San Diego is a very well-defined region. To the west is
the Pacific Ocean; to the east are the mountains and the desert; to
the south is the international border with Mexico-really the other
half of our region-and the north is our armed boundary, the Camp
Pendleton Marine Base, protecting us from Los Angeles.
The best place to start understanding San Diego is to take a
look around downtown. What you see today is a very vibrant
area-the heart of a city of 1.3 million in a region of 4-1/2
million (2 million live literally across the street in the city of
Tijuana, the world's busiest border crossing and the other half of
our metropolis). We project another one million people will
be added on this side of the border in the next twenty years.
When you came into San Diego, you saw the suburban edges-just
like the development in many other areas; but, we have red tile
roofs!
It is classic urban sprawl. But, if you look closer, you
will begin to see that we are reclaiming older areas-a different
approach to new development, including the preservation of open
space and sensitive habitat and we are forging a renewed interest
in the public realm. The current theme in the city of San
Diego is the "City of Villages." Although it is today's
current wisdom, it really has been going on for some time.
(MORE ON THIS ON SATURDAY.)
Some history: The first settlement in what is now
Old Town was laid out in accordance with the Laws of the Indies,
promulgated by the King of Spain in the 1500's for towns in the
"New World." Roger Showley, resident San Diego
Union-Tribune urban affairs writer, best described planning in
1848, after California became part of the United States, this
way:
"Subdividers and speculators were the defacto city planners of
the west; they bought the land, laid out the streets, sold off lots
to individuals and developers, and walked away with the
profits. However, there was no one to tie the entrepreneurs'
dreams together. And the consequence was erratically placed
connector streets, sparsely located parks, and an unrelenting
series of grid-shaped neighborhoods."
California became a state in 1850 and the city of San Diego was
incorporated. In 1853, the U. S. government sent Army
surveyors to plat the newly acquired territory. After laying
out what was then called New Town (today's Marina area of Centre
City), two of the surveyors resigned their commissions and began to
speculate on the land they had just mapped. In 1868, Alonzo
Horton arrived in San Diego from Wisconsin via a short stay in San
Francisco. He purchased 960 acres of what is now Centre City
and Hillcrest for $265 and laid out the land for development with
small blocks connected by wide streets. This was done in
order to maximize the number of corner lots available for
commercial purposes. In conjunction with Horton's's
activities, the city fathers acquired 1400 acres for City Park (now
Balboa Park). This was a little less than one acre for each
resident of the city.
In 1880, the city, with a population of 2,600, anticipated being
the western terminus of the transcontinental railroad and the
maritime gateway to the Pacific. A building boom and
population explosion ensued. The buildings (Gaslamp Quarter)
were the latest in architectural design and subdivisions were laid
out to accommodate the anticipated population. The Hotel Del
Coronado was built in 1888, the population soared to 40,000, and
the downtown was developed to be the hub of a city of 100,000.
But, Los Angeles was selected as the railroad terminus and by
1890 the population had dwindled to 16,000.
Again, from Roger Showley:
"Comprehensive planning here was born of a desire in 1903 to
relocate City Hall.
"George Marston, founder of the Marston Department Store chain
(now part of the Macy's chain by way of Broadway Stores), prompted
the Chamber of Commerce to form a civic improvement committee.
"Marston first underwrote the cost of retaining Samuel Parsons,
Jr., consulting architect for New York's Central Park, to prepare a
master plan for Balboa Park. He also convinced the civic
improvement committee to hire John Nolen ' . . . to lend some
direction to San Diego's unmanaged growth . . . .'"
Nolen's Plan for the Improvement of San Diego, published
in 1908, was a classic City Beautiful plan. It called for
improvements to the waterfront and segregating industrial and
recreational uses. It also called for creation of a civic
center-something we are still discussing--and a system of
parks, boulevards, and civic spaces. Unfortunately, we did
not do very much of what Nolen advised.
In 1893, Irving Gill arrived in San Diego. As described in
the AIA Guidebook, San Diego Architecture, Gill's arrival
marked the beginning of the modern era in San Diego.
Ultimately, Gill added an ingredient that defined San Diego's best
architecture. He took his cues from the region, not from
distant sources.
