You Think Downtown Parking Is Bad Now?

By Allan Goodman, Kearney Mesa

I live downtown at 11th and J Street. About one block away from Petco. I moved from San Francisco where parking and traffic really isn't that bad either but far worse than San Diego. I don't find parking or traffic to be a problem...even during game time. I think it is well managed. I would welcome another stadium downtown. San Diego needs an economic and cultural core. The downtown is poised to be this place.

Posted by Andrew Malick | reply to this comment
November 4, 2009 6:55 am

Andrew, have you been frequenting one of our many "medical" marijuana "dispensaries?" Traffic not bad in San Francisco? Not bad in downtown San Diego? Well, maybe not so bad lately here, since our Trevor-free ballclub doesn't draw much of a crowd. But here's an idea for you: some people think professional football and baseball are Big Business duping the masses, not Culture enriching the community.

Posted by Fed Up | reply to this comment
November 5, 2009 11:13 am

What's going on with you, Fed? You are beginning to sound a lot like me. You wouldn't want to do that, would you?

Posted by Edgar | reply to this comment
November 8, 2009 8:08 pm

I think Mission Valley is also the best site for a new stadium. The oil contamination has to be cleaned up, a new park would be nice. Building a new stadium there could solve the problem. If you build downtown, there will be have to be new developement in Mission Valley. I don't see the City building a new 160 acre park. It will cost millions to just tear down the Q. Traffic for games on weekends in either place is a small problem. I would like to follow the examples of Phoenix and Philadelpia. Build both a new stadium and arena. Share parking and ride the existing trolley line.

Posted by lee | reply to this comment
November 4, 2009 7:38 am

Sorry, the Chargers already rejected Qualcom site for a new stadium--the Spanoses can't make another fortune there. This extortion by the Chargers is not about building a new stadium San Diego can be proud of--it's about making big bucks off local taxpayers and fans.

Posted by Steve K | reply to this comment
November 4, 2009 8:34 am

The only reason they "rejected" the Qualcomm site was the city would not give them the 60 acres they wanted. They could have purchased it, but that was not an option, apparently.

Posted by David E Crossley | reply to this comment
November 4, 2009 6:53 pm

Parking a problem downtown? You have to be kidding me!

Posted by Brandon Farley | reply to this comment
November 4, 2009 8:06 pm

San Diego does need an economic and cultural core. But professional sports is not "culture" in any meaningful way. Football or baseball is all about well-paid young men using their athletic bodies to entertain older men drinking beer...the equivalent work for young women is called "erotic dancing". Neither are important "culturally" or indigenous to San Diego, and neither business ought to be subsidized by taxpayers. Let strip club owners pay for their own poles, and sports team owners pay for their own stadiums. Keep politicians with our tax money away from both!

Posted by Fred Williams | reply to this comment
November 4, 2009 10:20 pm

and also replying in a sense to "vic" below: Actually this isn't classically or theoretically correct, in that if the genuine original meaning of sports was to return, which would mean the return of civic mindedness as it was originally good, sports is a community revival and reminder on a continuous basis, like going to church. We have gone far astray of that mentality or right spirit, though, and it seems to have metastasized from not long after when "professional" sports merged with commercialism or became a commodity. Methinks better to focus on sports genuinely connected to academia or schools, which also needs a lot of righting though, as it's becoming more and more an imitator of the commercialized perversion (dupe). Sorry, but still hopeful in action and redeemable if enough people insist

Posted by John E. Quest | reply to this comment
November 20, 2009 2:38 pm

Traffic around PETCO is not bad at all. This is the first time I've read an editorial complaint about PETCO traffic in all the years it's been there. In fact, PETCO's easy access and lack of traffic is one of the best things about it.

Posted by MIke | reply to this comment
November 5, 2009 1:24 pm

Stadium here, stadium there...Hello! The Chargers are moving to L.A., folks, accept it. "The Los Angeles Chargers of City of Industry". Nice ring to it, huh? Do you think that rich, very good friend of Spanos is calling in all his political markers, getting envirnmental impact report waivers, etc., on just a hope that he can get a team to move there? Get real. That deal is done.

Posted by D | reply to this comment
November 6, 2009 12:55 pm

You are correct, D. I'll be there to wave off the caravan when it heads out on 5 for L.A.

Posted by Edgar | reply to this comment
November 6, 2009 8:16 pm

Sports aren't culturally relevant. If anything, they're anti-culture. Lots of infrastructure needed to get blue-collars and wannabes into a mood to get fleeced by ridiculous ticket prices, concession gouging, parking fees and the low-class amusement that is football. As Petco proved, the bubba brigade of sports fans don't spend much money outside the ball park, which is what was intended by the owners--share the wealth isn't part of Petco's game plan. Another architectural eyesore in East Village would only enrich the fat cats and leave SD holding the bag. If SD wanted to improve its cultural offerings, it should allow casinos and a red light district to open downtown. That way, the trickle-down money that went to theatres, music clubs, cabarets and the like might actually create something new, different and interesting, like how jazz arose from the whorehouses of New Orleans, or how Vegas reinvented itself.

Posted by Vic | reply to this comment
November 7, 2009 12:23 am

JERRY SANDERS IS THE WORST MAYOR OF SAN DIEGO. WE CAN ONLY COUNT THE DAYS WHEN THIS MAN IS OUT OF OFFICE.

Posted by Milly | reply to this comment
November 10, 2009 12:52 pm

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