We dug into the origins of San Diego’s Upzoning
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Good Morning, I’m Lawrence K. Jackson….it’s TUESDAY, JULY 28TH>>>> [ WE DIG INTO THE ORIGINS OF SAN DIEGO’S SUBURBAN SPRAWL]More on that next. But first... the headlines….#######
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAYS HURRICANE GENEVIEVE COULD PRODUCE WAVES ANYWHERE FROM 8 TO ELEVEN FEET TALL STARTING LATE WEDNESDAY
THE HEAVY SURF IS EXPECTED TO PRIMARILY BRING WAVES THAT ARE FIVE TO SEVEN FEET TALL
BUT N-W-S SAYS THE LARGER SETS WILL TAKE SHAPE PERIODICALLY
EL NINO COULD BE IMPACTING HURRICANE GENEVIEVE
BUT A FORECASTER WITH THE WEATHER SERVICE TOLD THE U-T THAT IT CAN BE DIFFICULT TO DETERMINE ITS EXACT IMPACT ON ANY STORM...
ALSO NOTING THAT SEA SURFACE TEMPS ARE HIGHER THAN AVERAGE WHICH CAN MAKE STORMS STRONGER
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THE PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD ON PROPOSED INCREASES TO CLEVELAND NATIONAL FOREST RECREATION FEES HAS BEEN EXTENDED
IT’S NOW OPEN UNTIL SEPTEMBER 30TH
CLEVELAND NATIONAL FOREST SAYS THE FEES WOULD HELP MEET THE INCREASING POPULARITY OF FOREST RECREATION AND GO TOWARDS MAINTENANCE AND ENHANCING VISITOR EXPERIENCES
PROPOSED INCREASES INCLUDE:
- PREVIOUSLY "NO PERMIT REQUIRED" SITES LIKE THREE SISTERS FALLS AND CEDAR CREEKS FALLS WOULD BE FOUR DOLLAR PER DAY
- AS WELL AS MULTIPLE CAMPGROUNDS LIKE BOULDER OAKS EQUESTRIAN CAMPGROUND WOULD SEE THEIR SINGLE-SITE FEES DOUBLE
ONCE THIS PUBLIC INPUT PERIOD ENDS, PROPOSED FEE INCREASES WILL BE REVIEWED BY AN ADVISORY COMMITTEE AND THEN SENT TO THE REGIONAL FORESTER FOR FINAL APPROVAL
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HEADS UP SAN YSIDRO [e-see-dro}!
YOUR COMMUNITY ACTIVITY CENTER IS NOW OPEN ONCE AGAIN!
AN EVENT IS BEING HELD TODAY AT THE COLONEL [kur-NUHL} SALOMON YSIDRO COMMUNITY ACTIVITY CENTER TO CELEBRATE IMPROVEMENTS MADE TO THE
SITE
THE NEARLY SIX MILLION DOLLARS IN RENOVATIONS INCLUDE:
- NEW MULTI-PURPOSE SPORTS COURT
- A NEW PLAYGROUND
- ACCESSIBLE WALKWAYS
- NEW BATHROOMS
-AND A RESURFACED PARKING LOT
From KPBS, you’re listening to San Diego News Now.Stay with me for more of the local news you need.
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SAN DIEGO HAS BEEN ON A PUSH TO REZONE NEIGHBORHOODS FOR HIGHER-DENSITY HOUSING. THE SO-CALLED UPZONING IS MOTIVATED BY A HOUSING SHORTAGE THAT HAS INCREASED PRICES AND IT'S ALSO INTENDED TO COMBAT SUBURBAN SPRAWL.
METRO REPORTER ANDREW BOWEN DUG INTO THE ORIGINS OF SAN DIEGO'S SPREAD OUT DEVELOPMENT.
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DOWNZONE (ab) 4:09 soq
AB: At first glance, San Diego's Mission Hills neighborhood looks like a suburb in the middle of the city. Quiet streets, houses with big yards. But look closer, and you'll find a lot more than just single-family homes.
CARO4434_01.MOV 11;12;41;18
MS: "This is an area that was built up in the early 1900s, in the teens and the '20s. The streetcar ran down the street."
AB: Mike Stepner lives in Mission Hills and worked in the San Diego City Planning Department for 27 years.
