more than they play, but in those with a running track, active users far outnumber the sitters.

“It’s not magic and it’s not a pill,” he said of the design solutions. “People really don’t understand or acknowledge that activity is one of the driving forces in obesity.”

He said as a bike enthusiast, he is “petrified” to bike anywhere outside Mission Bay because of the danger from passing motorists. The result is that only 1 percent of San Diegans’ trips are by bike, whereas in the cold of Minneapolis, bike use is four times greater.

“That’s just a big wake-up call to me to show, again, how far behind we are,” Sallis said.

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Neighborhood parks often feature baseball fields, such as this one in Del Mar, but research shows more activity takes place at parks with running tracks or walking trails. CHARLIE NEUMAN • U-T FILE[space]

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Be Bold: Align with the Future

Be Bold: Align with the Future

By: Mary Lydon and Tony Pauker

 

If you read the local papers or listen to broadcast news, you know that it seems as if we are collectively holding our breath, just waiting for things to get back to the way they were. But “the way things were” is not sustainable.

From a broad perspective, we seem exceedingly resistant to imagining any new way of living and conducting commerce. Why is it that we are so afraid to mass market a big bold new vision for ourselves? Are we in denial? Are we lazy? There is a new normal emerging, and one thing is crystal clear: China and India, nations that represent 50 percent of the global population, are not waiting.

China’s 25-year vision includes building a network of ultramodern airports with major cities connected by high-speed rail. In addition, Beijing Genomics Institute has ordered 128 DNA sequencers, which is more than any other single institute in the world owns. They also will provide $15 billion in seed money to develop electric vehicle technology. The Chinese also have a massive investment in Africa — a continent we forget about. They aren’t doing this out of some duty to save the planet. The Chinese clearly see emerging markets that will provide the opportunity for them to become a global economic power now and well into the future.

What is our 25-year vision? If you track major news media and national politics, it seems our focus is on bringing stability to Afghanistan. In many ways, San Diego is already positioning itself to thrive in the future, but we could be bolder, especially in the areas of high-tech transit, design and renewable energy, which have the greatest opportunity to create new local jobs and place us at the cutting edge of the next economic upturn.

Last week, the Urban Land Institute (ULI) conducted a one-day high-speed rail conference in Anaheim. There were 400 attendees from all over the state that came together to explore design, development, economic and social opportunities for the proposed 46-stop, $43 billion California High Speed Rail system. Andreas Heym, director of international development at the Paris architecture and design firm AREP, presented at the conference. For 20 years, AREP, has designed high-speed and other rail stations and master plans throughout France and in 20 countries, including Turin, Italy and Shanghai and Wuhan, China. He discussed the economic development opportunities for both major hub cities as well as rural areas. France’s system has taken 20 years to develop. It never could have been done without complicated public/private partnerships, but they took the risk to move forward and are not looking back. Anyone who has used a Eurail pass can attest to the brilliance of that strategy.

This past summer, ULI San Diego conducted a one-day design charrette focused on a new Destination Lindbergh intermodal transit station adjacent to Pacific Highway. Thirty ULI members including senior staff from SANDAG, the Airport Authority, Caltrans and the city of San Diego came up with three design concepts that explored this location as more than a transit center. Accolades were given to the group at the High Speed Rail conference from Andreas Heym for thinking big. He said we should not think small when contemplating these high-speed rail stops and surrounding development.

It is unclear if high-speed rail in this country can mirror Europe and Asia. However, it is clear that innovation that is forward thinking with cutting edge design is what is needed to explore what will work in this country.

In May 2008, a delegation of AIGA (the professional association for design) traveled to China on a unique art, design and cross-cultural journey. They also visited large art and design universities, agencies and publishing companies. Local San Diego designer Bennett Peji stated that “China is developing a creative economy like Japan was 30 years ago, but with the compressed process now, due to technology, it will not take that long.” Japan has the most innovative designers in the world, and China is starting to find its own style. China now has 1,251 art and design schools and 1,000,000 artists and designers graduating annually. China’s vision includes technology, design and energy revolutions. Innovation and entrepreneurial capital are now the driving force behind the Chinese economy. This makes a compelling case for San Diego to further cultivate a creative economy. When technology, art, design and education work synergistically, it gives us a sharper edge toward an emerging future.

There is a connection between high-speed rail, design and energy that needs to be evaluated, and the price of oil plays a big role. As long as “stated” price of oil is a cheap $75 per barrel, severing oil dependence is difficult, because people have no financial motivation to do so. The economic underpinning is that most U.S. oil is imported, as is the oil China and India use. The global supply of oil will last between 50 to 100 more years, depending upon Chinese and Indian consumption. The U.S. oil cost is magnified by military costs. Hence, the true cost is subsidized by the government.