You will hear more about Gill later this evening and on
tomorrow's tour you will see his work and the work of his
contemporaries and colleagues, Louis Gill, Richard Requa, Emmor
Brooke Weaver, Hazel Waterman, William Hebbard, and Frank
Mead. It is important to take note of some of Gill's
clients--Alice Lee, Katherine Teats--women who were among the ranks
of San Diego's early developers.
In 1915, the Panama-California Exposition opened in Balboa Park
to celebrate the opening of the Panama Canal. John Charles
Olmstead did the park master plan; Bertran Goodhue was the
architect for the exposition buildings. The Spanish revival
style of architecture was the theme for the exposition, a style
that was being promoted all over Southern California in an attempt
to establish its desired history. This official style for all
public and private buildings was enforced through a city design
review process that continued until the mid-1950s.
Civic leader George Marston, espousing Nolen's plans, campaigned
but lost the race for mayor in 1913 and 1914. His opponent,
banker-developer Louis J. Wilde, tagged him "Geranium George"
alluding to Marston's stance for civic beauty rather than favoring
smokestacks, jobs, and economic growth. After Wilde defeated
Marston, the year-old planning commission resigned under pressure
and the "smokestacks vs. geraniums" taunt has challenged planning
and community development ever since.
While the city fathers talked about industry, the focus was on
"clean" industry. Clean was not only in relation to the
manufacturing process (continues to today with high-tech and
bio-med) but, also, clean in terms of avoiding unions and
strikes. Hence, we went after and convinced the Navy to make
San Diego its major port on the West Coast.
In the 1920s, concern for the future of San Diego arose.
". . . the City hired Nolen for $10,000 to prepare a city, harbor,
and parks plan. The plan was presented in 1926. At an
American Legion speech, Will Rogers urged, "Now, you have a real
plan, prepared by Nolen. Don't let any prominent citizen get
up and talk you out of it." Nolen's ideas became the
cornerstone of all master planning of the city for the next 42
years.
The second world war brought tremendous growth to San Diego and
all planning was geared to support the war effort. New
developments of all kinds were established throughout the
city. The construction of accessory units was strongly
encouraged. Linda Vista was the site of a new town patterned,
in part, on the plan for Radburn, New Jersey. In addition to
retail, the town center contained recreational uses and public
services as well. The town center, dedicated by Eleanor
Roosevelt, is considered to be the first of the modern shopping
centers. Only fragments of the original development
remain.
The postwar period was marked by rapid growth to accommodate the
returning veterans as well as the workers who had been recruited
for defense work and who chose to stay here. The city focused
on defense-related manufacturing, which declined greatly as a
result of the end of the cold war.
The rapid growth led to a questioning of the Spanish Revival
design requirements for all construction and, to facilitate growth,
the City Council removed them for they had been enforced only
sporadically after the war. Planning focused on zoning land
for new development and the public works projects that served
it.
Post-war development led to a change in the region's
architecture and the development of the San Diego School of
Modernism, led by Lloyd Ruocco. Homer Delawie, Bob Mosher,
Roy Drew, Ward Deems, Richard Wheeler, and many others put their
mark on the San Diego landscape. But, as with most
communities, San Diego seemed to double in size every ten years by
virtue of its rapid population growth. Most of the
development mirrored the tract development occurring everywhere,
coupled with the flight from the inner city that also occurred
everywhere.
Mission Valley had been the northern edge of city development
until WWII. It was the site of truck farms and dairies that
served the city and was unofficially viewed as an open space
preserve. Pressure to open the valley for development grew
after several resort hotels and golf courses displaced some of the
agricultural activities.
In 1958, intense pressure from the May Company Department Stores
resulted in the City Council's approval to rezone and allow
construction of the Mission Valley Shopping Center. This
action accelerated the displacement of farming and hastened the
decline of downtown. At the time of the Council's action,
Arthur Jessop, a downtown merchant, said, "We might as well tattoo
on the Council wall, 'Here died planning in San Diego.'"