CARO4434_01.MOV 11;12;53;22
MIKE STEPNER
RETIRED CITY PLANNER
MS: "And one of the things about the older neighborhoods is they look very low density, but they have a lot of infill — duplexes, apartments, granny flats…"
AB: Most of those duplexes, apartments and granny flats were built before Mission Hills was downzoned. Downzoning is when a city changes a neighborhood's land use regulations to allow for less housing. It really took off in San Diego after 1967 — the year the city adopted its first general plan. Leaders at the time said the plan would encourage more compact development and less sprawl. In reality, it kicked off decades of downzoning. In the 60s, 70s and 80s, San Diego downzoned Mission Hills, Hillcrest, North Park, Midway, Clairemont, La Jolla and more. That effectively banned apartments in the city's most walkable neighborhoods and pushed growth further into the suburbs. Stepner says the city was using zoning to try and solve every little neighborhood issue… sometimes to the point of absurdity.
CARO4436_03.MOV 12;06;29;00
MS: "I remember a discussion about whether a yogurt shop is the same as an ice cream shop. And, you know, what the hell difference is it? It makes no difference."
richard rothstein.mp4 00:00:26:06
RR: "Zoning was instituted in the early 20th century as a way of separating industrial from residential uses in predominantly white communities."
AB: Richard Rothstein is a historian and author of The Color of Law. He says throughout the 20th Century, cities across America used zoning to segregate neighborhoods by race and class. The country had begun to outlaw explicitly racist housing discrimination. Downzoning, however, could be a more subtle tool for segregation. Supporters often said it would preserve community character.
richard rothstein.mp4 00:14:11.17
RICHARD ROTHSTEIN
HISTORIAN OF HOUSING SEGREGATION
RR: "Preserving community character is a code word for keeping out non-white people. You can't prove it just by the phrase 'community character,' but frequently when you go into the … city council meetings where this is being debated, people do make racially explicit comments that explain what community character means."
AB: Downzoning also prevented lower-cost housing options from ever getting built, says San Diego's City Planning Director Heidi VonBlum.
088G1932.MOV 08;59;47;11
HEIDI VONBLUM
SAN DIEGO CITY PLANNING DIRECTOR
HVB: "The higher the density, the more affordable the housing can be. And so if it were not but for the downzoning, we'd probably be in a very different situation than we are today in terms of housing affordability."
AB: Downzoning was the norm in the latter half of the 20th Century. But today, it's the opposite. The city has significantly upzoned near jobs, public transit and other amenities. VonBlum says San Diego has run out of vacant land to build low-density housing, so it has to grow inward and upward. And, she says, when the city is updating a community plan, it listens to more than just homeowners in that community.
088G1933.MOV 09;11;17;28
HVB: "We may hear from decades ago, the community wanted no change, no additional housing. They wanted large lot sizes. We may not have heard from the workers that were working in the community that were commuting in for an hour and really would love the opportunity to live on a smaller lot size in a smaller house and being able to, you know, enjoy that community."
AB: While San Diego has been reversing some of the downzoning from the last century, it has not made significant changes to the city's single-family neighborhoods. That could change later this year with an initiative from Mayor Todd Gloria to allow more townhomes and small lots across the city. Andrew Bowen, KPBS news.
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SAN DIEGO’S VETERANS AFFAIRS HEALTHCARE SYSTEM SAYS A NEW $205 MILLION DOLLAR SPINAL CORD INJURY CENTER SHOULD OPEN EARLY NEXT YEAR.
MILITARY AND VETERANS REPORTER ANDREW DYER SPOKE TO LOCAL PARALYZED VETERANS WHO SAY THE FACILITY IS BADLY NEEDED AFTER YEARS OF DELAYS.
SPINAL 1 SS TRT (X:XX) SOQ
The Army Corps of Engineers said it would open two years ago. They later revised that, saying it would open early this year.
Now, the San Diego VA Healthcare System says its new spinal cord injury and community living center will open in early 20-27.
MVI_8517.mp4: 03;08;21;22 - 03;08;25;22
Louis Irvin, exec dir, PVA SD
there's a massive need for for long term care for spinal cord injuries.
Louis Irvin is the executive director of the Paralyzed Veterans of America San Diego chapter.
He says his organization is working with the V-A to finalize design elements in the almost 200,000 square foot facility for veterans using wheelchairs.
MVI_8517.mp4: 03;11;04;13 - 03;11;24;10
Louis Irvin, exec dir, PVA SD
you know, faucets and mirrors and accessibility, height requirements, spacing around the rooms and then the bed, the technology that goes in the rooms for your environmental control units. This facility is going to be great. It has electric blinds. So you can actually be a patient in a bed and ask your windows to open. And you can see outside where you know, currently that's not the case
A VA San Diego spokesperson says infrastructure and technical problems are to blame for construction delays.
But construction’s done and the V-A took charge of the building earlier this month.
The V-A expects the center to open to patients early next year.
Andrew Dyer, KPBS News.
