Por BRIAN SCHRADER<\/p>\n
There is no way to sugar coat this: San Diego desperately needs more housing, and if you\u2019ve driven through North Park or University Heights lately then you\u2019ve seen the city\u2019s latest attempts to provide it. This construction has prompted a backlash from many residents, especially regarding the latest projects on 30th Streets and Adams Avenue. But a group of Uptown residents believe they\u2019ve crafted an elegant solution. They call it \u2018Smart Growth,\u2019 and I\u2019m going to explain why it doesn\u2019t work.<\/p>\n
Proponents of Smart Growth claim the proposal minimizes change to a given neighborhood while attempting to maximize the amount of new housing built. This is a worthwhile goal, in principle. The issue arises in the logistics of how Uptown\u2019s \u2018Smart Growth\u2019 plan could actually become a reality.<\/p>\n
The Smart Growth Plan goes like this: instead of constructing larger or taller housing complexes in our local communities, which supporters claim would alter the neighborhood and fail to provide suitable parking for new residents\u2014the city should prioritize constructing smaller three-to-four story buildings along the entire length of Adams Avenue, like an almost Parisian thoroughfare, with shops on the lower floors and housing on the top. This concept has a unique appeal, don\u2019t get me wrong, but it won\u2019t solve any of the problems it claims to address and it could arguably make them much worse.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s dive into the biggest issues.<\/p>\n
First: parking. Larger projects\u2014taller buildings\u2014usually come with a substantial amount of parking provided by underground lots. Smaller projects\u2014like two or three story complexes\u2014tend to waste lot space on cheaper above-ground lots which reduces the amount of livable space the complex can provide and therefore reduces housing potential. A line of smaller buildings like this would likely provide less parking than a single taller building, resulting in an outcome that directly contradicts the Smart Growth plan\u2019s stated goals.<\/p>\n
Next: \u2018neighborhood culture.\u2019 This incredibly squirrelly term is often used as a dogwhistle by those who seek to police their neighborhood\u2019s socio-ethnic makeup, but for this discussion let\u2019s assume that everyone is acting in good faith. Uptown does genuinely have a unique character. It is one of San Diego\u2019s original street-car suburbs and it\u2019s filled with smaller shops, a thriving art scene, great bars, and stellar restaurants. It\u2019s also home to community events like the Adams Avenue Street Fair. I agree that this stuff is important; it\u2019s why I choose to live in Normal Heights after all.<\/p>\n
Now consider these two scenarios. Which is less \u2018disruptive\u2019? In one, the vast majority of the neighborhood remains the same except there are a few taller buildings interspersed throughout. They stick out a little, but add new housing and parking within a relatively small footprint. In the Smart Growth scenario, we instead need to bulldoze every classic one-story building, including all those shops, bars, and restaurants, along Adams Avenue to make room for the new complexes. Do the proponents of \u2018Smart Growth\u2019 really support a plan like that? I doubt it.<\/p>\n
This all belies the real point of the \u2018Smart Growth\u2019 plan. Housing advocates like me can explain that many new multi-story complexes include street-side commercial space, that parking minimums are detrimental to housing density, or that according to the recent state estimate San Diego must provide 108,036 housing units by the end of the decade to end this crisis. But it doesn\u2019t matter. The actual result of the \u2018Smart Growth\u2019 debate is to stop growth entirely. Let me explain.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s imagine for a second that all of these problems were solved. Under what timescale would this new \u2018Smart Growth\u2019 plan be achieved? It takes years to get a single new building project approved, and before that we would need to wait for every single lease along Adams Avenue to expire and be purchased by a developer willing to go along with the idea. At minimum this would take multiple decades, while San Diego requires over 100,000 housing units by the end of this one.<\/p>\n
I would like to live in a city that is actually capable of addressing one of its most critical needs. The \u2018Smart Growth\u2019 plan doesn\u2019t work and its only real effect is to block desperately needed housing projects. Our neighborhoods need solutions, not pipe dreams. We deserve real growth and soon.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By BRIAN SCHRADER There is no way to sugar coat this: San Diego desperately needs more housing, and if you\u2019ve driven through North Park or University Heights lately then you\u2019ve seen the city\u2019s latest attempts to provide it. This construction has prompted a backlash from many residents, especially regarding the latest projects on 30th Streets […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":969,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override_template":"0","override":[{"template":"3","single_blog_custom":"","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"1","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","show_zoom_button":"1","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"1","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"override_image_size":"0","image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post":"0","trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post":"0","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","sponsored_post_name":"","sponsored_post_url":"","sponsored_post_logo_enable":"0","sponsored_post_logo":"","sponsored_post_desc":"","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":""},"jnews_social_meta":{"fb_title":"","fb_description":"","fb_image":"","twitter_title":"","twitter_description":"","twitter_image":""},"jnews_override_counter":{"override_view_counter":"0","view_counter_number":"0","override_share_counter":"0","share_counter_number":"0","override_like_counter":"0","like_counter_number":"0","override_dislike_counter":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[11593,11552,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-313359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-no-images","category-opinion","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/969"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=313359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313359\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=313359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=313359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=313359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}