The changes to Mission Valley and concerns over what was
happening led to a planning effort that culminated in the early
1980's. The result is that the valley is now a model of
integrated land use, transportation, and environmental
planning. Although many would have preferred retaining
Mission Valley as farm land and open space in the pre-environmental
era of the 1960s, that was not an option.
In 1966, the city adopted its general plan by ballot.
Opponents had placed it on the ballot because they called planning
"a step in the creeping socialism that was sweeping the
country." In the subsequent vote, voters supported planning,
the plan, and an independent planning department. But,
perhaps the biggest beneficiary was the concept of community
involvement. Realizing that a number of the city's
communities were bigger than many small- and even medium-sized
cities, it was recognized that the citywide plan had to be tailored
to the needs of individual communities.
As a result, a process for establishing elected community
planning groups was instituted. There are now over forty such
groups in the city.
By the 1970s, the city was being overwhelmed by new
development. Canyons and hillsides that characterized San
Diego were being bulldozed to accommodate new subdivisions.
Public facilities and services were not keeping pace however.
A week after residents of new areas moved in, they typically
demanded that construction stop until something was done; and, in
spite of some new office buildings, downtown continued to
decline.
In 1971, Pete Wilson was elected mayor, partly on a platform of
growth management and Centre City revitalization. He directed
city staff to work with the community to resolve the problems
associated with rapid growth. In 1973, Hamilton Marston and
his aunt, Miss Mary Marston, grandson and daughter, respectively,
of George W. Marston, approached the city with a proposal.
They would put up $10,000 (the same amount paid to John Nolen for
the 1926 plan) if the city would look at the region and its future
challenges and opportunities. It was not to be a plan but,
rather, a reconnaissance and a sketchbook of ideas that the city
could consider.
Temporary Paradise and the Growth
Wars
Kevin Lynch of MIT and Donald Appleyard of U.C. Berkeley were
retained. In 1974, they presented the report, Temporary
Paradise? A Look at the Special Landscape of the San Diego
Region. In the report, which is a milestone in the recent
planning history of San Diego, Lynch and Appleyard wrote:
"If San Diego cannot hope for Los Angeles' giant size, it can
easily imitate it in other ways-spread out its dry suburbs, channel
its streams, fill its valleys and lagoons, choke its roads and
darken its air, sharpen the social gradient, harden the
border. Could we rename it San Diego de Los Angeles? . .
.
"The city should begin to take thought for the long-term quality
of its environment . . . Most of all, we hope that San Diego takes
charge of its future."
The report called for the region to understand and manage its
growth; and, in 1975, the City Council adopted its initial growth
management policies, calling for the timing and phasing of new
development and requiring new development to pay its own way with
services coordinated with residential construction.
Also that year, the City Council formed the Centre City
Development Corporation (CCDC) to oversee the redevelopment of
downtown.
Though it was in formation for many years, a new general plan
was adopted in 1979 that incorporated and refined many of the
growth management policies and principles from Temporary
Paradise?
Passage of Proposition 13 in June, 1978, sharply limited
property tax revenues for California cities. This, in turn,
limited the funds available for facilities and services in older
areas. It also limited the funds available for developing the
guidelines to ensure that infill was sensitive to the existing
neighborhoods. At the same time, an economic slowdown made it
easier for infill projects to occur in the urbanized areas than for
new development in the planned urbanizing areas. As a
consequence, the older neighborhoods felt threatened and
overwhelmed by new development. Then, as the economy
gradually picked up, development in outlying areas appeared to be
making up for lost time. Where 5 - 7,000 residential units
per year were expected in normal economic cycles, San Diego
suddenly started to see 12 - 15,000 residential units annually.
The establishment of the University of California in the late
1960s led to the growth of high-tech and bio-med activities.
The roots of this began around the turn of the century with the
establishment of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in a
building designed by Irving Gill.
Scripps grew into UCSD and UCSD has spun off the research and
development that is a major factor in San Diego's economy and our
culture and one of the factors that put us on Richard Florida's
Creative Class list.
We were a city that tied for #3; we have now fallen to
#12. Housing-or the lack thereof-is the critical
factor. San Diego ranks as one of the most expensive housing
markets in the country. This housing-cost number is
exacerbated by the fact that, coupled with transportation costs,
San Diegans spend a greater share of their income on those two
items than is spent anywhere else in the country. A factor in
all of this is that we pay in sunshine dollars.