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COMIC-CON HAS COME AND GONE AND NOW, THE CLEANUP IS UNDERWAY.
REPORTER ALEXANDER NGUYEN LOOKS AT HOW THE CITY WRAPPED UP THE MASSIVE POP-CULTURE CONVENTION.
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CONLOGISTICS 1(an) TRT: 0:56 SOQ
NATS 821 lift driving, beeping noises
Downtown San Diego is still bustling with activity …
now that Comic-Con is over …. What went up … must come down.
Crews are tearing down building wraps … dismantling activations … and packing up props.
Restaurants and bars downtown were packed throughout the weekend. And busier than in recent years, according to Michael Trimble.
He’s the executive director of the Gaslamp Quarter Association.
SOT 0846 15;53;17;20 → 15;53;28;13
CG: Michael Trimble // Gaslamp Quarter Association
“It's been a real positive thing. We've also seen a lot of more Hollywood A-list stars coming to Comic-Con this year, which we didn't have last year, which increases the wow factor. And people want to come.”
This year, the iconic Gaslamp sign over Fifth Avenue was temporarily transformed with branding for “Avengers: Doomsday.” Something Trimble says had never been done before.
SOT 0846 15;55;29;09 → 15;55;35;08 “I think they want to do and give fan service to people coming down. So there's something that they won't forget.”
He says it was a collective effort between the city, the association and the film’s marketing agency.
AN/KPBS
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LAST WEEK A VIRAL VIDEO SHOWED A MAN ALLEGEDLY ASSAULTING A SEA LION IN LA JOLLA. NOW, FEDERAL AUTHORITIES ARE INVESTIGATING THE INCIDENT.
ROBYN DAVIDOFF [DAVID-off] CHAIRS THE SIERRA CLUB SEAL SOCIETY. IT’S A VOLUNTEER GROUP THAT HELPS EDUCATE VISITORS ABOUT THE SEA LIONS.
SHE SAYS SHE HOPES THE PERSON RESPONSIBLE IS CAUGHT.
SEALIONS 2A (ck/lc): 09
“Like everybody else, I was horrified. It’s been playing a lot and I can’t even watch it more than that first time. It’s just so disturbing. ”
THE OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION CONFIRMS THEY ARE INVESTIGATING THE INCIDENT.
THE PEOPLE INVOLVED COULD FACE FINES OR EVEN JAIL TIME.
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IN SAN DIEGO, ONE WOMAN’S ON A ROLL TO PRESERVE AND PASS ON BLACK SKATING CULTURE.
REPORTER KATIE HYSON WITNESSED THE WHEELS IN MOTION.
SKATE 1 trt 1:51 (extended length approved) SOQ (kh/dw)
*nat pop music*
*nat pop rollerskates whirring and clacking*
Under a sunny blue sky at Liberty Station, about 50 people wobble, whirl and groove on rollerskates.
*Look at how this baby just started out now she’s skating without the bar, that’s wild! [Laughs]*
Stacie Watkins cheers them on, in a jersey that says Black Skate S-D.
*nat pop Let’s go!*
Watkins started rollerskating in 2020, during the COVID pandemic.
SOT :10 I was in a really toxic relationship, so I wanted to, you know, heal from childhood trauma. So one of the things I went back to was roller skating, because I used to do it as a young child.
She wanted private lessons, but couldn’t find a Black instructor.
She says that was important because roller skate culture IS Black culture.
Black people were banned from roller rinks in the 60s and 70s.
SOT :06 Because of that, we had our own style of skating. We had our own culture, our own moves.
Like J-B style out of Chicago.
SOT :06 You can think about James Brown and how he moved, how he slided all over the floor, the jazz movements .
She created Black Skate San Diego to keep Black skate culture rolling.
She says they have faced pushback.
SOT :08 So Black Skate San Diego can kind of offend a lot of people, because when you hear the word “Black,” you think, “Oh, OK. Like, we're not invited. We can't come.”
But at a Black Skate San Diego roll you’ll see a kaleidoscope of skin colors, ages and abilities.
They teach for free, and lend spare gear to anyone who can’t afford it.
Watkins’ next goal?
SOT :17 Invest in flooring, to actually have a pop up skating rink so we can pull up in, you know, the the inner city of, of Black people to pull up wherever we want to and, just show people those moves, show people our culture.
*Nat bed fade out*
Katie Hyson, KPBS News
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That’s it for the podcast today. The pod today was edited by Brooke Ruth and hosted and produced by me, Lawrence K. Jackson. As always you can find more San Diego news online at KPBS dot org. Thanks for listening and have a great day.
