north park news march 2008

north park news keeps delivering the fresh goods on np and until they get a website i'm going to keep relaying it here - i hope they don't mind. the biggest news is that the lease on the big lots store on university will not be renewed when it expires in may. this has to be the messiest big lots i've been in, so it will be a big improvement to get some tenants who care about how the place looks. and getting rid of a glorified dollar store says a lot about north park's upswing.

one idea for the building would be to divide up the store into several retail/dining spaces, and convert the upstairs floors (currently offices?) into lofts. given its proximity to the art district on ray street, how about some artists lofts like the (former?) ones above hooters in the gaslamp? lots of potential for this big space.

mje inc. has purchased the former shooterz on 30th. they run three sports bars in san diego beach communities and i'm wondering how that concept would fly in north park...

cafe carpe diem is moving into the space vacated by caffe forte at 3139 university; forte is moving into the nearby tent dancing building which recently had its scaffolding removed. not sure what tent dancing means; only northparkscene.com refers to it as that. cool building, but the peach color i'm seeing on my laptop isn't exactly inspiring...

sugar ltd is moving from adams ave in normal heights to fern in south park and will be re-christened as junc boutique and gallery. i'm sad to see sugar go - apart from cafe cabaret it was about the only interesting spot on that stretch of adams. that is a tough location though. the coffee shop that preceeded cafe cabaret in that space was named cornerstone, but we called it tombstone since it was always dead - and it closed within a year.

there's also a good interview with the sushi chef at the newly-opened north park sushi who brings 32 years of experience to town. and there's a big article on an irving gill house "renovation" that made the property more aligned with gill's vision, which was a treat for me and my current gill obsessiveness.

too much good stuff - support the advertisers in north park news so this publication can continue to keep us updated on north park's turnaround.

tumbling into the sea pt. 2

with our first 70 degree day at the coast in two weeks, it was time to hit the beach. i took some pictures of the fisheries building that's being abandoned due to erosion issues. the only way to get a good shot of this building is by wading out into the ocean (or hiring a helicopter), but i took this one from the cliff just outside my office, looking north:

the loss of the fisheries buildings probably won't cause any grief among preservationists, given their bland 1960's architecture:

c'mon noaa, let's try to be a bit more creative with the replacement buildings, especially considering their location.

will any other buildings suffer the fate of fisheries? there are several others close to the water on the sio campus, including the munk building in the top left of the next photo:

however you can see the cliff goes away in the above image, and there's a seawall from here to about another half mile to the south. buildings come right up to the seawall. to the south of this image is the pier and sio administration building; the latter fronts the marine biology building designed by irving gill. had to take this shot from an angle due to the sun:

there are no less than three plaques indicating the historical significance of the building, plus this explanatory sign showing it as the first building on the scripps campus:

further south is the new robert paine scripps conference center, under construction:

it sits about 30 feet above the beach, from where this shot was taken:

the center looks pretty cool in the renderings on the
jaynes companies developer site. this one is from the support scripps site:

hopefully these buildings will be around for a while. speaking of which, i wonder what will become of the space after the buildings there are demolished? this could be a fine viewpoint for the public, but i'm guessing it will be fenced off like the cliffs outside my office.

pizza fusion coming to hillcrest

the environmentally-friendly, organic pizza fusion is coming to san diego at 3827 5th ave in hillcrest in may. located on a bus line, using hybrid cars for deliveries, meeting LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification, they've certainly got the environmental side covered. and by providing organic ingredients, and lactose and/or gluten-free pizzas, they've got their health-minded target market taken care of. personally, i'm excited to finally be able to order a soy cheese pizza in san diego since i long ago had to give up the lactose fest that is pizza. if pizza fusion can do it, why can't anyone else? other than basic's red (cheese-free) pizza, that is.

