Quote:
Originally Posted by Andy-4-SD
I was just out in Chicago this past weekend for the Chicago Marathon, and despite all the negative news you hear in the media about the Chi-town, I was impressed by how clean the whole city was. Running a marathon through it and spending a few extra days gave me some time to really get a good feel for it.
The pros:
- Very little homeless, didn't see any at public transit spots or under bridges.
- Clean streets, well paved, good lighting at night, beautiful landscaping
- Pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods, wide sidewalks everywhere
- Great public transit - comes frequently and takes you wherever you need to go.
- LOTS of new development on the north side of downtown where we stayed
Cons:
- Chicago can't compete with the natural beauty & weather of San Diego
- Crime still exists, but seems to be very concentrated in particular neighborhoods from my experience. Downtown & surrounding areas felt very safe.
Downtown San Diego has UNLIMITED potential to grow if you alleviate homelessness and ensure public safety. (1) Got the best weather in the country, (2) we're among top desirable cities for young professionals, and (3) remote work means anyone can live and work in San Diego. In today's day and age, the employee is determining where the employer should set up shop. If people heavily prefer to live in San Diego, we will see more employers move here. We have a strong educational base here (SDSU, UCSD, USD + more) to support more businesses and industry growth.
I think San Diego has some real issues with the homeless (& drug) crisis that need to be properly handled if we are to see downtown continue to excel. The feedback I receive from people I know living downtown is very similar - something along the lines of "it's fun... BUT there are lots of homeless and it's dirty." Even if you live in Little Italy, the second you go to cross the 5 freeway or head south toward C street, you're greeted with lines of homeless tents. I would rather live downtown, but I live in Pacific Beach for this reason... wouldn't want my GF walking at night downtown. I think you're going to see vacancy rates start to rise in the coming months due to the homeless issue.
World-class downtowns like Chicago show us that it doesn't have to be this way. You can claim the weather aiding the homeless issue, but if you go to Miami (which is attracting young adults in droves) you'll see they also have a much cleaner downtown and fewer homeless. If we fix the homeless issue, I believe San Diego can compete head-to-head with the likes of Miami, Austin, and other top growth markets in attracting new investment and residents. Provide a clean, safe, downtown for people to work, live and play, and you'll see downtown San Diego truly boom.
I think we are at a fork in the road of either worsening homelessness and stagnating development or alleviating homelessness and allowing the city to boom.
Thought it'd be worth striking conversation, its been quiet on the forum.
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Very good points
San Diego is an interesting place. Its easily the most overlooked urban area in the country (San Antonio, TX is a distant second).. I was born there and even I forget it exists. Having lived all over the US, i can say that regarding cities in California: Sacramento, Fresno, Bakersfield, Oxnard, and Eureka have come up more in random conversaton than San Diego. (Even places like Eugene and Salem, OR and Redmond, WA have a higher profile). I can definitively say that the only thing most americans know about San Diego is "Anchorman" and "big zoo". Also nuclear submarines and tijuana.
Its not its fault, of course; its overshadowed on two different levels: on the state level AND WITHIN Southern California. If SD had been in its own state for the last 60 years i think it would have 3x its current population and a reputation that competes with Phoenix, Austin, or Seattle (or Portland.. Portland has the opposite problem, imo; the most psychotically overrated city in the US). Also, the stupid airport certainly doesnt help. A non-trivial skyline would put SD on the map very quickly.
Ironically, I would say Chicago, which you just mentioned, is easily America's most underrated city, because for some reason it became a cultural punching bag to be used as an example of violence, despite having never come anywhere close to the top of the list. St. Louis (where i lived for 10 years) has literally double the violence. Oakland has 40% more. Stockton (where i lived for 2 years.. clearly im not very good at picking locations) has 20% more. On the whole, Chicago has about as much violence as Nashvlle or Houston.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o..._by_crime_rate
But if not for this weird thing against Chicago, San Diego would be top of the list as most underrated city
Like you said, the potential of SD is pretty incredible.. its a bit more politically conservative than the other big two california urban areas, so will potentially be more effective in addressing its issues. And as bad as those issues may be, SD hasnt had its reputation ruined by them yet. The silver lining to being overshadowed by LA and SF is that they also overshadow SD in negative stereotypes. I dont think most people in the US would ever think of SD when they think of homelessness. SF and LA (and Portland and Seattle) totally steal the show there.
I could easily see SD being "discovered" soon, especially now that LA seems to have finally blinked in the last census.. some sort of deep structural shift is going on up there and LA may be about to see a period of economic and population decline for the first time in its history.
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