As I feared in previous posts, NIMBYS have gone all-out bat shit cray cray on one paseo.

They are gathering signatures to force it to go to a vote and are backed by a wealthy person who owns a business in the area and fears the competition:

http://www.kpbs.org/news/2015/mar/03...-not-over-yet/

If enough signatures are collected it would either be a special election or election in June, so none would be the 2016 November election, meaning the over 60 don't tax it, don't build it, don't plan it, don't even talk about it crowd will be who turns out.

Without a doubt, the worst thing about this city is its people.

Kilroy is getting creative with a unique way to hinder the NIMBYs signature drive.
http://voiceofsandiego.org/all-narra...ure-gathering/

2850 Sixth Avenue was designed by my great-uncle, Richard Wheeler. Built in 1958. I have his original drawings for the building. Prior to this, there was a grand Victorian house on the lot (see below). Unlike several of his other buildings that are still standing around town, the Benbough building didn't age very well, and was a real blight on Sixth Avenue.

http://i.imgur.com/61KajEM.jpg

That's too bad - what a beautiful structure!

I am so upset at this One Paseo Referendum. Can't the City Council see that this is obviously funded by the owner of the shopping center across the street who is trying block thousands of jobs from being created and on construction and think of all the people who will be working in this major office project once complete.

This is the only major shovel ready non medical (not waiting for demand) office project set to move forward in the City of San Diego other than the defense contractors behind Scripps Ranch High!! This city has nothing else going on in terms of office building construction in the next couple years... There must be something the City Council can do, Del Mar Highlands has been the only game in town in CV for 25 years!! Now you have Pacific Highlands Village being built off the 56 and One Paseo so the owner won't have a monopoly on that subregion any longer.

I love that someone is giving the NIMBY's a run for their money. I find it humorous and clever that Kilroy is purposely tying up all the city's professional signature gatherers so that it is difficult for the opposition to get signatures.

I hope they succeed. 35,000 signatures is difficult to get unless they stage a major rally in Carmel Valley and Bay Park...even then.

Where is the UT's "Watchdog Section" on this Del Mar Highlands Center paying to put this referendum on ballot and giving $3 a signature to the gatherers? Shouldn't they be informing the people of SD that this is simply a greedy business owner who has had a monopoly on the Del Mar/CV market for a quarter century trying to protect his own interests and being a selfish economy destroying f**k?

Can someone explain why this logic is faulty?

Here it is:

If signatures are gathered to cause a vote to let the citizens decide a directive over the will of the council or official board, then the following should be in place:

A lack of a vote from a registered voter should be considered a vote to uphold the council's decision. A position of voters wanting to overturn a position of an elected council should have to have a majority over both an actual vote to uphold, and a lack of a vote (indifference - council knows best).

After all, that is why we elect these people, to act in our stead. Essentially we are saying - we elected to do their job, let them do it.

Okay folks hold on to your bullshit-meter and read this article. Please comment on it as well. Here's a taste of the comments,

"stupid enough to spend millions of dollars to live in an air-conditioned mid-air cage".

:brickwall:

http://sandiegofreepress.org/2015/03...omment-2421273

^ laughable too that the author calls himself an environmentalist. Am I the only one that thinks these commentators sound like a bunch of hicks. "Gee whiz, those New York condos... here comes the railroad"

I think I got a headache reading this. Anyone who pays attention to at least a little news has seen this project coming for years. How do the commenters not have any idea about this? What a bunch of dummies.

Well put

The only thing I learned from this article is that Emerald Hills Neighborhood Park has a great view.

I personally love seeing the Pinnacle go up as I drive north on the 5. These people calling themselves environmentalists is a huge joke. High-rises are the anti-sprawl, which is their greatest contribution to the environment and the only choice San Diego has to appreciably grow as a region.

Condo market is coming back. http://m.utsandiego.com/news/2015/ma...s-hill-condos/

Here's another taste:

" This building is “San Diego’s Monument to Decadence”. We should rally at this location. Look at the pictures of this monstrosity. This is a misplaced object! It belongs in New York City not in San Diego. When we start to uncover the names of the people who planned this horrible structure. We must out-them as decadent Vaisyas who love money more then anything else.
I think here in San Diego we have to take that Monument to Decadence down. We don’t need a cement 50 story phallic symbol sticking up for all of San Diego to behold!
A monument to greed and corruption. What kind of people would want to live in it?
Look below at the homeless people, the scene is sickening!
Here is the link to the youtube video of myself and friend Donald addressing the city council about the “Monument of Decadence” "


Monument to decadence?