UPDATE, 8/08: pizza fusion is now open.

tumbling into the sea

i work just down the hill from the noaa southwest fisheries science center, perched on its cliff on the scripps institution of oceanography campus. ten years ago, soon after i started working at sio we were asked to perform an analysis of whether the building was moving due to cliff instability using high-precision gps technology, which we use for geophysical research and other applications. so we scouted out the roof (quite a view from up there) and other locations where we could locate a gps antenna. but apparently our project percolated up the noaa chain to some folks who weren't too excited about our work. and that was the last i heard about the erosion issues at the fisheries building until a recent e-mail to ucsd staff two weeks ago proposing a move across the street for the center. then this ut article appeared today, which explains in detail the cliff stability issues and the new buildings. while two buildings are being emptied now, all four will be cleared (and demolished?) by 2011.

since two of the center's four buildings will be demolished, it got me to thinking about when buildings die. it's kind of sad to think of all the designing and planning involved, and excitement for building a structure at such a spectacular location. and then to only last 44 years before mother nature wins? surely erosion must have been considered when the structure was built, but they probably figured they could get more than 40 or so years out of it. and what about the folks who enjoy the incredible views? the outdoor walkways connecting the offices are vertigo-inducing but offer unparalleled views of the ocean now directly below. i guess the comfort of knowing that your office won't go crashing into the sea while you're sipping your morning coffee offsets the disappointment of losing that view.

fortunately there's a great big open area across the street from the center, and this site will accommodate parking for the center's employees. now whose cars will the tweakers break into along la jolla shores drive? let's hope the center continues to employee the security guard who actually patrols the steep hill (he's lost quite a bit of weight since he started a couple of years ago). we can use all the help we can get now that the catalytic converter removers (i.e., tweakers) have moved into the parking lots of the scripps campus. we actually had an employee threatened with a sawzall when he confronted one of these guys.

as usual, la jolla residents are worried about loss of views due to the new structure, but if anything it seems their views will be improved by removing four cliffside structres and placing them into a fairly steep hill across the street. plus they're painting the roofs green. and having had to paint gps equipment with that same green (the la jollans didn't like the look of our little gps antenna tripod ruining their view behind the scripps aquarium), i know that it's been color-matched to the local vegetation! the things rich folks (whoops, i mean generous scripps benefactors) will make you do...

more gill

took some more pictures saturday of irving gill-designed buildings in san diego. the google my maps showing the building locations has been updated. here are some of the pictures:



after i got home i realized i had missed a gill on the same street as the next house. however, based on the street number, it appears to be recently demolished for a three story structure that's going up next door (where the contractor sign is in the lower right corner):

bulldoze the civic concourse

question: which of the following california city hall buildings is san diego's?





if you picked the generic 60's building in the third picture, you're correct! (the first and second photos are los angeles and san francisco). here's some more pics of the civic concourse (bounded by 1st and 3rd ave, and b and c streets) that the above san diego city administration building is a part of:













the last picture is of the the san diego civic theater, which is probably the highlight of the concourse. it was designed by lloyd ruocco, who also did the cliffside walter munk building at the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics where i work (it's part of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in la jolla). the parking garage, gleaming white and tallest of the city buildings, doesn't actually look that bad from the outside. the elevator entrances and interior are showing their age however. it's actually kind of fun to drive down the crazy center spiral exit ramp inside the building, narrowly dodging cars entering abruptly.

apart from the theater, the entire civic concourse is a drab ode to 60's-era office architecture that could be improved on. some ideas to make this happen could include putting the parking underground, building a city administration building that features interesting architecture, and including some dining options beyond the isolated johnny brown's restaurant. currently it's another reminder of san diego's inability to build defining civic architecture, a physical manifestation of the city's conservatism, lack of vision by its leaders, and its citizens' refusal to pay for meaningful civic projects through bonds or higher fees/taxes. it seems san diego got the ugly-ass city hall it deserved.

however, the union tribune reported wednesday on a plan to rebuild the civic concourse and that the city has narrowed the developer list to two candidates. one of them, hines, was the development manager for petco, and redesigned the san francisco civic center, shown below:



they are also building the transbay transit center in san francisco, near the bay bridge (designed by "starchitects" pelli/clarke/pelli):



pelli also designed the patronas towers in kuala lumpur (once the tallest buildings in the world):





while no renderings are available yet, they've got to look better than what we have now. it's times like this when a famed architect is involved that the 500 foot height limit downtown really sucks.