Those nations realizing they cannot supply their own oil and are unable to afford a true price of oil will evaluate alternate technologies like algae, solar, thermal or wind. You can expect China and India to do so. The entire globe is going to be looking for cheap non-oil based solutions. Whoever perfects an alternative to oil will make people like Bill Gates and Henry Ford look like paupers. On a positive note, our neighbors to the east in Imperial County are cultivating a hotbed of new businesses that has the opportunity to put this region on the renewable energy map.

It is time to look to creative future strategies and let go of yesterday’s expired solutions. There is a “new normal” that is emerging that will drive transportation innovation and perhaps set the economy on a new course. We can proactively educate ourselves on these issues and lead the new economy, or we can be global followers.

On Nov. 9 ULI San Diego will conduct its Eighth Annual Real Estate Trends Conference titled “Innovation — The New Normal.” Local and national speakers will present and explore emerging trends not only in real estate but also in government, finance, home ownership and education.

Change is occurring in land use patterns, construction technology, household formation, demographics, transit, energy use, design and technology. China is already leading the change. Rather than each of us waiting for the perfect federal legislation to head us all in one big bold direction, we must become the leaders that we are waiting for and take risks to connect to the emerging future. As Lester Thurow’s 2005 book title indicates, fortune favors the bold.

 

Download the article pdf

 

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Recession provides silver lining for civic vision

Recession provides silver lining for civic vision

By: Mary Lydon and Tony Pauker

One of the unintended consequences of the recession is that great minds have time to ponder deeper thoughts. Innovative minds seem to be off in many directions these days planning strategies to help us get out of our plight. How to do more with less; reprioritizing our society’s values; exploring a renewable energy revolution; how to grow our own food; billionaires pledging their fortunes away; cooperating during environmental disasters; developing ideas for new government structures; pedestrian-oriented traveling; and the future of art and culture.

We are awash in approved and proposed civic projects, from the new Central Library, new City Hall, the North Embarcadero public esplanade, a new Chargers Stadium and an expanded Convention Center. These civic projects are great for job creation and they are also great for building a city that will need to compete in a new world when we come out of this recession. Certainly not all will come to fruition, but the one asset that we must not lose sight of in this mix is the greatest single gift our city fore-fathers and mothers blessed us and all future San Diegans with — Balboa Park.

The 1,200 acres comprising Balboa Park serve the residents of the San Diego region and visitors from all over the world. Activities range from enjoying a stroll in the park, to taking part in the “ticketed” venues such as the Old Globe, the world famous San Diego Zoo, a round of golf at Balboa Park Golf Course, exploring the many world-class museums or dining at the Prado Restaurant. Balboa Park is not just for the benefit of a few; it is for everyone from young children to older San Diegans who can use Balboa Park, and in most cases at no cost.

This gem is fast approaching the 100th anniversary of the Panama-California Exposition, which commemorated the opening of the Panama Canal in 1915 and many individuals and organizations are now exploring how we can ensure that the next century is even better than the first.

At the dawn of the 20th century a handful of visionary planners, architects and civic leaders across the nation planned our greatest urban parks and world fair events. Most notably these included San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, New York’s Central Park and the Chicago World’s Fair. Balboa Park was born along with them. Architect Irving Gill, who had worked on the 1893 World Columbian Exposition held on the shores of Lake Michigan in Chicago, championed the holding of an exposition in San Diego. In 1903 the first Master Plan was developed for Balboa Park by the Olmstead Brothers.

The 1916 Panama Exposition was one of the driving forces behind Balboa Park. Like its contemporary in Chicago, the initial structures in Balboa Park were not intended to last a century, however, civic demand and serious rebuilding preserved some of the original buildings and over the decades many more uses have been added.

Today Balboa Park is still magnificent, but its infrastructure and maintenance deficit adds up to about $250 million. Unlike a library, stadium or city hall not all this must be done at once, but it must be done otherwise over time the costs will become greater. A new public benefit non-profit corporation and the creation of a public private partnership is being explored to not only develop strategies to ensure its preservation but also to explore how to ensure the vitality of this asset for the next 100 years.

The Panama California exhibition was intended to tout San Diego as the first U.S. port of call for ships traveling north after passing westward through the new Panama Canal. This 100-year anniversary exhibition could tout San Diego as the new port of call for cutting-edge life sciences and clean tech research and development.

We applaud the Balboa Cultural Partnership, a collaborative of 24 Balboa Park museums for arts, science and culture focused on collaboration, innovation and excellence. They have developed a strategy for the Park’s Centennial Celebration. The two-year program of activities include: a “Smithsonian of the West” display; showcasing San Diego’s cutting-edge science/technology corporations; a park-wide festival environment; a Nights at the Museum program; themed special events; digital projections on buildings; an IMAX Dome film on the new Panama Canal and its impact on the future; and much more. This is a great line up of programs, which we should continue beyond the two-year celebration.