Phallic symbol?

decadent Vaisyas??

We need to "take that monument to decadence down"!?

Does this person really think they will tear it down if him and his friend go protest in front of it :haha::haha:

I'm trying to understand the point of views of these people, but I'm kind of confused. I don't like every project that goes up downtown and complain quite a bit, but the argument here is clearly aimed not at the project's design but rather its height and size.

I thought downtown was the one place even people like this accepted density and height, but now they don't even want tall buildings downtown!?

And the sheer drama of both the article and the comments is so overboard.

The article itself makes reference to "blotting out the sun" and more than one comment makes comparisons to "New York City".

Have any of these people been to NYC?? The buildings are far more massive than this one. Hell, have any of these people even been to LA? The skyscrapers that form the core of LA's downtown dwarf One America Plaze, SD's tallest skyscraper, and make it look like a mid-rise stubby building.

I guess these people don't have a clue that for our size, San Diego probably has the LOWEST height downtown in the country after maybe Phoenix.

Despite their dramatic comparisons, SD is not even remotely close to becoming NYC.

But what perplexes me the most is trying to figure out where these people come from politically and ethically. On the one hand, they seem to be environmentally-minded but they don't acknowledge the role density plays in environmental sustainability. Do they REALLY care about the environment, or is it a guise to give a nice backdrop argument to the far more selfish goal of "don't block my bay view"?

San Diego just seems like a weird paradigm. You have an older population where cranky liberals and cranky conservatives seem to agree on one thing: they don't want more people moving here and they don't want SD to grow. They also don't seem to give a crap about the long-term future and the consequences of not planning for the projected growth our city is expected to encounter.

Finally, there is the prominent argument in these comments about "decadence" and "greed". Is a dense downtown with skyscrapers and street-level stores, restaurants and parks more decadent and greedy than the "keep the riff-raff out" gated communities of La Jolla or Rancho Santa Fe? At least anyone can come downtown and take a stroll or get something to eat even if they can't afford a luxury condo. I can't exactly just show up in Ranco Santa Fe and stroll through the private communities there, I'd probably be arrested. And this particular commenter seems horrified that people would want to live in a high-rise above streets that have homeless people, but what would happen if a homeless camp propped up in La Jolla or in any suburban neighborhood? It would be dismantled and the people kicked out. I guess to this idiot, greed means out of sight out of mind as opposed to living somewhere where you actually see the realities of life and live alongside people in all economic classes instead of in some bubble where everyone is the same. San Diego has some of the nation's most expensive real estate, and most of it ISN'T downtown so I'm not sure where this density=decadence and density=greed argument comes from. Is it greedy to prefer a dense city so we can preserve what's left of Southern California's natural habitat from endless suburban sprawling??

Wow. Just WOW. SIGH

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zsxkZpkHPE

SD is a transient military/college beach town. Most people are uninformed because they don't care and will move on. The vocal ones are the older locals, that have seen change for the worse in their eyes.

If SD doesn't create a great rapid transit system, then building dense developments will exasperate the existing freeway system and arterial road network. We've seen what happened to LA. Traffic is an absolute mess up there.

I think rapid transit lines need to be addressed to handle dense development that is coming.

OHMYGAWD. I've seen this guy walking down 25th street taking pictures of the construction. He is a lonely NIMBY. Thankfully no one (except the Free Press, because they're a bunch of loons) is taking him seriously. Those visits to the council are ridiculous. "How about instead of a second tower you build a park instead?" Excuse me. Did you not notice the half block park right next to the development - being built by the developer?? Or how about how they get the developer wrong, or pull our some questionable comments on skyscrapers leading to economic downturns. Wow, Holy Guacamole.

Has anyone else tried leaving comments on this article? Because I have and they're never published.

That video is absurd and ridiculous. Guy complains about tall buildings while living next to an area called DOWNTOWN. What did he expect, San Luis Obispo? Sorta like complaining about spaghetti while living in Little Italy, protesting horses from your home in Lakeside, or rallying against our local hipsters in ... North Park?