the big question is how does tight-fisted (and essentially broke) san diego come up with the money to build this project and pay these expensive architects? with the real estate market melting down, it makes it harder for the developer to squeeze retail revenue out of the space. so it comes back to the city to chip in some big bucks, probably. what can the ccdc/san diego redevelopment agency come up with? also, if the city can get its credit rating restored, perhaps a bond could be floated for financing. a more far-fetched approach would be to actually tax america's cheapest city at a rate in line with other cities. it's interesting that cities like chicago can build defining places like millennium park that generate millions in tourist spending and tax revenue, but that such a project would be incomprehensible in san diego, which attracts millions of tourists a year.

at the very least, the city is starting a discussion on replacing the civic center, and that's a good sign.

new virgin airlines service

virgin service to san diego started last week and we really enjoyed our flight to san francisco. each seat comes equipped with a personal media center, which includes tv shows, videogames, movies, and cabin chat room and texting (coming soon). the cabin features dim pink mood lighting (similar to thai airways' planes) and seats with headrests that extend above the seat, a big plus for tall people with giant heads like me which roll back over the top of the seat while attempting to sleep. and you can book exit row seats online for a mere $15 extra. to get exit row on most other airlines, you need to either be an elite member, show up at the airport 2 hours before your flight and hope there's an exit seat, or on southwest, print your boarding pass exactly 24 hours before flight time.

if you're wondering what direct routes virgin might add from san diego, there don't appear to be any planned for the time being; from the comments in the link below:

Chicago in June, Boston in July, Miami in October/November. That's it for 2008.

one plus is the planned hookup with other virgin carriers, so you could fly to sf and then jump on a flight to london on virgin atlantic. but with direct flights to london coming this june on zoom airlines, there's no need for that. other new routes may include an lax to cabo flight. maybe some slots will open up at lindbergh and we'll see some additional cities down the road. until then, at least you've got a new excuse to go to san francisco for $40 each way before taxes.

as the above article notes, the airline is hiring 1000 workers in their expansion. our friend bruce works for them part time at lindbergh and says it's a lot of fun.

snooty dining drops

the UT has an article on the recent dropoff in upper-end restaurants in san diego, due to the sputtering economy. it notes down traffic and/or reduced prices at several local establishments, including stingaree downtown, bite in hillcrest and anthology in little italy (speaking of which, those pat metheny shows next week were a pretty big score for them). we haven't noticed any empty restaurants recently, but we don't hit the very expensive ones too often. tonight on our 9 pm walk over to ponce's here in kensington we noticed a packed bleu boheme, and then waited 15 minutes for a table at a slammed ponce's. of course midweek dining may be a different story, but it seems like these places are doing ok.

while i was reading the article, i kept wondering why the high-end places were suffering. aren't the folks who go to these restaurants relatively immune to higher gas prices and deflated real estate values? but then i realized that plenty of people living large based on their overvalued home(s) and the money they borrowed against them. now that they're in foreclosure, or approaching it, they can't flaunt the bucks they no longer have. after all, isn't part of going to mille fleurs or the marine room or bianca and paying $75 for a kobe beef steak about showing off the fact that you can do this? it's probably not too far-fetched to say that a significant percentage of patrons at high-end restaurants in san diego are people who were living beyond their means and have hit the wall. these people won't be coming back (unless their money does, which is doubtful), so it could be a rocky spring until the zonies pile into town in june. and phoenix hasn't exactly been immune to the real estate bubble either.

until the next moneyed lot comes along, there could be some closings or re-toolings. i'd be particularly concerned about anthology, given the challenging concept for san diego (jazz supper club) - let's hope the owner has some deep pockets, because losing this state-of-the-art facility would be a huge shame.

it wouldn't be surprising to see some of the higher end places shut down or re-tool until the next crop of big spenders comes along. in particular, i'd be worried about anthology, which offers up a tough concept for san diego (jazz music). that would be a huge shame, given the money put into this state-of-the-art supper club. hopefully the owner has some deep pockets.

