6 San Diego Uptown News | October 15-28, 2010


OPINION


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PUBLISHER David Mannis


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dmannis@sduptownnews.com EDITOR


Anne Terhune


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ASSISTANT EDITOR Pat Sherman


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PUBLICATIONS ASSISTANT Jessica Hudgins


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REPORTERS & COLUMNISTS Charlene Baldridge Joel Berlin Jeff Britton


Patricia Morris Buckley Dani Dodge Lauren Duffy Michael Good Erin Goss “Dr. Ink”


Beatrice Kemp Brook Larios Scott Marks David Nelson


Cynthia Robertson Dave Schwab Peggy Scott Ron Stern


Glenda Winders John Philip Wyllie


FROM PAGE 1 WORD ON THE STREET Compiled by Jessica Hudgins, SDUN Reporter


What do you think should be done to improve the parking situation in Hillcrest?


Bobbi Entrikin | Hillcrest “I have seen empty parking lots. I don’t know who owns them, but it if it’s the city those could be made available. Old dilapidated buildings that should have been torn down years ago could go. Some of them around here are big enough for a parking structure with two or three levels.”


Gisele Pimentel | Hillcrest “First of all, I think the spaces are too big already.


If they took time to reevaluate the size that they’re giving people and made it more compact, because a lot of people around here are on scooters. I think they can find more space that way.”


Andrew Levy | Hillcrest


“People who come here for dinner and drinks ... [could] carpool and ride their bikes—it’s beautiful out. I’m sure a parking structure would help, but I don’t know anyone who uses the one in North Park that they built. They key thing is that it has got to be free. Nobody really wants to pay for parking—they’ll


spend the time nowadays to circle around and walk.”


Sean Mayo | South Park “People don’t park in the parking structure in


North Park because it’s pretty pricey. I think some type of structure would be nice in the area. I just don’t know where that would go. We really just would love public transportation in San Diego to improve. I know they have a couple shuttles that go


back and forth between a couple restaurants here in Hillcrest. I think that could be a lot more helpful if there were more of a trolley system or more types of shuttles that go back in forth.”


Gregg Pancoast | Hillcrest “They talked about trying to get the space by


the AT&T building opened up, but nothing has hap- pened. They could come up with a trolley system, so people can use the zoo’s parking lot. But most people are reluctant to relinquish their indepen- dence... . I think a parking structure would be fine


as long as [the building] doesn’t tower over everything, and it’s important that it stays off the main drive. If people were aware of it, that’s where they would go and then they would walk if they thought they could find reasonably priced parking. It has to be reasonable—you can’t be charging too much money.”


PARTNERSHIP


oimminent. “Part of the mayor’s response


to the grand jury report—and this is for all parking districts, not just Uptown—is to see a reduction in the overhead,” Gloria said. “If that’s going to be a policy that’s going to have to be implemented in the not- too-distant future, it really behooves Uptown Partnership [to act] sooner than later.” Leo Wilson, chair of the Bank-


ers Hill/Park West Community As- sociation, has for years criticized the partnership’s handling of meter revenues, advocating for Bankers Hill and Park West to seek auton- omy from Uptown Partnership and manage its own meter revenues. “I personally would have felt bet-


ter if they had just terminated [Up- town Partnership’s] contract and started over again,” Wilson said, “but I think there’s a now a realiza- tion that they need some reform.” The partnership was originally


formed with the goal of building a parking structure in Hillcrest, simi- lar to what has been built in North Park. However, the partnership’s executive director, Carol Schultz, said that for a variety of reasons funding for that project was ulti- mately deemed unfeasible. Despite the notice of potential


layoffs, Schultz said her staff re- mains “very committed to the orga- nization” and to “making progress on some significant projects.” “I think it’s very important for [community members] to know that, whatever people have heard to the contrary, the board has in fact been very tuned in and listening very intently to the community and has made huge strides in the last year to restructure itself, to bring more people onto the board who would not have had an opportunity in the past and to continue to do that.”


One of several reforms city


council members Todd Gloria and Kevin Faulconer requested of the partnership last year was that the agency take steps to increase com-


munity representation on its board of directors, which currently in- cludes a mix of architects, planners, finance experts and real estate pro- fessionals. “It will take a couple of years


to completely turn over the board because they decided not to just to- tally wipe out everyone … but they brought in term limits so that there would be a regular rotation,” Schul- tz said. “I think people [should know] that the board has been very attentive to making itself a more ac- cessible and open entity. We also want to focus on what could happen going forward and less about what may or may not have happened in the past.” Ben Nicholls, executive director


of the Hillcrest Business Improve- ment Association, said he believes that though Uptown Partnership may not be able to accomplish much in three months, the agency has time to come up with “a game plan for fixing itself.” “If you stopped working on


pretty much everything else and started working with the commu- nity groups and neighbors to figure out what this organization is going to be and how it can be managed, I think that you can do it,” Nicholls said. “I don’t think they can make very much progress on actual park- ing projects at all... . Most of the progress has been out of volunteer groups related to that organiza- tion.” In an e-mail sent to members


of the Five Points Advisory Com- mittee, John Hargreaves, Uptown Partnership’s research and plan- ning analyst, said the new con- tract requires that the partnership limit the scope of the organization’s work during the next three months. Uptown Partnership’s board of


directors voted to limit its focus to three projects, Hargreaves said, in- cluding: funding for a streetcar that would operate between downtown and Hillcrest, a parking validation program in Hillcrest, and the gath- ering of “broad-based community input” on the partnership’s future


see Partnership, page 26


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