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Jack in the Box hires lobbying firm for help with rebuild of North Park restaurant
One small correction. That City Attorney opinion, which is confidential because it was apparently advice between client (city) and attorney (Goldsmith's office), was delivered last week so they aren't waiting on it any more. Now they are presumably looking at acting on that advice.— July 21, 2013 10:10 a.m.
AT&T building still a “public nuisance” in North Park?
This site is in the process of being developed. There's a group with a plan for senior housing on one lot (the west parking lot) and the opportunity to develop the other (the building). AT&T can do a better job of sending someone there regularly to remove the trash and the commercial broker should probably do more to clean up graffiti on his sign. Has anyone tried calling Doug Matheson directly to let him know the tags are there? Even if we'd like entities to take a pro-active approach, sometimes a little neighborly help direct to the source can help. I'm going to email Doug and a contact at AT&T and see if they can agree between them to send someone more regularly. Seems like an easy enough thing to do. I'd also suggest bypassing generic calls to the SDPD in favor of contacting Officer Jenny Hall, our Community Relations Officer for SDPD, directly. She is extremely responsive and actually does care about the issues neighbors raise. You can reach her at jmason (at) pd (dot) sandiego (dot) gov. And if you want to take a more active role in preventing these types of things, please email me and we can work together with Councilmember Gloria's office and a handful of other neighbors and businesses to address these issues. My email address is opassons (at) gmail (dot) com. Would love to help any neighbors in Greater North Park/University Heights/South Park, ehhh, mid-city generally, who need it. Cheers— April 3, 2013 12:57 p.m.
Provisions, Soda & Swine coming to Normal Heights
These conversations always surprise me. I stumbled across this page today. Arsalun and Nathan, your concept is fantastic. We went today, our server Melissa was lovely, knowledgeable and very, very friendly. We tried almost everything on the menu in S & S and a few drinks in Polite Provisions. Very nice attention to detail with the classic finishings. The skillet-presented dishes could stand to be a bit warmer, but that'll come with time. As for this "where is it" debate, the reality is that it is in both Greater North Park and Normal Heights. Communities - not just official planning maps - define where people call home. Historical North Park as a community stopped further south, but if you look you can find a historical map to say at least three different things. People are starting to call parts of North Park all sorts of things, and honestly community pride of any shade should be celebrated. These two establishments are served by a Business Improvement District that cuts across four communities. One much more important point. We tried to go first on Friday and it was so packed we ended up at Cantina Mayahuel. They were busier than we've ever seen them. Host said it was directly related to PP and S&S. This, in my opinion, is the real story. Synergies making a portion of the community stronger. Welcome to the community, please do your best to support the many groups out trying to help make it cleaner, safer, more walkable and vibrant for neighbors. Nice work, gents.— March 3, 2013 7:31 p.m.
Pat's punted
The mix of places in North Park is part of its charm. As someone who used to have an apartment balcony a couple hundred feet from Pat's, I always thought the corner would be better if the Kwik Stop and Pat's would do a bit more to improve the curb appeal. Now living a 5-minute walk from that intersection, I'm hopeful the next tenant brings something interesting, maybe a wireless tech lounge that serves drinks and promotes conversation. Or even a really good Indian restaurant, as far as I know the closest one is in Hillcrest. I agree with the above person who posted. My wife and I are childless 30-somethings, not hipsters by even the most broad definition, but love leaving our cars at home and spending money within walking distance from our home. That the property can now draw a higher rent isn't the landlord's fault. The property is an investment. Maybe the increased rent will let the landlord do major upgrades. Or be more charitable. Or put his or her children through college or trade school. Or allow them to invest in some start up that has some other benefit. Maybe the next tenant will negotiate tenant improvements as an offset against the square foot price so that the building gets a much needed face lift. I also hope Pat's lands somewhere not too far off, but as a long-time resident, I'm also looking forward to what may come next.— December 24, 2012 10:27 a.m.
The City's Plan on Deferred Maintenance
What I attempted to say was that it is a problem if we intend to spend several hundred million dollars over five years to end up with infrastructure that is no better. Also, I should point out that the note about Mr. Gloria's question regarding the status quo not being an option isn't clear above. It's true that status quo isn't an option--but that's NOT because the City won't except the status quo, it's because the proposal doesn't even keep the roads at the status quo. It's five years just to get to a place where our infrastructure isn't deteriorating further. This is not a balance of alternatives. Instead of making painful decisions--which the Mayor attempted to do last year--it settles on sub-par service levels across the board.— February 11, 2012 7:58 p.m.
Battle for the Boulevard
I think I was standing in front of Live Wire when that fire started. No idea who started it, but i didn't see any guys in construction hats running from the scene. I think some affordable housing may be appropriate, but my question about these things always is this: if affordable housing is truly a great benefit to neighborhoods, then why aren't there more projects built in the La Jolla and UTC areas? Plenty of people work in those areas who would benefit and it would shorten their commute, too.— October 4, 2010 10:41 a.m.
Thursday Night Fever at West Coast Tavern
The parking garage is $5 all night. How on earth could you call that "pricey"? You know how hard it is to get people to use that garage? Couldn't you just put the cost and let people decide for themselves if it's too much? Also, did you leave before the music started? They have a live performance worked out by SD Dialed In (of Casbah fame) most Thursday nights.— October 4, 2010 10:33 a.m.
North Park Is the Silver Lake of San Diego
This is the first Thursday I'll have a chance to check this out and it should be fun. The food is very worth the trip, as is the Bourbon Bar, so I bet throwing some good music in the mix will only add to it.— September 8, 2010 12:34 p.m.
La Jolla's Riford Center can't get money
The sub-district approach isn't without its own hurdles. First, someone has to draw the lines. This isn't a death knell, as lines are drawn quite often without the system crumbling, but it creates an issue just the same. Second, a mechanism is needed for the many places who would offer no candidate. I can think of several places in my neighborhood that wouldn't have a representative. In the current system, at least in theory people volunteer to serve the entire neighborhood. In a sub-district model people would be chosen precisely because of their specific focus of their own area, which would compound the exclusion of the other sub-districts. Let's say I lived near a new day care. There's a good possibility that most of the young parents in the area love it, but the noise and traffic might frustrate me to no end. Seems like if my voice were too loud as a sub-district representative it might skew the real picture of how my extended neighborhood feels.— August 24, 2010 3:41 p.m.
North Park vs South Park
Full disclosure: I own a home in North Park, am trying to run a business that connects the area, and I am generally not a conspiracy theorist. I like South Park, alot. The business owners are friendly and it is just not a pretentious place at all. I don't know why some people are so upset about calling it South Park, it is both part of Golden Hill and has its own identity, what's the problem? I agree with whoever said that the whole "divide" issue is much more about official and pseudo-official groups than about people. Ask 500 people in the area if they like Toronado or Ritual or Alchemy or Blind Lady or Viva Pops or Daily Scoop and the majority will say "yes, glad to have them." And my experience is most don't care to fight over the differences between North Park, South Park or the other parts of the extended area. There's alot more positive that can be done to help our entire corridor thrive, both from a business standpoint and in terms of protecting our open space and quality of life. We would do well to find commonality rather than focusing so intently on eachother's warts. Most days I don't have to use a car to go anywhere in this area, which is a byproduct of having bike friendly places around that let you feel like you are part of a community, not just living somewhere. For those who feel like the area is losing its soul, all I can say is for every jerk who stumbles through at 1AM on Friday treating our neighborhoods like a trash can, I regularly meet 2 or 3 new families or small business owners who put their hearts into the area.— August 12, 2010 4 p.m.