Much has already been said about Mayor Filner’s plan for the Plaza de Panama.  City Beat provides a good overview of the plan. “sdurban” provides some of the best insight and observations written about the plan. The Plan is similar to the proposals posted here on GSSD.  UPDATE: Filner Plan can be found online here:

What hasn’t been mentioned much about the plan is its execution. Mayor Filner’s willingness to experiment, to eschew the bureaucracy, to turn a deaf ear to the hand-wringers and nay-sayers, is as exciting as the plan is itself! Likewise, Filner calls on the plan to be implemented by Memorial Day – just one month after it’s unveiling. More than the plan itself, this bold, visionary, experimental approach by Filner may be the best thing to happened to San Diego, which is typically cautious by nature.

San Diego's shame; Our community living room is a parking lot.

The Plan itself is a strong plan. It may not be perfect, but it doesn’t have to be. That’s the beauty of it. By using a temporary, experimental approach, the plan can be put in place quickly, at low cost, and can be refined and tweaked as community feedback comes in. 

In its own way, it is the crowd-sourcing of the design. Already some excellent ideas were presented by the audience at the unveiling. Instead of a plan imposed on San Diego, it will ultimately be a plan created by San Diegans.

The innovative and experimental approach of the plan is an exciting milestone for San Diego. And the focus of the plan is an exciting turning point for San Diego’s public realm. The real beauty of the plan is that it puts people first instead of cars. It still makes room for cars, but it says to people, “You matter most”.  And that is how ALL design should begin.

Walter Chambers
GSSD

Density has become the “D-word” in San Diego. The move to downzone nearly all of Uptown this week by the Uptown Planners was facilitated by opponents using every scare tacit in the book – traffic, skyscrapers, ruined communities, loss of history, crime, homelessness, etc.

Brent Toderian writes on Planetizen three basic rules for density done well. Instead of saying no to density, change the conversation to how to make it work well for us and give us what we want.

Car-dependent transportation models create self-fulfilling prophecies of gridlock by pushing land uses apart and densities down, leading to communities that are un-walkable and not viable for transit, and force people into their cars for almost anything. And if you try to do high densities planned around the car it also fails – miserably. (bold emphasis added) 

24,000 vehicle trips and how to deal with them:  That is the common thread these two articles and these two towns share. Two towns and two very different solutions highlights the difference between thinking about cars first, and thinking about people first.

In San Diego, we still design our lives and our towns around cars. This article about One Paseo in Carmel Valley demonstrates how our obsession with traffic drives all of our decisions. Carmel Valley looks at 24,000 vehicle trips and asks the question, “how can we make it easier and better for cars.”

Poynton, England looks at 26,000 vehicle trips and asks a different question, “how can we make life better for people”. 

The two solutions couldn’t be more different. Carmel Valley widens roads, adds traffic signals, and decreases quality of life for people. Poynton removes all the traffic signals, narrows the road, slows the traffic, and increases quality of life for people. Poynton’s response works, and it works for cars, bicyclists, and people. Carmel Valley? That is yet to be seen, but we know it will require waits at traffic signals, wide roads, and an environment not meant for people.

Watch the video. The residents of Poynton were skeptical too. It just may change your way of thinking about how and for whom we design or towns and cities. 

h/t Atlantic Cities

Walter Chambers
GSSD 

The following appears in the Op-Ed section of the San Diego U-T on March 14th.

Mayor Filner announced this week the initiation of San Diego’s biggest block party: CicloSDias. Stretching from Barrio Logan to City Heights, the 5.2-mile route opens the street to people walking, biking, playing, sitting and just enjoying their streets without the fear of vehicle traffic.  Best of all, it’s free for all who want to join. Why CicloSDias, and why is it important?

San Diego arguably has some of the best weather in the United States. We love being outdoors. As a result we rank near the top in the country for fitness and healthy living. On a beautiful day we jump in the car and head to the beach, to the park, or for a hike. However, with a lack of good, safe bike lanes and sidewalks, riding a bicycle through the streets of San Diego or simply walking remains a challenge that many are unwilling to risk. And there’s good reason: San Diego also ranks among the highest in the nation for pedestrian and bicycle deaths. 

In the 1950s and 60s streets seemed to epitomize America’s optimism, progress, and the freedom of mobility. However, the prioritization of one mode – driving – reduced the freedom and safety of other modes such as walking, biking, and transit. More driving has also increased green house gas emissions and reduced the amount of daily exercise for children and adults. In 2013 there is a new paradigm. Cities around the country are making their streets safer for everyone. They recognize that streets are a city’s living room – a place where people walk, bike, meet, talk, and people watch. Many of these cities already hold their own Ciclovia (literally meaning bike path) events.