big city envy

there's nothing like a trip to san francisco to humble an urban-oriented san diegan. from taking BART to the airport straight from our hotel on market st. to walking into chinatown for some excellent dim sum, san francisco provides a multitude of walkable resources that only a true big city can provide.

we started our trip this past weekend in marin county, where our friend david works (and lives) in the mt. tamalpais state park:




we met him for breakfast in mill valley at champagne bakery on throckmorton st and started our day with strong coffee, omelettes and curry chicken salad on flaky croissants. as we made our way through town, headed to the park, we wondered if any non-whites actually live in mill valley, or in all of marin county, for that matter. but we knew better, having visited nearby san rafael after 9 pm the night before, where nary a white person was to be seen - just all of their hispanic service workers.

apparently it was the first sunny weekend in sf in a while, because the state park and muir woods area were jam-packed with city folks. we visited david's trailer in a quiet corner of the park and then were off over the mountain for some spectacular views of the coast.





the town of fairfax is nestled at the base of mt. tam and we took a break from the windy roads. as we stood in line at fairfax scoop we looked at a wall-sized panorama of children's pictures and were bemused to see that every single child was white. but the real topper was that someone had actually included a token picture of martin luther king in amongst the sea of white.

while i may be a bit harsh on the wealthy citizens of marin, they certainly do come off as pretentious snobs. david related several stories of rich folk acting as if the laws don't apply to them, simply because they're rich. it's nice to know that the arrogance of the wealthy isn't limited to just the coronadians, la jollans, del martians, etc. of san diego.

after checking into our hotel in the city (we used credit card points for a couple of free nights at the westin on market) we had dinner at david's friend michael's place not far from union square. michael performs in drag as the popular juanita more, and appeared in a creative video for the new pornographers. so we had to go see the drag show at dive bar aunt charlie's, where trannies as old as 73 perform for the mixed crowd of art fags and tenderloin tragedies. while we're not huge fans of drag, it was a memorable experience to see these old timers doing their thing... keep an eye out for the documentary coming out soon that tells their story.

the next morning we wandered over to chinatown and had excellent dim sum at city view on the historic commercial street.



just around the corner we looked on as old men played cards and children just played in portsmouth square. from there we stopped into yerba buena gardens and the desolate metreon theaters - this new-looking retail project came off as a big flop, likely due to expensive rents. then it was on to the lair of the enemy, otherwise known as at&t park, home of the giants. lots of similarities to our petco park, but you have to hand it to the architects for incorporating free public viewing of the game from just beyond the outfield.



david picked us up just as the temperature dropped into the uncomfortably windy and cold range and we were off to the castro for coffee at cafe flore where you can check out the boys inside or on the patio. after experiencing sticker shock at a few boutiques ($55 for a t-shirt) david took us to glen park for some cheap and authentic chinese food in the working class neighborhood of glen park at hong sing, where we devoured huge portions of duck, kung pao chicken and delicious flat rice noodles.

we finished off the trip by admiring the architecture along market street, grabbing some japanese food near union square, and hitting two stores that aren't in san diego yet - h&m (coming to otay ranch in april and fashion valley later this year) and the virgin megastore, where i picked up the new hot chip and steve aoki cd's. the quick trip to sfo on bart only increased our airport wait since our southwest flight home was repeatedly delayed with little explanation. lesson learned - take the new virgin airlines service when possible. we flew this on the way up and it was far superior to southwest; you can purchase exit row seats online, and enjoy your own personal media center (including video games) and extendable headrest - for the same price as a southwest cattle call flight.

while it's always comforting to return to san diego, it's mixed with the disappointment of knowing that this city will never match the highs of our northern california neighbor. at least it only costs $40 each way to get there.

making lindbergh intermodal

city beat has a good summary of the recent proposal to move lindbergh's terminals to the northeast end of the airport, along kettner blvd. a new "intermodal" (trolley/train/car) transportation center would be built there too. having direct rail service to the airport is long overdue and could potentially reduce traffic in the area. this is important given the increased traffic forecast for harbor dr. as a result of several new gates proposed for terminal 2.

