LMAO
:upload_71700:

General, all-around growth might not be the remedy to all that ills San Diego, but corporate growth would go a long way towards that end.

The lame-ass people here wouldn't need to contribute any more money than they already do if there was a larger corporate base. If I recall correctly, each Fortune 500 company headquartered in a city contributes as much income (just in taxes) as a Super Bowl - and there are all the other economic benefits as well. Ultimately, corporate growth = a profitable city, better infrastructure, higher incomes, grand civic projects, etc...

SD may be better than most other places, but that has a LOT more to do with it's geography than anything the city has or hasn't done.

My bad!! To be honest with you I don't remember why I chose Symphony Towers. There is one major mistake......:shrug:

One of the first steps to attract or nurture these Fortune 500s: building a new international airport. Lindbergh is our achilles heal.

At present the people running our city/county government and the vocal majority are conservative baby boomers nearing their golden years. They are San Diego's biggest NIMBYs bitching, complaining and shooting down any kind of idea that seems off the wall to them (like a Miramar International Airport or a Brown Field Cargoport or the project that'll potentially block their views). They are the ones that have kept San Diego from reaching its full potential.

As they expire over this decade we need to warm up the next generations into thinking that we ain't Mayberry anymore. We need to educate them, get them familiar with the idea of Miramar being our next airport or even a floatport off the Pacific. That way it wouldn't seem so "out of the box" to them.

No worries!:)

I completely agree with this, babyboomers have been holding this metro area back big time. They fight any big project because they are already sitting pretty, they have made their cash and have butloads of equity in their homes.

Well what about us?? The people in our teens, 20's, and 30's look at the legacy the babyboomers have left for us! And eburress is right, it isn't that "San Diego the city" has done anything great. Our downtown is booming because of our weather, hilly geography, and beaches. People want good weather and views, that is why downtown has blown up.

Hell imagine, if Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, or Toronto had our weather, think how popular they would be, everyone would be flooding there. Anyway, corporate expansion is greatly needed here and I think eburress and Mongonzo or right... Out with the boomers :cheers:

To all you whinners
 

Sorry pal, those who have the gold make the rules. If you want some gold you better earn it like we did. Complaining isnt going to cut it. Just because you are in your 20's or 30's and want to get what the older generation worked for, nobody is going to give you anything. I see from your posts that you want to use the power of government to force your views of city growth, good luck with that to my friend, your generation doesnt vote in high enough percentages. I am for growth and I think SD city government is inept. Arent some of them in jail for the strip club thing? The Navy wont give up Miramar, so forget that idea, it isnt going to work.

Did you ever play 'king of the hill' when you were a kid? That is what life is about, so start climbing, junior, I will be waiting for you at the top

^^ Please

classic quote
 

:rolleyes: And maybe you think that the city government should not represent the people who live here?

Brilliant statement from the post where you answered your own post. Lonesome I guess.

This is a development forum, no personal arguing here please.

Sir or Madame, before you give people a lecture on whining, you should read your own post which itself is "whining" about people in their 20s and 30s.

I am 30 and have a full time job, as I would imagine others here do as well, so please spare us from the "I walked 90 miles in blizzards to school when I was a kid"- type lecture.

This is a development board for San Diego, and the people on here post comments on both things going good and things we think need improvement. I don't think pointing out problems with the government and things we would like to see done differently in the city in which we live is "whining". Your arguement is like that of the crooked politicians who try to pass off non-submissive citizens who are critical of the governement as "whiners" in an effort to marginalize their concerns so they can continue doing nothing. People need to speak up and be critical in order to impliment change and people have the right to be fed-up with the direction our city is going right now.

KUDOS, I AGREE

[sarcasm] Yes, that was my point. [/sarcasm]

well said!
real change only occurs when we challenge authority or the status quo

Hear hear, well said. Resting on laurels doesn't make progress. There is no top to the hill, it just keeps going, and San Diego has a lot of climbing to do.

You know what's funny, any time someone says that the market will turn, or speaks of sales that continue to demand $500+ per SF, they are a realtor, or someone trying to manipulate the perception of the market. Don't you think there is some sort of motivation behind these websites as well? Lets see, the sky is falling, everyone bails out, people sitting on the sideline can get nice units on the cheap. Great plan. As for our place, we plan on living in it for 10 years, so who cares. Our unit is one of the last you will be able to get a decent price that isn't 8' ceilings and electric appliances (Fahrenheit). You get what you pay for, no mater where it is, downtown, BMR, San Francisco, etc... When you get the chance, walk into Alta, and offer them $400 per sf... oh, make sure you wait until after you walk the unit. That place is amazing. Thankfully, builders calling their places luxury can't anymore with true luxury units coming online...

An article from yesterday - am I missing something, how are new gates going to alleviate the airport problems, isn't what we need another RUNWAY!?

Posted date: 8/6/2007

Agency Trying to Get $650M Airport Project Off the Ground

Supervisor Opposes Plan to Add 10 Gates
By MIKE ALLEN

San Diego Business Journal Staff


Thella Bowens
Constrained on all sides, the single-runway Lindbergh Field has seen passenger traffic grow to the point that it needs at least two more gates to handle it. In addition, traffic going into and out of the airport continues to create bottlenecks.

“We are already behind the eight ball. Today we’re short by two gates,” said Keith Wilschetz, director of airport planning for the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority, the agency that manages the downtown airport. “And every year we’re going to be behind by another gate or two.”

Displaying pictures of traffic jams at the airport’s Terminal 2 taken in March, Wilschetz says that situation has likely gotten worse today because of the peak travel summer season.