Programming the public realm is not a new concept and many Business Improvement Districts in San Diego do it well. There are success annual festivals in Little Italy, Hillcrest and Ocean Beach that not only brings in thousands of local participants to enjoy the event but it is also a great economic development tool for the community. Perhaps we could explore forming a Balboa Park Business Improvement District and develop an assessment tool to fund it so that we can provide year round activity.

The 2009 Economic and Community Impact of Nonprofit Arts and Culture Organizations in San Diego issued by the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture clearly points to the positive economic and social ripple that our arts and culture provide. Beyond the entertainment factor, a strong arts and culture sector is a demanded by the creative class as author and economist Richard Florida has written about for years. The creative class will drive great cities of the future. Assuring a thriving Balboa Park not only adds to our well-being and our economy but also further develops our region as a creative city which is the direction that forward- looking cities across the world are setting their sights on.

The Balboa Cultural Partnership for the Park’s Centennial is exactly the right direction to celebrate 100 years of Balboa Park. This plan should be set into motion a permanent transformation of the Balboa Park experience, which will launch its success for another 100 years. The only obstacle between this great vision for Balboa Park and its implementation is funding but we are confident that if we all put our minds and resources behind this plan we can make it happen. The funding of the new Central Library that does not rely on any General Fund expenditures is evidence that we can come together as a region for the greater good but this time we only have two years to make it happen. Let’s get going!

 

Download the article pdf

 

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Great schools as an economic development tool

Great schools as an economic development tool

By: Mary Lydon and Tony Pauker

One of the greatest single influences on land use is public elementary and middle schools. Communities that have great public schools have great investments in real estate. High performing schools attract families to buy or rent homes. Those residents support local retail. These communities also become attractive locations for business, because the decision makers of those businesses want their employees to have short commute times to work. All this occurs despite the fact that only about one quarter of all households have school-aged children living at home.

Local leaders repeatedly ask how they can spur investment in their communities. They may hear that better planning, infrastructure improvements and street beatification are the key. But we argue that the one sure way would be to focus on making their schools great.

This is proven out time and again if we look at master planned communities across the country. A selling feature is always new schools with good test scores. The San Diego region is home to some of the best and worst performing schools in our state. We also have one of the highest concentrations of universities compared to our population size. Further up the “food chain,” our local life and high-tech industries boast one of the highest concentrations of Nobel laureates of any region on the globe.

Unfortunately, we also live amid the backdrop of devastating state budget cutbacks and severe rancor among the San Diego Unified District stakeholders, the second-largest K-12 public school system in the state. Our governor and legislature have decided that cutting school funding is an easy way to balance our terribly out-of- whack budget. For grades K-12 this creates terrible budget shortfalls. For higher education, college and university administrators are forced to raise tuition costs, which inevitably denies more qualified students from finishing degrees. While we can debate if either the state or local school districts spend money wisely, that is simply a diversion from the pressing reality.

Looking at school performance scores, San Diego County simply has too many students performing below grade level or not finishing school at all. The picture is even worse for minority students. This is simply not acceptable. The state of California is in the running for a $700 million “Race to the Top” education grant the Federal Government. If we could secure this it would be a step in the right direction.

While every now and then we hear of an eighth grade dropout who becomes a successful entrepreneur or a Bill Gates who drops out of college, these are one in a million flukes. The engine that supports, and will continue to support our economy is an educated work force. This fact is most certainly not lost on nations like China and India. Yet, the United States continues to slip behind other nations in educating our youth.

Recently a group of concerned citizens working with the University of San Diego published their findings on the performance of San Diego Unified School District. This group, calling themselves San Diegans 4 Great Schools, evaluated the test scores and funding of local schools. The results were disappointing.

However, even more disappointing was the reaction they received after their July 20 press conference. Even before the ink was dry on their report the gadflies were decrying their findings. Most notably Bernie Rhinerson of the District, Sheila Jackson, a Trustee, and Camille Zamboro of the Teachers Union stated that test scores need to “take in account more than $400 million in budget cuts that the district has made in over a four-year period.” True, these cuts are devastating and it is unconscionable the state has done this, but it is time for everyone to stop acting like a victim. Cut or no cut, if you are a student and your test scores are subpar, your future is in jeopardy. Cut or no cut, if you are an employer you will find another candidate to fill that job. Cut or no cut, if you are looking to locate a business you will do so where the work force is educated — and that may be in Bangalore, not Bay Park.

Further, the focus must be on students and only students. Recently of about 1,000 new, untenured teachers, all were rehired. In other words, the District determined that 100 percent of teacher candidates seeking tenure were fully qualified. That is an amazing statistic. I know of no other hiring manager with this success rate. But I do know that far less than 100 percent of students are fully qualified to graduate.

