If you have ever been stuck in traffic and going nowhere on Garnet Avenue while swearing under your breath, there is at least one option to help solve the problem. Same goes if you have ever wondered why some commercial developments are approved while others are not.
“There are estimates that anytime the traffic is backed up on Garnet Avenue around 40 to 50 percent of those people are just looking for a parking space,” said Ben Nicholls, executive director of Discover Pacific Beach.
To those issue and more, Nicholls is encouraging Pacific Beach residents and business people to join the Pacific Beach Parking Committee and the Pacific Beach Planning Committee.
As well, according to Nicholls these committees have a very strong impact. It’s easy to complain about the problems, but these committees strive to find workable solutions to a wide variety of community problems.
“The planning and parking committees are the only two groups in Pacific Beach which the City of San Diego has written into policy as having an official say on issues which impact the community,” he said. “The City of San Diego looks at the parking committee as the voice of Pacific Beach with regards to parking.”
In other words, obviously any individual or group of people can address and share their feelings with the city government, but these two committees have a more “official status” in that regard.
And that status requires balanced community representation.
The planning committee has 20 members ” six businesspeople and 14 residents. The business members can be from anywhere in the community while the residents must live in the area they are representing.
The parking committee is even more diverse with three representatives from Discover Pacific Beach, three members from the Pacific Beach Town Council, three people from the planning committee and four at-large representatives from the area neighborhoods.
Representatives on these committees can expect to deal with a wide range of issues, according to Nicholls.
“The planning committee, as an example, would be involved in everything from someone who wants to build a new hotel to another person who wants to make some changes to their house,” he said.
While commercial development and related issues are extremely important, Nicholls points out that parking affects everyone in some form or fashion.
“Think about it ” you want to take your family to the beach for a day; or you want to attend a community social function; or you want to open a new store ” parking is probably the first issue which comes to your mind. Parking is directly tied to almost every community issue.”
The Pacific Beach Planning Committee meets the fourth Wednesday of every month at the Earl & Birdie Taylor Library, 4275 Cass St.
Interested candidates must be at least 18 years old and a Pacific Beach resident in the census tract for which he or she is running. The committee’s responsibilities are available online at www.welovepb.com.
Elections will be held March 28 at 5:30 p.m. at the Taylor Library. You must bring the proper paperwork. Terms are for two years.
The Pacific Beach Parking Committee meets the second Thursday of every month at Taylor Library at 6:30 p.m. More information is available at www.pacificbeachparking.org. Terms are for one year.
No formal elections are held for this committee. Anyone can bring proper paperwork to the meetings and be appointed to the committee if there is an opening from your area of the community.
All paperwork can be picked up at the Discover Pacific Beach office, 1503 Garnet Ave. Call (858) 273-3303 for more information.