San Diego, CA
More apartments, less segregation, fewer cars: San Diego OKs sweeping changes to growth blueprint
San Diego made ambitious changes Tuesday to the city’s blueprint for future growth that prepare the city for climate change, speed up revisions to neighborhood zoning plans and try to reverse racial segregation.
“This is a major step forward in terms of how we are not just planning for but shaping the future that San Diego needs,” Council President Sean Elo-Rivera said after the council unanimously approved the moves.
Council members praised the changes, called Blueprint SD, for combining an array of city goals into one document to create the first new big-picture vision for San Diego since the anti-sprawl City of Villages plan in 2008.
“We are in an era where it’s not simply enough to say we need more housing or that we need more transit or that we need more infrastructure,” Councilmember Kent Lee said. “They are all interconnected, and if we’re not able to accomplish them together, then we’re not going to be able to build the city we envision.”
The amended general plan aims to fight climate change by steering new housing into transit-friendly areas so more people can get to work without a car.
It also will allow San Diego to complete updates much more quickly to growth blueprints, called community plan updates, for individual neighborhoods — roughly three years per plan, instead of the usual five or six.
And it seeks to reverse decades of racial and ethnic segregation that began with deed restrictions and discriminatory lending practices beginning nearly a century ago that excluded people of color from some neighborhoods, and then were reinforced by single-family zoning policies that remain mostly in place today.
It would do that by encouraging more apartments and multi-family housing in predominantly White areas of the city deemed “high-resource” because they have high-paying jobs, quality schools and neighborhood amenities, such as parks.
A pro-growth group called Yes in My Backyard San Diego singled out the anti-segregation efforts for praise during a two-hour public hearing Tuesday.
“This plan dares to challenge our segregated housing patterns,” said Saad Asad, the advocacy and communications chair for YIMBY San Diego. “Integration and opportunity are more important than maintaining exclusive enclaves.”
But the plan was criticized by many groups that consistently oppose city efforts to boost housing production. Some said it would destroy the city’s single-family neighborhoods, and some critics said San Diego should be less aggressive about encouraging dense housing, since regional planners have reduced future population projections.
Heidi Vonblum, the city’s planning director, said lower population projections don’t mean the city’s housing crisis has been solved.
“Population growth does not equal housing need,” she said. “There is a current undersupply of housing production that has occurred over the past several decades.”
While San Diego officials tout Blueprint SD as something that will help the city meet its climate action plan goals, environmental groups criticized the plan Tuesday.
The local chapter of the Sierra Club said it’s flawed because it targets growth in areas where buses, trolleys and other transit options don’t yet exist, rather than focusing on areas with transit already in place.
The group wants the city to amend a programmatic environmental impact report that analyzed Blueprint SD and pending changes to neighborhood growth blueprints for Hillcrest and University City.
“A glaring deficiency is that much of this transit does not currently exist,” said club leader Charles Rilli. “The PEIR must be revised to describe how, when and where this transit infrastructure will be implemented.”
Councilmember Henry Foster, whose district includes ethnically diverse and low-income neighborhoods in southeastern San Diego, said part of the city’s anti-segregation efforts should include monitoring where poverty is concentrated.
Business groups, including the Building Industry Association and the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, support Blueprint SD.
They raised questions Tuesday about a late change to Blueprint SD that requires new buildings to be powered by electricity instead of gas. But Councilmember Joe LaCava noted that requirement is already part of the city’s climate action plan.
LaCava praised Blueprint SD for making the city’s big-picture general plan mirror many policies approved since the general plan was last updated 16 years ago.
In addition to the 2015 climate action plan, those policies include a 2021 parks master plan that tries to boost social equity by funneling developer money from wealthy areas into lower-income areas.
Mayor Todd Gloria, whose planning staff spearheaded Blueprint SD, said after the vote: “Blueprint SD is a bold step forward in creating an equitable and sustainable future for all San Diegans. The plan will help us address our housing needs, support economic growth and make significant progress toward our climate goals. This updated framework ensures that our city grows in a way that benefits everyone, now and in the future.”
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Downtown San Diego has become a canvas for the latest TV shows and video games with wraps attached to more than 30 buildings.
Set to be completed before San Diego Comic-Con International kicks off Wednesday night, the advertisements are for everything from the “Lord of the Rings” show to the “The Walking Dead” franchise.
