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The majority of the city council in SD are bought out, people don't realize this.
I tried contacting Ben Hueso, and even Tony Young multiple times in the past, none of them have returned my Emails, because I have written to them regarding their intentions on how they want the future of SESD to look, and feel like.
Ben Hueso, IMO doesn't care about his community, he's a sell out, just ask the organizers at Barrio's Coalition Group, they have contacted Mr. Hueso numerous amounts of times, to help stop the unwanted redevelopment process of the SouthEast corridor, because many people in these neighborhoods are extremely poor, and don't want all this new development to take place, since they are afraid that soon, one day, they will be kicked out through eminent domain, or from investors buying up property and flipping them to a wealthier class of citizens. The low income, and even some middle class people, are slowly being eaten away, the more older neighborhoods become redeveloped, the more expensive they become, so in a sense, YES redevelopment is a good thing at cleaning up blighted neighborhoods, but you risk losing longtime residents, and it makes these area's more expensive to live in years later, therefore, many people also get priced out not only in Urban parts of the city, but the Suburbs as well. The only decent, affordable area's of SD County, is East County, and the South Bay mostly Chula Vista.
I guess I was just venting a little, there really isn't much people can do, unless they vote the councilman out of office, and make sure the new candidates have a clean sheet, and is open to show the public who is funding their campaigns. Follow the money, it speaks volumes!
The majority of the city council in SD are bought out, people don't realize this.
I tried contacting Ben Hueso, and even Tony Young multiple times in the past, none of them have returned my Emails, because I have written to them regarding their intentions on how they want the future of SESD to look, and feel like.
Ben Hueso, IMO doesn't care about his community, he's a sell out, just ask the organizers at Barrio's Coalition Group, they have contacted Mr. Hueso numerous amounts of times, to help stop the unwanted redevelopment process of the SouthEast corridor, because many people in these neighborhoods are extremely poor, and don't want all this new development to take place, since they are afraid that soon, one day, they will be kicked out through eminent domain, or from investors buying up property and flipping them to a wealthier class of citizens. The low income, and even some middle class people, are slowly being eaten away, the more older neighborhoods become redeveloped, the more expensive they become, so in a sense, YES redevelopment is a good thing at cleaning up blighted neighborhoods, but you risk losing longtime residents, and it makes these area's more expensive to live in years later, therefore, many people also get priced out not only in Urban parts of the city, but the Suburbs as well. The only decent, affordable area's of SD County, is East County, and the South Bay mostly Chula Vista.
I guess I was just venting a little, there really isn't much people can do, unless they vote the councilman out of office, and make sure the new candidates have a clean sheet, and is open to show the public who is funding their campaigns. Follow the money, it speaks volumes!
No sweat about the venting, I totally understand ;-)
Nothing worse than seeing people with white collared shirts and clipboards walking around your neighborhood pointing around the area. You know sh*t is going down when you see that and feels like you are just waiting something in the mail to say that some kind of Wal Mart or something is coming in. I still think that organizations can be the most affective in neighborhoods, but at times morale is so low that residents can lose momentum pretty quickly. Orgs that are a voice...
I hope this happens and folks like you are a catalyst :-)
Chollas View and Mount Hope will never gentrify. The housing stock, even if rehabbed, is undesirable. The neighborhood infrastructure is crumbling. The retail areas are overbuilt and underperforming. The schools are abysmal and crime is rampant.
However there is no reason a neighborhood like that can't become a better place for it's residents. Those areas desperately need people willing to stand up for themselves.
You guys have no idea what real gentrification looks like. In Houston, over the span of ten years, an entire historical neighborhood called Freedmen's town was almost completely razed and replaced by new townhome developments. In Texas, there is no prop 13 to keep property tax from skyrocketing. So, when that new 350,000 townhouse goes up next to the 64,000 house, guess what happens at the next assessment.
Gentrification is necessary for several reasons. A lot of the suburban single family homes in SD are $#!^ boxes that were hastily slapped together post WWII. They have little redeeming value, architectural or otherwise. But, that's not really the problem.
The problem is that California's exploding population makes the old suburban dream untenable. We need more housing, not less. Given San Diego's topography, where is that housing going to go? In older neighborhoods, because they are cheaper to redevelop.
I don't want to see lower income residents pushed out, but that what happens. In part, because the overregulated housing market makes it more expensive for developers to build. Developers don't build pricey housing because they like to. They build for what they think the market can afford to pay.
