funny you guys mention the thing about texas. that's the kind of vibe i get from visiting dt san diego is the "thick-necked" football fratboy vibe to its patrons. needless to say i wasn't into it. you guys have an envious downtown and all, clean, modern, and bustling with activity, but to be honest, i wasn't feelin the "vibe". san diego does wonderfully with 3 million and it's come a long way from its navy-town roots. i'd give it another million and a local grassroots cultural ascendancy a-la seattle's late-80s to early 90s indie/grunge renaissance for a distinctive identity to develop. i'd love for our southern neighbor to mature into a more cosmopolitan metropolis that young people desire to move to before they settle down to build families. what do you guys think??

Hotel Indigo, Marriott Residence Inn, Strata, are all going up. When I said "in trouble", I meant is it not going to be built?

I've never been to Texas except for brief interludes at the airport, but I do get that "thick-necked" fratboy attitude in downtown San Diego, and yes it is annoying.

It actually reminds me alot of Phoenix. The Tempe area where you see cool new urban development but you have that underlying frat boy spring break type mentality.

The good news is San Diego is maturing and becoming more sophisticated, it just doesn't happen overnight. :) :)

yeah the Nolan sign is down and they wrapped everything in plastic as well

You need to get out of downtown if you want to experience something besides tourists and the military. Try North Park or Southpark or Hillcrest or OB, and there you will find were more of the locals go. I live downtown and I have to say the East Village has a good vibe, the Gaslamp is more for non-locals.

The lot on 13th street (between Island and J) is where Rob Quigley will soon call home. The lot is in between The Mission and The Metro Condos. Should be an awesome midrise live/work house (I think 8 floors).

Hey guys I've been out of San Diego for 9 months now and was just wondering if activity downtown has decreased with the terrible national and local economy. Think about it, where are the jobs for younger people (35 and under) that pay more then 30k per year??? All the mortgage loan jobs have evaporated, construction jobs are dust, financial services in the tank... and of course real estate agents are screwed.

So I ask who is making any money in San Diego right now? Retail owners are hurting as well. I would like an update on activity downtown, are there less people out and about spending money, going to the expensive restaurants and clubs?

I know downtown isn't like a ghost town or anything but has there been a noticable drop in activity and hustle/bustle? I remember when I used to go to the clubs at least half the people worked in the mortgage/real estate industry. At least all the Filipino chicks who are nurses still have their jobs lol :haha:

I am downtown 5 days a week and out about elsewhere. You cannot tell anything is different. Certainly development has slowed. The only place where the economic slow down is really visible is the income and balance statements of retail businesses and design firms. The implosion is not yet visible, but personally, it sometimes feels like I am in Portland Maine during the movie War Games.

I personally haven't been affected (thank God), but I do know about 10 people that have been laid off from firms such as Qualcomm, Petco, Amylyn, and some other smaller firms. But in regards to activity around town I notice a slightly less amount of people but it is hard to tell since it is the holiday season and more people will be out that usual.

Wasn't the Hilton Convention Center supposed to open this week? Did it?

Does anybody know how tall the first national bank building (excuse me, pacific western bank building) is with its Christmas tree spire?

Looks close to 500ft! :)

The Hilton did open this week, heard that it is nothing special inside and the rooms are just standard, but the view of the city is great (so says my friend).

as for the First National Bank building, not even close to 500. see the pic.

http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/n...2/Picture1.png

I know the point is to depict the height of the First National Bank building, but I see Sapphire Tower is on the list. If that one is on the list, while it's under construction, should Bayside and Vantage Point be on it too?

With the announcement of Obama's infrastructure investment plan into roadways and rail does anyone know if the San Diego trolley has any expansion plans ready to go, but awaiting funding?

The most obvious expansion/improvement to the trolley would be the mid-coast extension up to UCSD and the Golden Triangle. I was at a SANDAG meeting in which the CEO of MTS testified that there are still plans to move forward with the extension, although I can't remember specifically why it's been held up. Also, an MTS handout showed that there should be vehicular and station upgrades along the Blue and Orange Lines. Some of those old Siemens/Duwag U2's that have been operating since the trolley opened in the early 1980s could sure use some TLC if not complete replacement with the newer Siemens Avanto S70s that have been running on the Green Line. The expansion of the S70 fleet, however, is contingent upon upgrades to existing stations; notably raising the station floors.

yes, it did. And if you look at my past opinions of this project, I was not surprised by the outcome. This project deserves a formal architecture review to really call out the poor architecture, urban design elements, interior design, etc. It is nice there is more park land, but that appears to be a work in progress as well.

The Port really dropped the ball on this one. Sound familiar?

Go take a look, and walk from the northeast end of the convention center to the hotel as a start and tell me what your impression of the link between the two buildings... Oh and try to find the front door of the hotel.

"Ready to Go" list
 

Here is the list released today of the projects ready to be fast-tracked under Obama's infrastructure stimulus plan.

FYI - the document is 803 pages long.

http://usmayors.org/mainstreeteconom...ort-200812.pdf

Cool! At 803 pages I assumed it would be pretty comprehensive. It is, sort of, but it is needing more coverage of US cities. It appears only those cities that participated in the conference or responded to a survey had their projects get on the list.

Additionally, I know it is representing cities, but it would have exhibited much more cooperation or planning if other governmental orgs were included... such as the states, counties, transit agencies, municipal planning organizations, water districts, public electricity districts, school districts, etc.

I am not begrudging it... just saying.

I particularly like to see transit represented more robustly., After all, we need to provide infrastructure for the people to move away from foreign oil... and transit and rail is a big part of that.

Any renderings?

well i meant with its unofficial spire

going to the diagram on this website, it looks to be around 145m with its "spire", if the drawing is drawn to scale