Our housing shortage--estimated to be around 80,000 units to
meet current and projected needs--is not being resolved for a
variety of reasons.
Major Development Influences
During the boom time of the 1980s, growth was the focus of most
planning, but planning was taking place on other fronts as
well.
Planning for fixed rail had been going on since the mid-1970s,
but the new general plan gave the mayor a city policy on transit to
go along with those being advocated by the regional transit agency,
the Metropolitan Transit Development Board (MTDB). The first
leg of the east line of the San Diego Trolley opened in 1986 and
the south line, in 1991. Both the east line and the south
line have been extended twice and more extensions and new routes
are being incorporated currently.
Horton Plaza, the centerpiece of downtown redevelopment, opened
in 1985. It has served as the catalyst for new housing and
commercial development and has reinforced the convention center and
the Gaslamp Quarter. Yet downtown revitalization led to the
loss of older transient hotels.
In the mid-1980s, the city developed a single resident occupancy
program (SRO) that resulted in building the first new SRO in San
Diego in 75 years and in the United States in 60 years. The
program required an ordinance; but, the more difficult aspect was
overcoming preconceived ideas of what SRO's were, how they
functioned, and how to make them function better. The city
won an Innovations Award from the Ford Foundation for this
effort.
En route to the '90s
The 1990s brought a shift to planning in San Diego. A
downturn in the economy slowed development activity to a snail's
pace. Many of the regulatory schemes developed in the 1980s
to slow growth were questioned. In fact, the role of planning
itself was questioned because of the over-emphasis on regulation
not within the context of an overall vision or framework.
The city has come to understand that San Diego and the city of
Tijuana are part of the same region. Efforts to work together
have been undertaken but have never- until now-taken hold. In
the late 1960s, a joint planning effort was funded by the federal
government. However, because the U. S. government feared that
any document that included recommendations for both countries would
be an infringement on the sovereign rights of each country, the
joint effort did not go further than the initial stages.
After the publication of Temporary Paradise?, various
efforts for transborder planning occurred but they, too, did not
take hold because there was no official sponsorship. In 1993,
Mayor Susan Golding and the mayor of Tijuana, Jamie Hector Osuna,
signed a binational agreement to work together on joint issues of
land use and transportation, public safety, the environment, and
economic development. The agreement has forged strong working
arrangements between the two cities.
Moving Forward
In 1994, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of
Temporary Paradise?, C-3 kicked off a program, Toward
Permanent Paradise, to reacquaint the community with Temporary
Paradise? Neil Morgan, former senior editor and columnist
for the San Diego Union-Tribune, wrote in his introduction
to the C-3 effort:
"San Diegans have trouble agreeing on what we want the region to
become because we can't agree on what it is now. So many
issues span the region- environment, social, transportation,
business-that it is hard to solve problems without regional
consensus.
"San Diego county suffers from decades of incremental
decisions. No issue ever goes away. To make plans, we
rarely look beyond a year or two, which in planning is a
minute.
"We talk a lot about the imperative for leadership and reform
but not much happens. Even civic fear and dread no longer
produce old-time consensus. It's everybody for themselves
(sic). There has been much talk of vision, so many panels and
task forces and master plans that were soon forgotten that we have
grown wary of depending on them to fix things.
"San Diego needs audacity. Too few of us devote personal
energy to our communities and make individual sacrifices for the
good of the community. If we're going to stay, we must wake
up and get serious."
In the late 1990s, planning returned as a formal function to San
Diego. Community pressure and a recognition of the enormous
changes facing the region caused the initiation of a number of
comprehensive planning efforts.
SANDAG began a regional comprehensive plan process and, together
with MTDB, created the TransitFirst plan, an initiative to make
transit everyone's first choice for travel. The county of San
Diego began a comprehensive general plan revision. The city
of San Diego initiated its City of Villages General Plan Update and
the city of Chula Vista also began an update of its general
plan. Discussions are currently underway about the best way
to establish a regional governance model to tie it all
together.