Unfortunately, in SD housing costs have been out of whack with incomes for many years, so they built to accomodate what banks were willing to lend, and not what people could necessarily afford. It's much harder for people to be forced out of their homes here, because Prop 13 keeps property taxes in check.
The flip side is that many neighborhoods are starved forinvestment, because the housing stock doesn't get updated. For a neighborhood to thrive, it needs continuous reinvestment. Most of these neighborhoods you are talking about weren't always the hood. They became the hood because people who could pump money into the neighborhood decided to go elsewhere. If you really want affordable housing, you need to have the city do away with a lot of its restrictions. Lower development cost = greater supply = lower housing costs.
You sound like a gentrifier,a person that is trying to force unwanted change, acting like you want to improve the area, be part of the community, when you are not even from there. SESD doesn't need people like this, because eventually, whatever improvements are being made, will most likely lure the outsiders and greedy developers, rather than helping the poor that live in these communities by making them more affordable, not more expensive due to the increase of property value's and speculation. Or saying "OMG, this area is soooooo...up and coming!" Ah...shut the hell up!! Real Estate agents love to exaggerate and false advertise. I just hope the people in SESD fight gentrification as much as possible, since it's starting to slowly take place. Once a neighborhood is branded and labeled as a tourist spot, or a new hot spot, that's when the damage has been done.
This is the last thing we need on our hands, yuppy snobs and hipsters being priced out of North Park, Hillcrest, and South Park, parts of Downtown, to start moving into the hood, replacing long time residents, by, buying them out, or being forced out through redevelopment.
Let me get this straight, if shmoov_groovzsd bought the house next door to yours (wherever it may be) and fixed it up, you'd be upset? Why is that? Doesn't it bother you to see weedy front lawns and blue tarps covering junk? I commend shmoov_groovzsd for his intentions. I would have thought it would motivate you and other neighbors to fix up your own properties and take pride in it's appearance, as well. Just because a neighborhood is considered lower income, doesn't mean it has to look like crap. Be glad there are people who care about their properties. I know you're still young, but I guarantee when it's time for you to buy a place you'll know what I'm talking about.
I cam across this thread while at Starbucks and noted the dates.... Anyway just wanted to throw in my own two cents on the Mt. Hope / Cholas View convo.... I moved to CV about 2 years ago coming from Poimt Loma. As crazy as that may seem it is probably one of the best things I coud have done. Retiring from the Navy after 21 years of service I wanted to return to an area that was diverse and where I felt comfortable. Living in Point Loma for a number of years I just didn't feel right. Among million dollar homes, cloudy days and unbelievable traffic I was not loving the area. I also noted i was the only minority on my street. No African-Americans, no Latinos, no Asians, literally no diversity on my street. For 8 years all my neighbors on a occassian would wave, my one neighbor right next to me would never talk to me even if I said hello. I put my house on the market and it was sold for a ridiculous (over)price. During my search for a new house my realestate agent showed me a flipped property in Chola's View (CV). The asking price $292 K 4 Bd 2 Bth 1400 sq ft it was a a total remodel and yes there is a "wrought iron gate". When I placed an offer on the house there were 10 other offers I ended up getting the house for $320K. In the two years I know all my neighbors a few were the original owners from the 1950's. On any given weekend I can hear the music (in several languages) from the outdoor parties echoing through the canyons, the Jacobs outdoor theater and Gomper's sports events. Oh Ya can't forget the ice cream truck driving by every 15 minutes..... We're close to everything, easy highway access, we got 2 Troley stations..... I absolutely love this area!
To make a long story short the CV area is experiencing the beginnings of gentrification. In 2 years I have counted on my street alone 8 houses in major dis-repair sold for 100+ K then resold for >320K one of those houses was literally burnt out, flipped then sold for 335K (still under the average home price in SD). I started to research the area and change to include infrastrcure upgrades are slowly happening. The Gompers High success story, Gompers Park upgrade, the redevelopment around Euclid and Market and proposals to open up Hilltop Dr, the new Health Center at Market and 47th and Wallgreens going up..... Not to mention the diverse cultural mix here of African American, Latino, Asian and even A Caucasian family or two....