If the guy wanted to get away from the skyscrapers he could have just moved to say somewhere like Rockaway Beach? It's a heck of a lot closer than San Diego and the A train goes right there dude.

Looks like One Paseo is going to get the 34,000 signatures. I just had a guy come to my house (I live at the far North End of 35th street in Normal Heights). So not only are they doing this at grocery stores but they have the man power to go door to door! I think Faulconer should use this issue as a turning point to educate people about developments.

The people trying to block One Paseo are saying "this could come to your neighborhood, Clairemont or Tierra Santa". This could not be further from the truth. Where has there been any office space built in the last ten years in City of SD? UTC and the Del Mar Heights/Carmel Valley sub markets. Mission Valley nothing, Downtown basically squat, Kearny has been mostly government and medical. My point is this kind of development will never come to other part of the city.

From the renderings it kind of look like Americana in Glendale with a 7 and 9 floor office tower thrown in. This can only be supported in Carmel Valley with all the Del Mar, Solana Beach, RSF, and Fairbanks Ranch money close by. Tierra Santa lol.... The site is in the epicenter of wealth in the county kind of like the Fashion Island in Newport Beach or Century City in LA. Just our little mini SD scaled version.

Architectural drawings/elevations for 330 13th.

http://www.civicsd.com/images/storie...-_Drawings.pdf

They've put signature gathers at mesa and city college. I asked one girl where the million + people are supposed to live by the year 2030. Her reply "hopefully somewhere that follows zoning laws." They seemed surprised to hear they were employed by the people that own the shopping square across the street. This whole thing is absurd.

This is frustrating. The design isn't bad or anything, it's great filler. But this location demands something iconic. It's one of the few terminating street vistas in San Diego, and it should take advantage of that. I wish the central library was built on this plot.

Looks like 12th and Broadway, which is meh.

Sorry to be the hater of the group, but I find this building to be hideous. The color is awful and appears to be exposed concrete... Not saying it shouldn't be built, we do need housing, but damn the Library Tower was much more sleek and complimented the Library Dome.

Well, I think it looks better than the originally planned Library Tower but I do wish that 330 was just as tall as the previously planned building. Don't worry about being a "hater" we're all not going to agree on what looks good. :notacrook:

I like the style. It has a mid-century Cuba/Miami feel to it. Sure, given the location, I wish it were the 40 story tower it was originally planned as, but it's not a bad building in my opinion.

Looks like Lorena Gonzalez is trying to limit CivicSD through the legislator. According to the Voice of San Diego, she wants to take away their ultimate permitting authority downtown, and elsewhere. That would mean all projects would have to go to the City Council (more red tape).

So much for efficiency.

People wonder why housing costs so much more in CA than the rest of the country, and this is why. The environmental regs, building codes, land use restrictions, zoning laws, FAR limits, etc. drive costs through the roof.

This is extremely frustrating. Downtown is one of the few things in this city that is working well and is the only thing mitigating the disasterous housing shortage.

She's the union's hag and I guess the Unions have some council members in their back pocket. So everything can go through them.

Interesting...

https://www.facebook.com/ballparkvillage?fref=nf

I hated it at first look, but I went through the whole PDF and looked at the various renderings and diagrams and it grew on me. I did like the design of library tower - tall and sleek, but I like this as well. As someone else mentioned kind of a mid-century look, reminds me more of a diplomatic or government structure but I mean that in a good way.

Found one rendering of the proposed Lane Field South hotel:

http://sandiegodowntownnews.com/resi...or-lane-field/

http://media.utsandiego.com/img/phot...36113f8ab322b0

Lane park opened. not sure what its good for except for homeless naps

Notice the pitchers mound and home plate monument at Lane Field park. Nice touch!

http://sandiegodowntownnews.com/wp-c...90796_2web.jpg
Source: http://sandiegodowntownnews.com/wp-c...90796_2web.jpg

Boston has a monument to the 1903 World Series with a statue of Cy Young on the mound and a home plate marking the approximate location of the old Boston Pilgrims (Red Sox) on Northeastern University's campus.

http://www.bostonspastime.com/stories/cy.jpg

Source: http://www.bostonspastime.com/stories/cy.jpg

Petco Park view with Sempra in there

http://i.imgur.com/VB2QZaU.jpg

That Lane Field South Rendering is weak sauce. Have you guys seen the new proposed 38 floor JW Marriott next to Staples Center to go with the 54 floor Ritz/JW combo that has been there for years? Why can't Lane Field South be at least as nice as that tower? We deserve a tall modern luxury hotel tower at the foot of Broadway not that pathetic rendering.

