March 2006

"It is only an accident San Diego is still beautiful——an accident largely caused by all the canyons that make it impossible to completely pave the city over."

DENSE IS DENSE

Thank you for your January article on the problem of skyscrapers in residential neighborhoods [“Height of Stupidity?” by Deirdre O’Shea, Front Pages]. I grew up in Marin County, lived in San Francisco and had relatives in Carmel. I am used to strict oversight of development in all of those areas.

Carmel, in particular, exemplifies a community’s determination to preserve its rural character and charm: no sidewalks or street-lights in residential areas; no mail delivery (you go to the post office to get your mail); design review even for gas stations; and no cutting down of healthy trees, even if they are in the middle of the street.

San Diego is a model of bad development and lack of community oversight. It is only an accident San Diego is still beautiful—an accident largely caused by all the canyons that make it impossible to completely pave the city over.

I am amazed at all the tract housing in the suburbs, featuring huge houses on tiny lots. San Diego has arguably the best weather in the country. But good luck finding a reasonably priced house on a lot big enough for outdoor enjoyment with privacy.

I have chosen to live in Hillcrest because the area is at least walkable and features a mix of Craftsman, Spanish and contemporary houses with lots of trees to give the neighborhood some character and charm. But the village feel of Hillcrest is now threatened by proposed high-rises on “transit corridors”—University, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Avenues and Park Boulevard. What is worse, Hillcrest is already built out and dense, and cannot handle the traffic and demand for parking that presently exist.

San Diego citizens need to take a hard look at the celebrated City of Villages concept that is causing “in-fill” development (high-rises and other dense housing) in already built-up older neighborhoods. I understand the desire of environmentalists not to pave over the back country. But is ruining the quality of life in neighborhoods like Hillcrest and Mission Hills the way to solve our housing crisis? In-fill development should be done in suburban areas that are not already dense and built out. It should not be done in the neighborhoods surrounding Balboa Park.

Civic leaders need to show some respect for the people who live here instead of dumping problems in our back yards. Whether it’s pushing the homeless out of downtown (where they belong) into residential areas like Hillcrest, or giving developers the green light to put skyscrapers (which belong downtown) in residential areas like Hillcrest, or using eminent domain to enrich developers at the expense of homeowners and business owners, it is clear to me that lack of consideration and respect constitute the basis for San Diego’s many problems. This, combined with a citizenry that is basically asleep and indifferent, does not bode well for the future. The price we are paying is the quality of life that attracts people here in the first place.

ANDREW TOWNE
HILLCREST

WATCHABLE

We at Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla are thrilled that Joan Burritt was selected as one of your “50 People To Watch” this year. This means a lot to all of us, but especially the nurses who sometimes feel they don’t always get adequate recognition for their hard work. In the profile, you indicated the hospital earned a Merit designation last year. Actually, it was a Magnet designation.

I really enjoyed the eclectic group of people you selected for the “50 People To Watch” issue [January]. Great issue, as usual!

LISA OHMSTEDE
SCRIPPS MEMORIAL HOSPITAL
LA JOLLA

EXCEPTION TAKEN

I appreciate San Diego Magazine’s insightful and often well-researched coverage of important local issues. However, I have to take exception to your recent promotion of Bill Gerrity as one of your “50 People To Watch.”

Gerrity’s GMS Realty is the developer of the Old Police Headquarters, but the current form of the project is not some visionary undertaking. In 1997, the San Diego Unified Port District decided to tear down the entire building as mitigation for the second Hyatt tower. The San Diego Police Historical Association took on the Port to save the largest historic artifact of police relevance in the city. We eventually got the Port to consider ideas from outside developers that would save the historic integrity of the building. Despite that, in 2003 GMS approached the Port with a plan to demolish 63 percent of this local icon and National Register of Historic Places treasure. What was left standing was to become a mixture of the retail potpourri found in almost every strip mall in America. The plan was so poor, the Port wound up saying no.

In 1994, after seven years of intense pressure from the Police Historical Association, other preservation groups, elected officials and thousands of citizens, the Port held an international design competition to determine the building’s fate. Spearheaded by former Port Commissioner Peter Q. Davis, it led to the winning entry from Rob Wellington Quigley and Sasaki & Associates. Their idea saved the entire historic Old Police Headquarters, thus limiting GMS’ options. It was the full retention of the Old Police Headquarters, and pressure for a unique viable amenity, that forced GMS to introduce plans for a public market and so on.

What is being proposed now is far from “visionary.” The 2003 GMS plans were so detrimental to the historic integrity of the building, the Old Police Headquarters would lose its eligibility for the National Re

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