Most of the building wraps are technically illegal. But given that the penalties are lower than the revenue that building owners get from the wraps, they do it anyway.
The city can fine hotels and businesses up to $10,000 a day, but such high sanctions are rare. It is more common for the city to give out warnings or a $1,000 per day citation.
Some neighborhood groups have complained in past years that the building wraps are a blight on downtown. That contrasts with Comic-Con attendees who enjoy seeing the buildings transformed.
Justin Wu, a local surgeon downtown Monday promoting his Healing Little Heroes Foundation, said that he has seen the scale and quality increase over the years.
“I love it. They are big and colorful,” he said, wearing a Captain America costume. “They keep getting bigger and bigger.”
The company responsible for most of the wraps is New York-based KAP Media Group. The company started with one wrap in 2012 and has seen its business grow each year. It has 25 this year, up from 23 last year and 18 in 2022.
KAP founder Lori Brabant said a lot of work goes into the wraps from picking the colors that will go best with the building to figuring out how to fit around the contours of different properties.
“These are pieces of art,” she said. “It is very exciting for us to see it come to life.”
Most wraps are attached with an adhesive vinyl, but different materials can be used depending on what the building calls for. Brabant said wraps can cost more than $100,000, but did not want to disclose specifics.
Not all of the building wraps are illegal. The Port of San Diego allows building wraps on land it controls west of Harbor Drive and Pacific Highway.
There are plenty of other advertisements downtown besides wraps. Marvel Studios has banners on flags for the “Fantastic Four” film opening next summer; San Diego Trolley has wraps for “The Sandman” and other properties; the Jack in the Box on C Street was turned into a promotion for the “Deadpool & Wolverine” film; and banners for the new Batman show “The Penguin” are posted along the trolley tracks.
One of the biggest advertisements is on a new three-sided digital billboard outside the Gaslamp Quarter trolley station that will play advertisements for the new Peacock show “Those About to Die” and the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
Here is a look at some of this year’s building wraps:
Daryl Dixon (“The Walking Dead”)
Location: The PendryAddress: 550 J St.
AMC’s successful zombie franchise “The Walking Dead” has now stretched into multiple TV shows including “Daryl Dixon,” which covers all of the Pendry San Diego hotel.
The Rings of Power
Location: Toscana Cafe & Wine Bar buildingAddress: 238 Fifth Ave.
Amazon Prime’s Lord of the Rings show, “The Rings of Power”, is back for a second season. This building was used last year by Prime’s other big franchise, “The Boys.”
Fox Animation
Location: The Omni San Diego HotelAddress: 675 L St.
Fox Animation celebrates many of its shows on the hotel, including “The Simpsons,” “Family Guy” and “Bob’s Burgers.” The southern side features Maggie Simpson holding building blocks that spell out SDCC .
Marvel: Contest of Champions
Location: Hilton San Diego Gaslamp QuarterAddress: 401 K St.
The Contest of Champions game features a big installation in the Martin Luther King, Jr. Promenade with a Ferris wheel. You can see an advertisement for the game, featuring Wolverine, Captain America and Deadpool, on the wall of the adjacent hotel.
Abbott Elementary
Location: Petco ParkAddress: 100 Park Blvd.
The ABC/Hulu sitcom “Abbott Elementary” is getting ready for a fourth season and has been a frequent presence at Comic-Con. For a second year, it covers much of Petco Park.
Anne Rice’s Immortal Universe
Location: Hilton San Diego Gaslamp QuarterAddress: 401 K St.
AMC’s franchise of shows based on Anne Rice books has now spread into three shows: “Interview with the Vampire,” “Mayfair Witches” and (in development) “Talamasca.”
SpongeBob SquarePants
Location: Hard Rock Hotel San DiegoAddress: 207 Fifth Ave.
The beloved animated series “SpongeBob SquarePants” is celebrating its 25th year by taking over the entire Hard Rock Hotel. Memes on the building have already been a big hit on social media.
Star Trek
Location: Marriott Marquis San Diego MarinaAddress: 333 W. Harbor Drive
The biggest wrap this year, at 36,000 square feet, is for Paramount+’s series of “Star Trek” shows.
