Originally Posted by spoonman (Post 2975912)

Of course those trees could grow here, this isn't Phoenix. Do those trees need to freeze in order to live???

The point was that it would be nice to have a square that encouraged stopping, and strolling and provided shade as opposed to the desolate lawns we refer to as parks, which have non-indegenous palms that provide no shade in a city that could actually use it.

Originally Posted by eburress (Post 2975431)

^^ Civic buildings cost money.

Originally Posted by spoonman (Post 2976575)

Perhaps those specific trees may not get as big here or would not be the best choice because of the hardship to the trees, but to get back to my original point, it would be nice to have large shade trees rather than palms which aren't really indigenous either. In reality, those large trees in NYC parks are closer to our native trees than palms are.

Originally Posted by bushman61988 (Post 2977447)

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y28...88/RAria-1.jpg
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y28...88/Aria2-2.jpg
It would look better without that box thing at the top of the building...they didnt show that in the renderings! But does anyone know why that's even necessary??

Originally Posted by SDCAL (Post 2975502)

We do have Balboa Park which is one of the best parks in the country in my opinion and it a true asset to the city, but other than that the smaller urban parks are pretty bad, discourage people from gathering and look like shit

I don't agree with the earlier post of getting away from "palm trees" and trying to reproduce East Coast parks, our climate is completely different.

Our weather zone gives us great variety in the use of plants and trees that many other areas of the country can't use. I think our new parks should focus on using meditteranean-climate firendly trees such as palms, but do so in a more natural way that encourages gathering and strolling but makes the parks look like they belong here.

Something seems odd about parks that try too look too East-Coastish out of their respective climate zones

Horton plaza broadway entrance is a perfect example of a fake-looking concrete nightmare with palms thrown in to somehow soften the mess, which obviously is very unappealing.

Parks that use warmer-weather plants like palms, bamboo, flowering shrubs like hybiscus, larger bird of paradise/bannana trees/other large-leafed plants, etc generally look better in a more informal Japanese-style landscape that mimics nature with water elements (natural as opposed to fountains), whereas temperate plants like evergreens, maples, cherry trees etc. tend to look better in the more structured and equally-balanced European-style landscapes (take Washhington DC)that are common of public squares back East that include lots of concrete and man-made touches such as fences, fountains, etc.

It seems like downtown projects in the East Village have stopped using palms, as all the new developments are using more temperate looking trees such as the maples engineered to grow here along with the brick buildings to try and make the developments seem more East Coast, but alot of them just don't seem to fit-in here. We can have urban greenery that uses local plants if done right

I think the bayfront area provides a perfect spot to create parkland that will be both appealing, useful and look nothing like the East Coast. Using palms and other sub-tropical plants to create a NATURAL looking and lush pathway for the area that calls for a narrow but long park would be good. I envision it being more of a "strolling' park that people walk through as opposed to a park where people actually stop and gather due to the lack of civic space. As far as use, once projects are built up in that area I think it would get tons of use.

Originally Posted by mongozx (Post 14495154)

Did anyone notice that they've already broken ground on the new Marriott @ the Gaslamp? Beyond the recently completed Trellis condos.

http://live6.truelook.com/timages/li...9696790425.jpg

Originally Posted by Marina_Guy (Post 2976598)

Yes, everything costs money. We just don't collect money for civic good. That is a 'choice' our leadership has made. There is plenty of money in San Diego, the question is how we allocate it as a community. It looks as if the choice San Diego has made is to keep it in the private sector. Our infrastructure is in disrepair, not because there isnt wealth, it is because our leaders have made the choice not to allocate or at least open a dialogue to allocate some of the wealth to civic concerns (yes, that means higher or more taxes).

Instead we have a city government that is so corrupt and beholden to development interests because that is where the money is...

Sad.

Originally Posted by spoonman (Post 2977148)

Just to show you that there are large shade trees which area native to the area, here are some pics of trees which are native according to UC Berkeley. They look a lot more like normal park type trees in my original pics than palms or anything you'd find native in Phoenix.

http://elib.cs.berkeley.edu/imgs/128...0951/0031.jpeg

http://elib.cs.berkeley.edu/imgs/128...3491/0026.jpeg

http://elib.cs.berkeley.edu/imgs/128...2555/0001.jpeg

http://elib.cs.berkeley.edu/imgs/128...1101/0291.jpeg

Originally Posted by keg92101 (Post 2978199)

I hate PALMS!!! They are completely worthless and ugly. The great thing about a row of trees is that they create a sense of "place" and provide shade. Palms do neither. From the sidewalk, they seem like nothing more than a brown pole.

Your description of "use" is backwards. The reason why east coast squares, or those in SF (a west coast "eastern city") work so well, is that the park was dedicated 1st, and buildings sprung up around them. If you look at Park at the Park at Petco, it is a good example of this.

Originally Posted by eburress (Post 2978659)

So, the problem is that San Diego doesn't sufficiently tax its residents and is therefore at the mercy of the evil developers? San Diego doesn't have money for its infrastructure, services, or anything else but if it were to raise taxes, it would be able to pay for all of that as well as grand, World-class civic structures? Huh?

Originally Posted by SDCAL (Post 2978783)

very nice, i will stand corrected if you tell me where in San Diego county these "native" tree pictures were taken, don't look like any scenes I've seen in the city? Maybe in the mountains of SD county by Julian which have a different climate than in the city?

Originally Posted by bmfarley (Post 2977487)

I do not know for certain, but I'd assume the box-like structure atop are teh elevator shafts and maybe HVAC stuff.