Now is this a good thing or bad? Will the neighborhood be infiltrated by people with higher incomes and force the lower income residents out? Hillcrest, Northpark, Southpark, Golden Hills neighborhoods that historically fallen in disrepair in the 60-70-and 80's have seen marked improvements in the past 20-30 years and are now easily considered high priced areas as rapid re-development happened. Will CV/Mt. Hope area see this? I'm thinking yes, most likely as affordable housing within the city limits dwindle. There is no where else to look but in area's like ours. A 800 sq ft bungalow in Northpark sells for $400K... Unbelievable!
I did read on this string several years ago that this would never happen here. I hate to say it it's happening. And those of us who live here are seeing the transformation happen. The good thing the neighborhood is looking better as one by one houses are getting fixed, infrastructure improved and businesses move in. Likewise property prices are increasing at a alarming rate.....
I cam across this thread while at Starbucks and noted the dates.... Anyway just wanted to throw in my own two cents on the Mt. Hope / Cholas View convo.... I moved to CV about 2 years ago coming from Poimt Loma. As crazy as that may seem it is probably one of the best things I coud have done. Retiring from the Navy after 21 years of service I wanted to return to an area that was diverse and where I felt comfortable. Living in Point Loma for a number of years I just didn't feel right. Among million dollar homes, cloudy days and unbelievable traffic I was not loving the area. I also noted i was the only minority on my street. No African-Americans, no Latinos, no Asians, literally no diversity on my street. For 8 years all my neighbors on a occassian would wave, my one neighbor right next to me would never talk to me even if I said hello. I put my house on the market and it was sold for a ridiculous (over)price. During my search for a new house my realestate agent showed me a flipped property in Chola's View (CV). The asking price $292 K 4 Bd 2 Bth 1400 sq ft it was a a total remodel and yes there is a "wrought iron gate". When I placed an offer on the house there were 10 other offers I ended up getting the house for $320K. In the two years I know all my neighbors a few were the original owners from the 1950's. On any given weekend I can hear the music (in several languages) from the outdoor parties echoing through the canyons, the Jacobs outdoor theater and Gomper's sports events. Oh Ya can't forget the ice cream truck driving by every 15 minutes..... We're close to everything, easy highway access, we got 2 Troley stations..... I absolutely love this area!
To make a long story short the CV area is experiencing the beginnings of gentrification. In 2 years I have counted on my street alone 8 houses in major dis-repair sold for 100+ K then resold for >320K one of those houses was literally burnt out, flipped then sold for 335K (still under the average home price in SD). I started to research the area and change to include infrastrcure upgrades are slowly happening. The Gompers High success story, Gompers Park upgrade, the redevelopment around Euclid and Market and proposals to open up Hilltop Dr, the new Health Center at Market and 47th and Wallgreens going up..... Not to mention the diverse cultural mix here of African American, Latino, Asian and even A Caucasian family or two....
Now is this a good thing or bad? Will the neighborhood be infiltrated by people with higher incomes and force the lower income residents out? Hillcrest, Northpark, Southpark, Golden Hills neighborhoods that historically fallen in disrepair in the 60-70-and 80's have seen marked improvements in the past 20-30 years and are now easily considered high priced areas as rapid re-development happened. Will CV/Mt. Hope area see this? I'm thinking yes, most likely as affordable housing within the city limits dwindle. There is no where else to look but in area's like ours. A 800 sq ft bungalow in Northpark sells for $400K... Unbelievable!
I did read on this string several years ago that this would never happen here. I hate to say it it's happening. And those of us who live here are seeing the transformation happen. The good thing the neighborhood is looking better as one by one houses are getting fixed, infrastructure improved and businesses move in. Likewise property prices are increasing at a alarming rate.....
Good Post!
A good Friend of mine just picked up 2 houses in the area dirt Cheap( He's a investor from the east coast)
I recommended the area to him because it's the last frontier of Flipping homes here in San Diego.
I Got Treated to Mr A's last Tuesday night because one of the properties already has 45k in Equity
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,a person that is trying to force unwanted change, acting like you want to improve the area, be part of the community, when you are not even from there. SESD doesn't need people like this, because eventually, whatever improvements are being made, will most likely lure the outsiders and greedy developers, rather than helping the poor that live in these communities by making them more affordable, not more expensive due to the increase of property value's and speculation. Or saying "OMG, this area is soooooo...up and coming!" Ah...shut the hell up!! Real Estate agents love to exaggerate and false advertise. I just hope the people in SESD fight gentrification as much as possible, since it's starting to slowly take place. Once a neighborhood is branded and labeled as a tourist spot, or a new hot spot, that's when the damage has been done.
Cholas View Today
