1. Redeveloping Downtown San Diego: Milennial Dreams or Bayfront Nightmares?
- Author
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Erie, Steven P. and MacKenzie, Scott A.
- Subjects
- *
URBAN planning , *CENTRAL business districts , *PUBLIC-private sector cooperation - Abstract
Like many large U.S. cities, San Diego has seen its downtown population grow substantially over the past 20 years, due, in part, to aggressive redevelopment efforts. Much of these efforts were pursued under public-private partnerships, with the City of San Diego providing land, capital and regulatory relief to developers undertaking new projects downtown. This paper critically evaluates San Diego's major post-1990 downtown redevelopment efforts. We focus on recently-completed Petco Park and ancillary development in the once-moribund East Village. We compare the City's role in building a new baseball stadium for the Padres to similar efforts in Los Angeles and around the country. We also examine the commercial re-use of former naval facilities - the Naval Training Center and Navy Broadway Complex - located near downtown. Despite the dedication of substantial public resources, the public benefits from these projects have minimal. Indeed, the City has often been left holding the bag for basic infrastructure and services on projects advertised as revenue neutral. We conclude with the lessons to be learned from San Diego's redevelopment experiences, and suggest reasons for the City's chronic inability to achieve greater public benefits from its substantial investments in public-private initiatives. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2008