Airport managers say a short-term remedy is to expand Terminal 2 or the farthest west terminal by 10 gates from its current total of 41.

The expansion plan that is still being examined also calls for constructing an elevated road to the terminal for easier traffic access, a possible five-story parking garage, and an overnight parking area for passenger jets that must be grounded to comply with a no-fly curfew from 11:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m.

The latest cost estimate on the project is $650 million, Wilschetz said.

Changes Coming

“These 10 gates would only meet the airport’s immediate needs,” said Thella Bowens, chief executive officer for the airport authority. “If we’re going to be here for a long time, there’s going to be some strategic decisions made.”

Bowens is fully aware that Lindbergh Field will remain the region’s primary airport for decades since area voters rejected a proposal, 62 percent to 38 percent, in November to convert part of Marine Corps Air Station Miramar’s airfield to commercial use.

That vote prompted the airport authority to resume an overall master plan update that was put on hold while the agency concentrated on the site selection process for a new airport.

That process was undertaken because Lindbergh Field is on track to reach capacity sometime between 2015 and 2022, according to airport authority studies.

Airport authority board members say they are awaiting the results of a final environmental report that should be out by September before adopting the plan.

“It’s not a done deal until we see the EIR (environmental impact report),” said Bruce Boland, one of nine members of the airport authority board of directors and a former Navy rear

Boland said now that it’s clear Lindbergh Field is the area’s main airport, the gate expansion is a must. “Those 10 gates are badly needed so we can continue to expand the air transportation service to our citizens,” he said.
Opposition

However, not everyone is convinced that the airport authority’s plans are best for Lindbergh and the region.

Fourth District Supervisor Ron Roberts is adamantly opposed to the gate expansion project, saying the authority’s immediate action plan makes no sense in light of the agency’s earlier plans to build additional gates at the northeastern side of the airport.

More than 10 years ago, Roberts said the airport plans were to construct a mass transit center at Pacific Highway, along with ramps that would take traffic from Interstate 5 into the airport. Also, there were plans to acquire land from the Marine Corps Recruit Depot to enlarge the airport’s taxiways, and possibly build another runway.

Roberts said he and other members of the San Diego Association of Governments’ transportation committee will be taking a hard look at the airport’s environmental report. Sandag is a regional planning agency.

“The history of this airport for the last couple of decades has always been to provide for its immediate needs, but enough is enough,” he said. “This is some of the worst planning by any public agency I’ve ever seen.”

Told of his comments, Bowens said: “It is regrettable that Supervisor Roberts has not participated in any positive way in this first phase of the master planning. If he had he would see the clear benefit of the plan to the public traveling through Lindbergh Field.”

Passenger Counts Soaring

As more carriers, particularly regional airlines such as ExpressJet and Frontier, provide direct service to certain cities, the airport has seen its passenger counts rise annually in the last four years. Last year, 17.5 million passengers flew from and into the airport, up only 0.6 percent from 2005. But that number was up 6.7 percent from 2004.

In the first half of 2007, more than 8.6 million passengers came through Lindbergh, with the heaviest travel months, July and August, still to be counted.

Airport managers are also intent on using 44 acres of land just east of the existing commuter terminal the agency will get that formerly belonged to Teledyne Ryan. This year, the authority has begun assessing the extent of the site’s contamination in advance of cleaning it up. Teledyne Ryan used hazardous materials on the site during decades of aerospace manufacturing.

The gate expansion project was initially planned for the late 1990s when the airport expanded and improved Terminal 2, then called the West Terminal. At the time, the project included installing utilities and other infrastructure at the terminal that would permit adding a row of 10 new gates at a future date.

“The 10 additional gates would take care of our customers’ needs through 2015 with a high level of service,” said Wilschetz.
Besides the new gates, the project also aims to solve a problem related to parking jets north of the runway that are grounded here because of the curfew on airport operations.

Moving the jets each morning across the runway wastes time and fuel, and could be rectified if the parking area was on the west side of the airport, Wilschetz said.

another airport article from yesterday:




Cross-border airport terminal under study

By: North County Times wire services

SAN DIEGO - Travelers could park their cars in San Diego and fly out of Tijuana under a proposal to be studied by the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority, the authority announced Friday.

A so-called "cross-border terminal" would allow passengers to park on the American side and enter the Tijuana airport, which abuts the border, through some kind of dedicated walkway, possibly easing congestion at other local airports, said airport authority spokesman Steven Schultz.

Before the proposal could become a reality, however, the authority wants to know if passengers would go for it.


"We're not really to the stage yet where we're planning how that might look," Shultz said today. "We're planning a demand study to determine what the amount of use or demand for that service would be."

Today, the airport authority named a consultant team and outside advisory group to study the concept.

Infrastructure Management Group Inc. was chosen among four consultant teams interviewed by an airport authority panel in June.

They will work with an outside advisory group of representatives from San Diego Association of Governments, Caltrans, the Mexican government, local economic development groups, airlines at San Diego International Airport, as well as Grupo Aeroportuario Del Pacifico, which operates Rodriguez International Airport in Tijuana.

"We are excited to get the consultant team and advisory group on board as an important early step in examining the feasibility of this unique, bi- national approach," Thella F. Bowens, president and CEO of the Airport Authority, said today

The study should be completed by the end of the year, Shultz said.

As far as how the terminal would look, ideas range from building a terminal on the U.S. side connected by secured walkway to Tijuana's airport to just placing a walkway from a U.S. parking lot where passengers are processed on the Mexican side, Shultz said.

Like I said, I will never use the cross-border terminal. Ever.