i think they need to move the homeless shelters out of downtown. i dont want to sound like an asshole, but the homeless really are a black eye on downtown. there are people who live in san diego who havent really been downtown since it was seedy and are looking to make a new first impression.
believe me, i used to live downtown. the homeless have a strong presense down there. there were days when i couldnt walk 3 blocks without being asked for change or whatever a couple times.
there are a lot of tourists and people in general walking around down there. downtown isnt the best place for these people to be sleeping (most of the time on the street) and using the bathroom (also on the street).
the problem with a homeless shelter is there is never enough space for the amount of demand. usually what happens is the shelters close during the day sending the people out into the streets and open during food serving times and dusk. This keeps the homeless community close to the shelter because they are waiting for food and a place to sleep. in the meantime, they beg for change to buy booze or drugs. and bother people.
this may all sound very selfish, but i lived down there. i had to deal with them. oh, and i also got jacked by a couple of them...so yeah. im kind of tired of that problem and cant wait until were at a point where police will actually put some effort towards getting this problem out of our city.

Broadway and C Street are really bad. A lot of people won't walk through that area because its shady 24/7. Hopefully the C-Street revitalization project will help some of that, but we all know it will just move the ghetto to another area, probably toward "smart corner".

there are still tons of places in eastern downtown for people like that to hang out. but its true that there are seedy pockets of the downtown area that arent exactly safe to walk through at night. C street along the trolley IS really bad at night. same with A or Ash streets near Core. Even down towards where electra is going in on Broadway has some shady characters after 8pm. I was over there the other night and maybe it was that I had a thousand dollars worth of camera with me, but I didnt exactly feel safe. Ive learned my lesson though down there and I always carry a knife...TAKE THAT STREET SCUM!

Anyway, point is that all this construction is very good for downtown. When street corners get developed it seems to push the seedy element elsewhere.

No, it's not.

This is relevant to the question if the parkign ont he left is Lane Field.

The parking you pointed out is for the Bosa tower or Irvine Co. Office building. It could be the site where IM Pei will be designing soemthing... or maybe Pei is designing AP 2?

Lane Field is west of Pacific Highway ... east of Harbor... north of Broadway.

Yeah, I agree. But unfortunately some people don't want a roof over tehir heads... or are not functional enough to live under one with others.

There is a ghetto on C Street? I didn't know that. I am there all the time and I never thought of it that way. Although the area needs a boost. Sidewalks are in bad shape and there's virtually been no public or private improvements on C since the trolley went in.

Hence the C Street improvement plan coming up this year. And yeah, there's no ghetto there. But I dont trust half the people standing outside that 7-11. Not to mention the homeless people sleeping by civic center.

oh my bad, yes Lane Field is to the direct west of that site across the street...thanks for the correction...but i think the main statement here is...parking lots suck :)

Well... I disagree on that being the main point. But, I agree about parking lots.

Imo, which you probably know already, is that people should chose wisely where they live and not choose lifestyles putting them in cars for 1 hour each morning or evening. I know that is some peoples only 'alone' time, but that choice is messed up. Or, that 1 hour away their work location is the only affordable housing they could afford. Personally, that is not an affordable lifestyle for me. I don't want to behind the wheel that long... too painful on many levels.

i was only emphasizing the parking lots suck part ;)

but i totally agree with you!:)

I wouldn't want to spend that long behind the wheel either, but it isn't wrong just because you or I say it's wrong. Some people live in the boonies for valid "lifestyle" reasons other than price and/or alone time. :)

^like pollute the air! :justkidding:

btw...ive always wondered who the girl in your avatar was eburress...who is she?

Do you live in East Village?

I don't know what you guys consider to be "ghetto", but in my opinion people loitering all day hitting you up for money, "waiting around for a friend" (selling drugs), and bums lining the street at night constitutes "ghetto" in my book. I was speaking in hyperbole before, but the more I think about it, it is ghetto albeit not textbook.

I'm on C Street a lot. I have even walked up and down it at midnight to see what it was like (sober)... from India all the way to 11th. In 2 years I have maybe asked for change twice. At most. I've never seen drugs sold there either... although I wouldn't be suprised because it is bought and sold all over downtown... especially along Imperial and Commercial and National and Logan.

What is really telling is the crime map created my the SDPD. It's online and doesn't really show a pattern of anything downtown... just that crime incidents are everywhere. But in the end, DT is a safe place. It's not like other cities. It's just impression.

I think it was unfair to quote me like that. I wrote more.

"Imo, which you probably know already, is that people should chose wisely where they live and not choose lifestyles putting them in cars for 1 hour each morning or evening. I know that is some peoples only 'alone' time, but that choice is messed up. Or, that being 1 hour away from their work location is the only affordable housing they could afford. Personally, that is not an affordable lifestyle for me. I don't want to behind the wheel that long... too painful on many levels."

You can honestly say that you don't feel nervous at all walkin down C street that time of night? Comps to you. I live DT also and I hate waiting for a trolley after the yardhouse in that areal.

Agree, agree, agree. Its great when people who don't live downtown tell us how it is.

Dvt
 

Anyone been down to Diamond View Tower lately? They have a killer photo built into their curtain wall. I won't say what it is, so check it out.. it's at the entrance!

Sorry - I didn't mean to be unfair or misrepresent what you said. In any case, I don't think that changes my point. Hours behind the wheel might be worth it for some people and choosing to do this isn't unwise. It's no big deal, but I did want to point it out because you are making some broad statements that might not be entirely fair.