Man I wish Sempra was at least another ten floors taller at least so stumpy. That is a kick ass skyline view from Petco, and please can we get that 500 foot 7th and Market rendering someone posted a few pages back going. That would be a game changer for the SD Skyline just think of that along with BallPark Village and JMI's beast they want to build next to it!!!

Still amazed at Sempra's progress. Once the building reached ground level it topped out fast.

Unfortunately, that's the nature of the beast when you're trying to build something within the purview of the freaking California Coastal Commission (and the FAA for that matter). Downtown L.A. isn't on the coast, so they have a little more leeway with building impressive structures, not to mention the much larger pile of money L.A. works with.

Frankly, it's a small miracle these Lane Field hotels are being built at all. Here's hoping the Navy Broadway Complex gets past the CCC, too...

I'm not sure I understand your argument Nez, have you looked at the proposed JW Marriott I spoke of? It isn't taller than what Bosa is building right on the water so why would the Coastal Commission have any issue for that exact same hotel being built at Lane Field South? It is a quality design would fit the site well. Are you saying there is extra scrutiny if you if is hotel project versus condo?

Good point about the Bosa tower...I have no idea. I guess I figured maybe the Coastal Zone's boundary was Pacific Highway? But that doesn't explain how the Hyatt towers and the Hilton Bayside were built.

It's probably just me defaulting to blaming the Coastal Commission for anything I'm upset about... :tup:

Perhaps the height issue for Lane Field has to do with the project being "Port" land, subjecting it to additional review. That said, I'm not sure that height was ever an issue for Lane Field. I think that the market just dictated a piecemeal approach to hotel development at that site due to the recovering economy.

Flyer for the East Village Green Workshop #1.

http://i.imgur.com/n8gzUzU.png

I think the most important thing is to keep it a park, with the focus on trees and nature, and not bog it down with too many other things people might suggest like playgrounds, amphitheater, skate area, etc. - basically anything that needs wide expanses of concrete. I get nervous in these solicit feedback meetings because there will probably be a lot of ideas, many good, but they are ideas that will detract from this being a green space in the city. Since this will be the only significant park space in the neighborhood I would hope for something really focusing simply on trees and nature to contrast with the urban landscape around it. Make it a forrest of trees and nature walks with high rises surrounding ;)

SDCAL they tried that with Ruocco Park and in my opinion that space is a complete bust. No one is ever there when I have walked by it/through it. I agree with you that if this East Village park is surrounded by 400ft. plus high buildings and you have more creative office jobs in that area simply having green space and mature trees will be awesome. Hopefully they spend some money and bring in trees that are somewhat mature. Maybe a nice water feature to buffer city noises, but not a traditional "fountain". If any of you have ever been to the pool at La Costa Resort and Spa they have an awesome water feature wall that provides the most soothing sound.

I probably won't make the workshop but I like your idea, however I think there's room enough for a "East Village Rec Center" + a large park. Hopefully they keep the old-growth trees and try to relocate the large old house on 14th. Need to calm some of the fast traffic on F and G streets as well.

Agree with both of you about the mature trees. I think that's one reason north embarcadero seems somewhat underwhelming right now, because the trees and landscaping are very new and will take time to grow out. I'm not a tree/plant expert, but I do have an interest to in it especially downtown. It seems like there has been distinct change in tree landscaping when you look at streets with older developments using queen palms and ficus trees and new developments that use date palms and jacarandas. Some of it may have to do with drought-resistant trees, and I thnk jicarandas are appealing due to growing fast and of course the purple blooms that come in late spring. I have noticed though on 10thave there are some really impressive large ficus trees that seem to thrive in our climate. I really hope that as things develop they try and save these mature trees and icorporate them into new projects