the renderings of the new center inclue a large trolley/train station with a pedestrian overpass connecting to the airport (shown above). car access and parking are located nearby. from looking at google map views of the vast empty parking lot in this area, there would appear to be plenty of room. plus, moving terminals to the northern end of the aiport could potentially open up some room on the harbor-facing south side of the airport for other uses.

the port commission appears to be against the project due to potential loss of revenues. why improve an airport when it might actually lessen their cash flow? of course they may just be posturing in order to provide greater input, but once again the port has its own interests in mind over the public that they are supposed to represent. hopefully our political leaders will use whatever powers necessary to get the project accomplished, even if it means pushing aside an increasingly out-of-touch port district.

the next rendering is a wider shot looking north, and shows the "green" parking lot on the roof of the train station, which seems like a great use of vertical space:



other renderings show pacific highway passing between the transit center and the airport, underneath the short-term parking there. this is another neat idea and is likely a result of talking to transportation planners rather than the port district.
it will be interesting to see whether a bold proposal like this can get done in a city not known for innovative civic projects.

they botched it

it's 3 pm and a balmy 41 degrees here in la jolla right now. it's also raining. today's forecast? 67 and sunny, with no mention of rain. we haven't been close to the low 40's in the daytime all winter here, but today was actually supposed to the start of a significant warming for the late week. today's blown forecast comes on the heels of yesterday's 11 degree miss (forecast high: 68; actual: 57). in this moderate climate it's hard to be off by that much, and it's got to be especially disappointing for visitors who were promised much better weather (like our friends in town from gloomy upstate ny).

by the way, that predicted warmup? forget about it, the weather folks dropped the forecast highs by several degrees through the weekend. back to our chilly winter...

coronado bridge uplighting approved

the port commission voted to uplight the coronado bridge with blue LED lighting powered by solar energy. while they're just getting started by seeking artist proposals for the lighting plan, it's a good sign that the commission recognizes how impressive nighttime lighting of the graceful bridge could be.

pretty exciting news - i think this calls for a sample of lyrics from frank zappa's "the blue light", from tinseltown rebellion, circa 1980:

The plankton, the krill
The giant underwater pyramid, the squid decor
Excuse me. Todd
The big ol' giant underwater door
The dome, the bubbles, the blue light

meanwhile, the price of the harbor drive pedestrian bridge has ballooned from 13 to 30 million, and ccdc was considering scaling back at today's meeting on the project. however it appears they just modified the bridge proposal and plan to move ahead with the futuristic design. the most surreal part of the story was seeing the union tribune editorial board, normally as conservative as a pack of texans, actually support the expensive bridge. it's rare to see this kind of sense from a newspaper that's long settled for less when it comes to defining projects like these - lest they actually have to pay more taxes for them. just look around the waterfront for plenty of examples of what conservative "vision" can do for a city. what's next for kittle and co. - supporting gay marriage?

but not everyone is defying expectations. as the bridge article above notes, hilton hotels, who spent $350 million on their new hotel across harbor drive and is counting on the footbridge, can't be bothered to chip in a dime for the project. here's a company that's probably raked in millions of dollars in profits from doing business in touristy san diego over the years, and was purchased for 26 billion last year. yet they can't help out with a project like this? i guess for some companies, the bottom line comes before community relations.

leading by example

(above: actual shot of councilman peters' back yard*)

when i heard mayor sanders ask to keep our water usage flat for the months of february and march vs. last year (sorry, can't find the link), i immediately thought of city councilman scott peters, who actually uses one million gallons of water a year to irrigate his estate in la jolla. surely there was room for him to save some water since the county water authority called for increased conservation in July. but no, peters' water usage actually increased by 55%. what is this guy watering, acres of citrus?

there's no excuse for this kind of ridiculous waste by a city government leader. given our region's water woes, council members should be setting an example for residents by cutting water usage through landscape modifications, if necessary. i understand that peters has a large estate, but i'm sure he could still make quite a profit if he sold and moved to a smaller lot. more easily, just rip out whatever's chugging all that water and replace it with some drought-resistant landscaping.

