Photograph by Adam Behar

Sprouts Plaza in the quiet bedroom community of South University City, which could be redeveloped into mixed-use apartment buildings.

Developing disaster

As a life-long resident of California and a San Diego native I have historical memory that the build, build, build push of years past has never brought down the cost of housing, not even a little bit (“Bulldozed”, Cover Story, July 25).

San Diego was a beautiful, scruffy little port town that is no longer small, nor as beautiful or livable. The sad truth is that, not everyone who wants to live here, can, since that is unsustainable. The rule of supply-and-demand does not apply here. Add as much housing as you like and prices will not come down. Such is the predicament of a city that has been loved too much.

Affordable housing should be built for those who actually need to live where they work, not affluent telecommuters. There is little incentive for developers to build below-market-rate housing, and therein lies the problem. The Planning Department and city government’s pockets are lined with big developer money. It has been that way as long as I can remember. Can we not, finally, choose a different path so as to retain a little bit of what made us love San Diego in the first place?

Ron W

Mission Hills

Development doom

An entire block of pretty homes along Fourth Avenue (south of Robinson) are boarded up and awaiting their demise. (“Bulldozed”, Cover Story, July 25) It’s a developer’s world and we’re just living in it. How sad that our mayor doesn’t care to strike a better deal for his constituents.

Debarah Wiggs

Hillcrest