Elden Ring
Location: Hilton San Diego Bayfront parking garageAddress: 1 Park Blvd
The role-playing game Elden Ring, which won several “best game of the year” awards in 2023, is advertised on a heavily used parking garage near the Convention Center.
Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Location: Park 12Address: 100 Park Plaza
The latest Ninja Turtles show coming to Paramount+ covers downtown San Diego’s biggest apartment complex, Park 12, which has 718 units.
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San Diego, CA
All the News That's Fit: Dining on dust, long COVID's description and the plus side of potatoes
For The San Diego Union-Tribune
Body of knowledge
The average person ingests approximately 100 milligrams (0.003 ounce) of dust and dirt each day. Doesn’t sound like much, but in an average lifetime, it adds up to six pounds. It gets worse: Scientists have estimated that the average person inhales around 50 billion dust particles an hour and over a lifetime, that works out to 45 pounds.
Sometimes, it’s not water weight. Just the opposite.
Get me that. Stat!
Anorexia has the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric disorder: 5 percent of patients die within four years of diagnosis. The mortality rate nearly doubles if those patients have coexisting psychiatric disorders.
Counts
4.8 — Estimated amount of money, in trillions of dollars, spent on hospital care, clinical services, drugs and all other health spending in the U.S. last year
7.7 — Projected estimated amount by 2032
4.2 — Gross domestic product of Japan, in trillions, last year
Sources: Office of the Actuary at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services; Worldmeter
Stories for the waiting room
Long COVID remains a complex and poorly understood condition. It has at least 200 known potential symptoms, and manifests differently in each sufferer. Still, modern medicine requires an official definition.
Here’s the most recent, adopted by a special committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine:
Long COVID “is an infection-associated chronic conditions that occurs after SARS-CoV-2 infection and is present for at least three months as a continuous, relapsing and remitting, or progressive disease state that affects one or more organ systems.”
Tell that to your doctor.
Doc talk
Cacchination — a fit of spontaneous, uproarious, unrestrained laughter
Mania of the week
Klazomania — an obsession or propensity to scream
Food for thought
A lot of folks happily declare themselves lovers of meat, carnivorous by choice. Still, maybe there should be limits. All of the following are eaten by people of different cultures and in different places, also by choice: guinea pigs, horse, bull testicles, snake, possum, raccoon, milt (fish sperm), tarantulas, maggots, chicken feet, head of sheep or calf and iguana. None but the feet really taste like chicken.
Best medicine
A man goes in for a chest X-ray.
Radiologist: “I’ve got your images. It shows you have pimples on your left ventricle.”
Man: “Omigod. What does that mean?”
Radiologist: “You’re still a teenager at heart.”
Observation
“Age is something that doesn’t matter, unless you are a cheese.”
— Spanish and Mexican filmmaker Luis Buñuel (1900-1983)
Medical history
This week in 1965, the first U.S. surgical operation on a bull to correct a sperm blockage was performed. The Aberdeen-Angus bull, named Linderis Evulse, was worth $176,000 and, presumably, all of his potential progeny made the operation cost-effective.
Ig Nobel apprised
The Ig Nobel Prizes celebrate achievements that make people laugh, then think. A look at real science that’s hard to take seriously, and even harder to ignore.
In 2006, the Ig Nobel Prize in Medicine went to an international team of American and Israeli scientists for their published paper: “Termination of Intractable Hiccups with Digital Rectal Message.”
Say no more, but please cough.
Medical myths
Potatoes are often vilified because they possess a high glycemic index, meaning their rapidly digestible carbohydrates can spike one’s blood sugar level — not a good thing in terms of conditions like diabetes.
But much depends on the type of potato, how it’s cooked and the total amount of carbohydrates consumed. Starchy potatoes have complex carbohydrates, which break down more slowly in the body than simple sugars. They’re also rich in vitamin C, potassium, fiber and other nutrients, especially when consumed with the skin. A whole baked sweet potato, for example, can be a fine addition to a meal; french fries, not so much.
Last words
“No.”
— Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen (1826-1906) reportedly stood up on his bed, protesting, after he overheard his doctor tell his wife he was looking better. (Ibsen suffered from tuberculosis.) Another version, however, he simply replied “Tvertimod,” which means “to the contrary,” and then died.
LaFee is vice president of communications for the Sanford Burnham Prebys research institute.
Originally Published:
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