since peters is termed out, voters can't toss him out in the fall. if he decides to run for office elsewhere, voters would be wise to consider whether they want this kind of person setting examples for san diegans. meanwhile, it would be interesting if the regional water authority were to re-consider their rate structure to address gross abusers like peters. here's the current rate set:

Single-Family Domestic Customers

The typical single-family domestic customer has a 3/4-inch meter (some larger homes may have a 1-inch meter). The total bill is a combination of the monthly meter base fee (which is based on the size of the meter) and the amount of water used. For billing purposes, the Water Department measures water used by hundred cubic feet or HCF. Each HCF equals 748.05 gallons.

The monthly charges for a typical single-family domestic customer are:

Base fee: $15.32

First seven HCF used are billed at $2.352 per HCF.

Second seven HCF used are billed at $2.551 per HCF.

Each HCF used after the initial 14 HCF is billed at $2.865 per HCF.

why not just keep increasing the rate for higher usage? it's not like the wealthy water abusers can't pay it, and these are residential rates, not business rates, where the water usage might actually be justified. feel free to e-mail councilman peters to ask him if he'll introduce that legislation.

(*: just kidding!)

kensington terrace approved

the project was approved by the city council 5-2 yesterday. glad to see that common sense reigned and that the council recognized that it was a minority of self-interested residents living near adams that were leading the opposition. however, it looks like it's not over, given that legal action will now be taken against the project by said opponents. hopefully the courts will come to the same conclusion, barring any big suprises in the environmental report.

speaking of which, doesn't the removal of the underground gas tanks at overpriced emerald oil gas station (and promised cleaning of any associated leaks), count as something in the environmental impact report? i don't see any mention of this by the project's opponents.

stop the trestles toll road

real-time twitter updates from the hearing are online.

the proposed 241 toll road that would go directly through san onofre state park is such a blatant example of developers giving a big flipoff to the citizens of california that its amazing it's even up for discussion with the coastal commission today. it takes cajones to propose a 6 lane toll road to relieve non-existent congestion on i-5 in southern orange county and actually run it through a state park. but that's exactly what they've done, even after the previous toll roads constructed in orange county have hardly been a success financially, and that's ignoring their environmental impact. fortunately there's been a big turnout against the project, largely headed by surfrider, who are concerned about the impact on the trestles surf break at san onofre.

even more disturbing than the laughable developers and their political allies (including the governor, who came out in support of the project - no matter that he appoints members of the supposedly objective coastal commission) are the unbelievably selfish orange county folks who couldn't give a fuck about blasting a road through a coastal state park and the precedence that sets - just get me to daygo faster, ok?! here are some prime quotes from the union tribune article from yesterday:

“There's only so much talk radio a person can stand,” said Melinda Stone, 49, of San Clemente, who is on the road a lot because she runs a home-welcoming service for new residents.

“I know it's not politically correct, but come on. Stopping this project for a mouse, a toad or a bug? The quality of life for people should take precedence.”

since talk radio mostly comes in the conservative crap kind, melinda's developed the classic symptom of that ideology: selfishness. see, melinda saving 5 minutes off off her occasional trip to san diego results in an improvement in her quality of life that is way more important than any environmental impact or negative effects on her fellow californians.

oc tool #2 is tom meservy:

Despite his appreciation for open space along the coast, Meservey said, driving on Interstate 5 in southern Orange County is “always a roll of the dice.”

The proposed toll road would reduce the travel time from his home to the beaches in San Clemente from 45 minutes to about 20 minutes, he estimated.

“We have an opportunity now to solve the traffic problem before it's too late,” said Meservey, who co-owns a car-wash business in Laguna Hills.

his last quote is confusing - building a toll road, which will encourage further development (if it's not already planned as part of this project) - will somehow solve a traffic "problem" that i've never witnessed in my travels on i-5, apart from an occasional slowdown in san clemente. and how is it "too late"? are we going to miss the proposed high-speed rail train (opposed by our governor, of course)? i'm guessing tom's right with arnold on that one too.

so if this toll road is approved, remember it's not just the developers who made it happen. it's the conservative citizens of much of orange county, a truly awful place devoid of any character whatsoever and populated by the moneyed soulless; people who have constructed a car-only suburban landscape and lifestyle that demands that projects like these be built. after all, other than the beach, it's not like they have any interesting places to drive to in southern orange county anyway.

