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Hillary Clinton takes fire downtown
Yeah, right, Hillary canceled because of you! As your website says, **About Us THIS PAGE PROVIDE INFORMATION ABOUT US.** Need we know more?????— April 11, 2014 6:21 p.m.
U-T raises street sales price
Hey, great news. Now I'm saving $1.50 every time I don't buy it. That's MY strategy.— April 11, 2014 6:16 p.m.
Golden Hill canyon to fill with 27 new homes
Good points, Visduh. I have a hard time calling the proposed development of the land between B and C a "canyon." It could be nice to have it developed as a park or open space, but it's not a beautiful piece of land. As for filling in canyon land, I was just reading some history of the 2015 Panama-California Exposition. I could see on a 1910 map that 6th Ave (then called Park) didn't go through from Date to Juniper. I came across [this][1]: "[B]efore final Exposition plans could be carried out, Olmsted prepared a scheme to connect Park (Sixth) Avenue from Date to Juniper Streets that involved the filling in of 38,000 cubic yards of dirt. The area was the site of Mulvey Canyon, named after James Mulvey who lived next to it." Click on the photos at the end of the article. I'm not sure exactly when 6th was created between Date and Juniper, but the photo caption says it was made by filling in Mulvey Canyon. It looks like a lot of workers and horses were involved. There's another mention of Mulvey Canyon here: http://c100.org/books/JSDH/Montes_CityPark_1979-1… [1]: http://www.sandiegohistory.org/journal/98winter/p… http://www.sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2014/a…— April 10, 2014 2:45 p.m.
Toni Atkins pulls Community Benefit District legislation
CaptD. Yes, Burnett is smug about "building to codes" and thus avoiding community review. We can thank the city for quietly changing Land Use Code and using community plans to sneak in density upgrades. For example, in the Greater Golden Hill Planning Committee meeting in Feb 2014, the City planner Bernie Turgeon requested that the March agenda include action (approval) on the following density upgrades that (someone?) wants Council to approve: "The upgraded areas include 25th St., which includes a mixed-use option to a maximum of 44 dwelling units per acre (du/ac), including a density bonus, and the City Operations Yard, which would increase from the present maximum of 29 du/ac to 44 du/ac." Pack'em in, builders.— April 8, 2014 4:20 p.m.
Toni Atkins pulls Community Benefit District legislation
Before you get too excited, you may want to look more closely at what Mike Burnett really means by "affordable" housing and "lean urbanism." Start by looking closely at the weirdly monstrous exterior and coldly designed interiors at his building at 811 25th. Next, go look at the monster he is creating at the old North Park Post Office. Foe him, "lean" mainly means super-lean regulations, lean quality of building components, and lean space left over - building up and out to the sidewalk to maximize every penny, no setbacks, no leafy trees or gardens. Just plastic, cement, and steel, with a few "low-mod"-income units thrown in to gain him exemptions and credits. Along with Atkins, he should also stay out of South Park, when it comes to building his monsters.— April 7, 2014 8:44 p.m.
Toni Atkins pulls Community Benefit District legislation
*"I have always been interested in finding tools*" And you always managed to find them. We have not forgotten your willful blindness in South Park, and your disrespect and disregard for those of us not affiliated with any power-wielding organization, Toni. As much as I have little sympathy for the hugely organized BID Board empire uniquely existing in San Diego, I'm glad that they could tell you to stop it and you were compelled to obey. I suspect you and the Republican head of the Committee on Local Gov heard from a few others, too. Just stay away from our community. Thanks for the update, Dorian. And yaaaay!!!!!!!!!!!!! F***ing A!!!!— April 7, 2014 8:32 p.m.
Atkins pushes bill so 30% of your neighbors can redevelop you
Here is the link to the Committee on Local Government, which reviews the Atkins proposal: http://alcl.assembly.ca.gov/membersstaff Please, please contact each member and discuss your feelings about changing a state law that currently requires a minimum 50% (reducing it to only 30%) of petition signers before local gov and private groups can force a vote to tax you, and one that they know they will win. Because they have carefully drawn a line around area property blocks to create a "district" that will yield a majority of "yes" votes. Because they will be the group of persons who appoint themselves to decide how to spend your money. Because the term of the current state tax law now lasts 5 years (then a vote for renewal for 10 years), and Atkins' bill will change that first term to a generation: 20 years. Because it is not democratic. Or fair.— April 4, 2014 7:11 p.m.
Atkins pushes bill so 30% of your neighbors can redevelop you
Just checked AB 2412: Atkins amended the bill and sent it backon March 28 for review by the Committee on Local Gov. Here, in italics, are the only amendments, which appear in the second paragraph of the proposed bill: "This bill would authorize a local agency, *as defined, in the County of San Diego* to form a community benefit district by complying with specified procedures and requirements, to be operated by a nonprofit management company, and to levy an assessment for the funding of certain improvements and activities within the district. *This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the County of San Diego.*" Because San Diegans are so specially retarded that we can't be trusted to operate under majority rule. Apparently, the perversion of the current State Law that Atkins hopes to achieve did not go over well with other Assemblymembers, so she's writing it only for San Diegans. Thanks a lot, Toni. You're giving a big finger to democracy. You and your bad bedfellows will be hearing from the same people who wrote Vargas.— April 3, 2014 11:28 p.m.
Atkins pushes bill so 30% of your neighbors can redevelop you
Oh jeez. Thanks for the heads up, Dorian. Knew this was coming. Economic Development announced that their goal for 2014 going forward was to privatize services in the urban core, and create property-based assessment districts out of business-based assessment districts. You can always count on the Dems from D3/D8 to try to screw small and residential property owners and to help Marco. What is it that he holds over them? The mentality is: only a handful of property owners, i.e., the BIG, wealthy ones, understand how utterly devalued their property is because there is no controlling group to make every neighborhood into an ornamented, swept, decorated miniversion of a mall. What happens is that members of business district, run by business associations, such as MainStreet in North Park, decide that the surrounding homeowners on many of the streets north, south, east, and west should also be taxed, because...geee...property owners are benefiting **for free** from all of the business owners' efforts. They want property owner money to *improve the quality of life,* as they see fit. It's such a scam.— April 1, 2014 6:16 p.m.
Whatcha gonna do when your well runs dry?
Here's a photo of the site where the well is being drilled, as it looked in March 1918. The two houses are still there - behind chain link, cinder-block walls, and overgrowth, not to mention the well-site clutter. The original addresses were 1008 and 1028 32nd. The photo is from a journal titled *The Architect and Engineer of California*, Vol. LII, No.3 (March 1918). http://www.sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2014/m…— March 30, 2014 12:09 p.m.