Quote:
Originally Posted by wburg
If you squeeze one end of a balloon, the other end swells up, but it's still filled with the same amount of air. I suppose I'd rather see the bigger end of the balloon downtown vs. Natomas, but it remains to be seen whether this will bring actual growth in the long run. This gives North Natomas a really hard squeeze.
I'm a skeptic, as some of you may have figured out by now. I don't take someone's word for it just because they hold political office or a large bank balance. My main concern about this arena plan is based on the method of financing on the city side.
In terms of supporters/opposition, both sides seem quite bipartisan. I have heard a lot of right-wing criticism of the plan, from local anti-tax groups and conservative commenters, mostly focused on public expense.
Speaking of seeing things myself, I had a chance to visit San Diego this past winter. I took light rail to the Gaslamp to see what the fuss was about. It seemed nice, if a little plastic in parts. I noticed that having a freight railroad line running through downtown doesn't seem to have much negative effect in San Diego. Lots of nice old buildings fixed up and put to new uses, alongside new construction. I didn't get that close to the ballpark, but it didn't seem like much was happening that way (not a game night.)
I did notice that there were some SRO hotels in the Gaslamp, and the spare-changers were all at one end (the far end reminded me of K Street before the mermaid bar zone opened.) I took light rail back to the hotel using a different route, and noticed a lot of homeless people sleeping in the business district, which was pretty quiet otherwise.
A month or so later I met a fellow who works for San Diego's "Little Italy" PBID. He was really pushing the idea of downtown residential--claimed that all the high-rise in SD these days was residential, including families, no office construction is going on because these days, if you have a laptop and a Starbuck's, you have an office. He was less enthusiastic about their ballpark--said the main effect on his area was to push homeless from the Gaslamp into his neighborhood.
We'll see what happens downtown. This was a long shot, and it definitely beat the odds, so as someone who tends to go with a safe bet, I'm surprised by the result. If it works, I'll applaud--but at least from what I have seen so far, it doesn't seem like a measurably different approach to downtown development than we have seen in previous decades. Lots of businesses started calling the last couple of times the city started pouring money into K Street too--the question is, what happens after construction is finished?
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Well... I've often found when all that even when all the evidence suggests otherwise, people still see what they want. As I said wburg... looks like you could be in for a painful decade or two. So sad that downtown Sacramento's future success makes you so cranky.
If your friend at the LIA really said that the main effect of the ballpark was to pushing the homeless to his neighborhood, then I'm going to have to tell Marco he has a real bitterman on staff. I'm sure he'd get a kick out of it. Of course... maybe it's Marco. He's pretty sensitive about anything that affects Little Italy. I can see him getting a little bent that East Village development shifted some of the homeless to Little Italy. But frankly, seems that the homeless problem there is much smaller than it used to be. Maybe I'd feel differently if the homeless were migrating to Bankers Hill.
I have to say tho, the homeless are still all over East Village. That's where all the services for them are. They were established when the area was a wasteland and it's interesting watching them working at co-existing with the new high/mid rise residential and hotels.
I think one reason why San Diego has really stepped up it's homeless programs over the last year or so is because all the new development in the area forces residents and politicians to confront the issue instead of sweeping it away out of sight.
And Bill, next time you're in San Diego, let me know. Be happy to buy you a cocktail: if you'll accept a drink from a developer that is...