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Build it, looks nice...
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CCDC Open Space
it looks like CCDC has a new RFQ for consultants to produce an open space assessment in downtown. this is good news, I think, since it demonstrates CCDC is taking the parks and open space requirements of tourists and residents seriously (beyond their existing parks plan which till now is really just a map, and even with that, really only consists of the east village green as anything substantive). thought i'd mention it since we were discussing this on the thread about a month ago. here's the excerpt from the RFQ from ccdc.com:
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There are already a ton of parks / plazas downtown that do not live up to their potential (Children's, Horton, etc...). If you ask me, the money would be better spent redesigning open spaces that already exist and aren't working, rather than hiring a consultant to identify "more" open spaces. |
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Does anyone like to sit on the grass at The Park at the Park in Petco? I know that the health department will shut down a restaurant at the hint of rodent droppings, why wouldn't they be concerned when paying customers at a baseball game are sitting in dogshit residue? If you don't believe me, walk down there anytime during the day and count how may dogs are shitting all over the same grass that is filled by baseball fans a few hours later. |
Why does Burnham get most of the commercial listings downtown?
If you notice, they have listings on all of the new space in the Legend, Diamond View Tower, The Mark, etc.
If I was a building owner, why would I want to hire the same company who is representing my competition? For example, If there is a restaurant looking to take some space, I want my broker to fight to get them. It would seem like a conflict of interest if Burnham is showing them space in all of the buildings. |
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Who the hell is Pete Wilson?
(I'm young and from New York, sorry!) |
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^ I have to agree, wholeheartedly. Wilson, it seems, has been the only person who "gets it" and knew how to run this city and run it well. I worry about that statue being desecrated by ultra-radical pro-illegal immigration figures like Enrique Morones (who went on record in the San Diego Union-Tribune as saying he would).
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He was very conservative and both latino and gay groups are protesting the statue for various stances he took on issues when he was in power. While he did steer deveopment downtown, I feel he discouraged diversity and added to the overall conservatism that has resulted in a cultural void in the arts and civic spaces when compared to other urban areas, just my opinion though |
I was just DT and noticed that Little Italy projects Aperature and Current are almost complete.
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If only Little Italy could get Embassy 1414 next...
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Plus, today it is raining for the first time in exactly four months to the day.
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A few updates on this cloudy cool summer weekend. I walked by the costa verde highrise going up around UTC. Didn't make it to La Jolla Commons but the highrise (behind the 8 story office building) has been peeking up above ground level. The smaller midrise looks to have substantial interior work going on.
Anyway, here are a few of Costa Verde: This first one is from Nobel looking west. It has a small but noticeable impact on the skyline: http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1373/...a221223a_o.jpg This is looking into the Costa Verde Apartments towards the new highrise: http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1273/...9611c733_o.jpg Work seems nearly done on the structure itself: http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1304/...08c4eb2a_o.jpg http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1231/...7da387f6_o.jpg I'm assuming it's going to look just like its boring neighboor (they're connected on the ground level): http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1367/...c8137b01_o.jpg |
interesting op-ed piece:
Ugly, metal warehouse on the bay? I think not! UNION-TRIBUNE August 26, 2007 Cargo containers, those long steel boxes designed to be loaded on ships and freight trains, enjoy a curious popularity in some quarters. A lot of folks in the backcountry like to use them as storage sheds – big, ugly storage sheds. But neighbors complained so much about these hulking metal eyesores that a law was passed banishing them from front yards. In San Diego, we think of the waterfront as our front yard. So it came as something of a shock this month when the Port Commission decided that Broadway Pier would be the perfect place to plop down the equivalent of a humongous cargo container. In fairness to Port officials, none of them use the term “humongous cargo container.” They prefer “pre-engineered metal building.” Same thing, I say. The metal structure they have in mind would be about 40 feet high, 70 feet wide and 400 feet long. It would serve as a second cruise ship terminal, a place for seafaring tourists to disembark with bulging wallets and return, hours later, with bulging shopping bags. AdvertisementPort commissioners approved the idea knowing little more about the structure than what you now do. There are no designs, just a sketch of what looks like a sinister warehouse, the sort where hostages are held in kung fu movies. Bear in mind, this site is at the foot of downtown, with our sparkling bay as its backdrop. Compounding the indignity, the Port says this tin monstrosity will be a permanent addition to the waterfront, not, as earlier claimed, a temporary structure to be torn down once the B Street terminal is remodeled. Then there's this: Whenever a cruise ship is in port, which at a minimum means every weekend from September to May, the pier would be closed to the public for security purposes. So expectations that Broadway Pier would soon provide downtown some much-needed open space have been dashed. And wait, it gets even better: Construction must begin in January. So a Miami architect is racing against the clock to design in months something that San Diegans will have to live with for decades. The architect does not have a big budget. But Rita Vandergaw, the Port's director of marketing, said that an awful lot can be done with paint and colored lighting. “Your imagination can run wild with this,” Vandergaw said to me, inviting trouble. Before that happens, I should point out that others have been imagining the future of the waterfront for many years, and at no point did their imaginings include this pre-engineered metal building. Rather, they imagined Broadway Pier as a public open space with a platform for viewing San Diego Bay and for peering down Broadway into the heart of the city. The thinking was that if the Padres ever won the World Series, the victory parade would proceed down a skyscraper-lined Broadway and finish up at the pier, where adoring fans would cheer the world champions in a public plaza. Port officials evidently imagine that parade a little differently: a long line of convertibles being driven to a chop shop. Now, normally I avoid reading any document with the word “visionary” in its title. But the best ideas for Broadway Pier are spelled out in the North Embarcadero Visionary Plan, a $228 million waterfront master plan that the city and the Port have approved already. Apparently when the Port gave its approval, its fingers were crossed. Included is a conceptual design for Broadway Pier that has been around for about five years. It shows a golden pier where people stroll among decorative silver towers, some of which are topped with tall silver plumes like you might see on dancers in a floor show at the Copacabana. It's not my cup of tea, but neither is a patchwork of garage doors, no matter how colorfully they are painted. Vandergaw and I looked at the conceptual design together. “It was just an illustration,” she explained. “People believe that that was what was promised, but it's just an illustration.” Port communications director Irene McCormack looked at the drawing and, in the scolding tone that a dog owner uses to admonish a pet, said, “Bad drawing.” I'm glad we can keep a sense of humor through what seems to be another example of shoddy planning in San Diego. It's in that spirit that I've taken up Vandergaw on her offer and let my imagination run wild: I see a metal warehouse on Broadway Pier. I see 3-foot-high letters painted on both sides. I see these words: “We consider this building worthy of San Diego Bay,” followed by the names of every port commissioner who voted for it. Build it my way, and I see it coming down within a couple of years. |
Can't wait to see some renderings of this beauty...
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I recommend that the Port District look at a new pier to birth a 3rd cruise ship. The B St Pier would handle the 1st two while a second, not Broadway, would handle the 3rd ship... and maybe 4th if there ever would be a fourth. Or, one of those mega yachts that have been talked about. The new pier could be directly opposite the County Administration Building!
Whatta Ya Think? Other options could be along Shelter or Harbor Islands.... pulled up like they were parallel parking. |
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