It is now time to accept the regrettable budget situation and realize we do not have time to argue. A multi-year debate condemns the opportunity of a proper education for our current students. One can agree or disagree with what San Diegans 4 Great Schools may say, but the fact is that the ship is taking on water — and fast. Anyone willing to bail water or pull on an oar must be commended. Regardless of whether one has children or not, our future is our youth and an educated youth translates into a thriving economy, job growth and real estate development. It is imperative that we invest in a singular goal — a great education for all.

 

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Turning the Gulf Oil Spill into Lemonade

Turning the Gulf Oil Spill into Lemonade

By: Mary Lydon and Tony Pauker

The tragic deep water Horizon oil disaster in the gulf is an immediate call to action that requires us to focus our energies nationally and locally. Nationally we need to develop independent deep water drilling regulation policies and proven emergency procedures in order to assure safe drilling as we move forward. Locally we have the opportunity to harness this call to action to develop renewable energy resources that can be a great economic development tool for the nation and the entire Cali Baja Binational Mega Region.

Hopefully the implementation of these environmental and economic actions will not lag for decades as they have in the past. The Pemex spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 1979 had a devastating effect on the environment but received little attention regarding its economic fallout – yet portions of the Gulf still feel its effects. The Exxon Valdez spill in 1989 hit us on our own shores, but the environmental consequences and economic fallout seemed geographically distant. Now with the BP spill and its environmental devastation we finally seem to be more alert to its consequences in terms of job loss and business failures occurring on the coast from Louisiana to Florida.

As Thomas Friedman of the New York Times coined so perfectly, the real issue is our addiction to oil. With emerging economies like China and India our global addiction will inevitably linger. Frequently this discussion is framed around climate change and greenhouse gas emissions, but these are really just precursors to a bigger conversation about a renewable energy revolution that is waiting for the innovative minds of our day (and our region) to capture and catapult into an economic boom that will mark a turning point in how we live sustainably and conscientiously on this planet. The San Diego region at its core has the perfect ingredients to play a big role in this birth – a strong entrepreneurial spirit with a proven record; global leaders in research and science; an educated workforce; our Pacific Rim connections; and a commitment to protecting our exquisite and unique environment.

It is clear that the long-term solution for our oil addiction is to develop alternate and renewable sources of energy. Thirty years ago Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were a couple of young nerds and the thought of a personal computer for everyone (or a cell phone) was unimaginable. Yet today both are ubiquitous. The visionary thinking of these types of entrepreneurs has redefined our global economy and how human beings connect. Our world is now ready for the next wave of nerdy high school science wonks to emerge. Regardless of what the old guard may believe, this new generation will be armed with visions of a world fueled by renewable energy. Their contributions will have far reaching potential and profound impacts on the future of this planet economically, environmentally and socially.

There is no doubt that we are moving into a global race for alternate sources of energy. It is much bigger than a few solar panels on our roofs or driving a hybrid vehicle. The big winners will be those economies that embrace such change, promote innovation, and become exporters of these technologies. The losers will be those economies that refuse to innovate. This is also how we will define the great cities and regions of the 21st Century.

At the turn of the 20th century Henry Ford essentially invented the modern automotive industry. For the better part of a century we built cars for the world and by doing so created millions of well paying jobs for American workers. We then lost our way. Now foreign automakers outsell domestics, many components of even American cars are produced offshore, and Chrysler and GM are lucky to be alive, due in large part to the largess of the U.S. taxpayer. This industry is no longer the U.S. economic engine it was, which is evident as we watch the City of Detroit literally bulldoze entire neighborhoods that have become vacant and blighted.

In the global energy race a handful of entrepreneurs will emerge as the next Ford, Microsoft or Apple. The others will rely on them. We believe that San Diego has the opportunity right now to emerge as a frontrunner in the energy technology race as we have cutting edge assets to compete. San Diego hosts a strong University network, an educated workforce, and exceedingly strong high tech, clean tech and biotech industries. In addition to those innovative assets and due to the economic pullback, we also have a lot of vacant office and industrial space, and many people who are ready to go back to work, create and innovate. How can we harness these assets into an opportunity?

Now is the time for our governmental and private sector technology leaders to align to make a full court press to attract business, investment and innovation. Governments can waive every conceivable fee, tax or processing challenge for companies that are adding jobs related to the production of renewable energy. These jobs are our (local and global) future and they also have a multiplier effect which will help the overall economy. Florida and Nevada work very hard to attract California business through low cost and business friendly incentives. However, they do not offer the educated workforce and established tech centric economy that we have.

San Diego has the opportunity to attract industry not only from other States but from around the globe. Let’s put our focus on an international marketing plan to attract the most innovative renewable energy minds, designers, engineers and venture capitalists from around the world in order to recreate ourselves as the center of the world for renewable energy technology and development.

 

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