UPDATE, 11:23 PM: right after i posted this i checked twitter and the project has just been denied! way to go coastal commission. stuff it, melinda and tom.

traditional mexican at el comal

we had dinner friday night at el comal in north park. it's in the old tazablanca building on illinois just north of university. both of us were suffering from head colds so we figured some hot soup would be beneficial, and el comal delivers when it comes to soup. jay had the albondigas con zanahoria y chipotle (meatballs with carrots & smoked pepper), with plenty of rice thrown in. the meatballs were quite tasty and tender, and the broth was spicy with jalapenos. my chicken pozole ("chicken or pork with hominy red or white, includes: tostadas, avocado, pork rinds, onion, jalapeno and cabbage") was fantastic, and i devoured the huge bowl after dumping all of the sides listed above. the pork rinds are a highlight since they soak up the red broth and become soggy punches of flavor. the soft tortillas mopped up the remaining broth. for $8-9 bucks, the soups are a great deal.

i had a carne asada taco on the side, which was good, but jay was disappointed in his shredded beef taco, remarking that it was cold. my margarita was cheap, big and tasty. we also enjoyed the spicy salsa and chips which promptly came to the table, but unfortunately were not refilled. friendly service topped off a great dining experience. we'll be back to explore more of the authentic mexican entrees at el comal. jay kept saying how everything tasted like his mexican friend's mother made when he was growing up, and you can't get a much better recommendation than that.

children's park slightly less awful; we don't need no stinkin' platforms

ccdc has completed its enhancement of the children's park just north of harbor drive downtown. as you can see above, they've flattened out several of the (pointless) mounds that comprised the park, and removed many of the pine trees (pine trees in downtown san diego?) that had turned the park into a shady place, both literally and figuratively. one of the goals was to make the park less friendly to the homeless, and sure enough there was only one cart-pusher there when we visited today.

i know the city is cash-strapped, and it is an improvement, especially considering that they only had about 100K to work with. however, is ccdc hurting for cash? one wonders if more money could have been budgeted/raised to truly make a difference to this park. there's still no reason to come here, especially if you're a kid, except to maybe play in the fountains outside the grassy area. but with no park benches (again, to keep the homeless away), no playground equipment, dismal landscaping, the result is still zero character, and another essentially empty space. it's yet another disappointment from a port authority that's doled them out across san diego's harbor. one consolation: the ccdc wants your input on future parks downtown. well, just naming them.

speaking of the port authority, they've immediately stated their opposition to a proposal to place a platform on top of the 10th avenue marine terminal (shown below). the platform would potentially be used for a new chargers stadium or other mixed use. the authority's opposition is no surprise - they opposed a similar project in the late 90's for a new padre stadium, and generally don't seem to like it when anyone wants to mess with their property for the benefit of the public, rather than their bottom line.



except it's not their property, it's the taxpayers of the port district's property. and that's the beauty of this proposal - the backers plan an initiative asking the citizens of the five cities comprising the port district whether they want to amend the port's master plan to allow such a project. of course, the authority says the public has no authority to modify the plan, since the authority are trustees of the state land commission. to paraphrase cartman, "RESPECT MY PORT AUTHORITY!"

it's time for the public to stand up and take back their harbor, and voting yes on this proposed initiative would be a good start. the port authority is supposed to answer to the public, and yet has had the gall to put rental car lots on prime harbor-front land, walled off the bay from downtown with the convention center and marriott, and built disasters like the children's park above. san diego is a city that's finally coming of age with some interesting architecture and dining options, and yet it's still hindered by the same small-mindedness and lack of vision that's plagued this conservative city throughout its history. at the least, having to deal with an initiative that attempts to check the power of the port authority might make them realize whom they should be answering to.