Now, San Diego must play catch-up, and that is what Mayor Filner has promised to do with the announcement of CicloSDias. Stating that CicloSDias is just a start, Mayor Filner rededicated himself to the goals of making San Diego a more livable, walkable, bike-friendly city at Monday’s press event.

Supporting this effort is the Livable Streets Coalition, – a collaborative effort among eight organizations representing thousands of San Diegans – BikeSD, City Heights Community Development Corporation, Congress for New Urbanism, Great Streets San Diego, Move San Diego, San Diego Bicycle Coalition, Urban Green and WalkSanDiego. Speaking with one voice for the first time, the Liviable Streets Coalition has encouraged the Mayor to adopt a strong Vision and Plan that sets 5 major goals to be accomplished in the next 5 years. Among the goals are 555 miles of new bike lanes, 55,000 new street trees, reducing bike and pedestrian injuries and fatalities by 5%, increasing bike ridership to 5%, and yes, implementing CicloSDias. 

Livable streets benefit businesses, spur economic growth, and help create an environment that attracts young, talented, and educated people to San Diego. When New York put in a new protected bike lane, local business revenues adjacent to the route increased 49% – 16 times average neighborhood growth in the city. In our very own neighborhood of Bird Rock, the transformation of La Jolla Boulevard helped yield an average 26% increase in sales tax dollars among 97 businesses.

Our streets are the most valuable public space the City has to offer. Walking and bicycling is not only good for our health, it promotes local shopping and reconnects people to our neighborhoods in a way that the isolation of a car can never do. In the words of Mayor Filner, referring to biking, “It’s great for our psyche, it’s great for our bodies, it’s great for our souls, it’s great for our city.”  

This letter was a joint effort among the organizations of the Livable Streets Coalition.

San Diego Police Department targeted pedestrians in a police action last week, handing out 328 tickets to pedestrians on the street. The crackdown was to “teach pedestrians the rules of the road” said Lieutenant Steve Hutchinson, the officer in charge of the program.

According to a KPBS report, Hutchinson said that there have been 13 accidents in which pedestrians were hit by cars. 6 were fatal.  Lt. Hutchinson said that “the pedestrian was at fault in 10 of the accidents”.

The SDPD holds an archaic and dangerous mindset that blames the pedestrian. It is an outdated attitude that is a throw-back to the 1960’s. The targeting of pedestrians is misguided. So who should take the blame? 

Blame the Street

A pedestrian was severely injured on the 5000 block of El Cajon Blvd (at 50th Street) in January 2013. Below is a photo of this section of El Cajon Blvd. (click the link to read the background story).

5000 block of El Cajon Blvd. No cross walks, 5+ lanes, and a bus stop

As you can see, there are no crosswalks in this section of El Cajon Blvd. In fact, the nearest crosswalk, which is also the nearest traffic signal, is several blocks away. 

This section of El Cajon Blvd is 5+ lanes wide, straight, with lane widths designed for speeds of 50+ mph; (the same lane widths are used in highway design). Because there are no traffic signals in this stretch, and separate turn lanes have been added, there are no impediments to the fast flow of traffic. There are no marked crosswalks in this 5 block section, and yet, there is a bus stop on each side of the road. What would you do if you got off the bus and want to cross the street?

The SDPD blames the pedestrian. Yet, it is clear that this street is designed to be dangerous, if not fatal, to pedestrians. What would you do if you wanted to cross the street here?  Would you walk the extra blocks to the signal/crosswalk and then backtrack the extra blocks just to cross the street?  Or would you take your chances and dart across the street. Not much of a choice, is it?

Streets designed for high speed are inherently dangerous to pedestrians.. Yet, until recently, city street design was based on the Highway Design Manual.

Wide lanes and fast cars? Someone’s gonna die. (Image credit: Hall Planning & Engineering, Inc.)

Blame the Driver

The posted speed limit on El Cajon Blvd is 35 mph. However, the street is designed for much higher speeds. Drivers will instinctively drive at a speed that feels comfortable to them. On a street like El Cajon, which is designed for high speeds, the tendency will be to drive faster than 35 mph. 

Does that let the driver off the hook? No. Never. 35 mph is too fast to begin with. There is no reason to drive faster than 25 mph on a city street. Faster is extremely dangerous for all users. Drivers must take responsibility.

Remember, every corner is a crosswalk, whether it is marked or not. Cars MUST stop for pedestrians. It’s the law.

Blame the Politicians

Mayor Filner campaigned on making San Diego’s neighborhoods more livable, walkable, and bike friendly. Unfortunately, his predecessors, and some of those still working for the City, worry only about moving cars and traffic through the City.

Mayor Filner is off to a good start, and GSSD fully supports his commitment to livable, walkable, and bike friendly neighborhoods. He’s got a big job ahead of him. GSSD recommends that the Mayor sit down with his Chief of Police to discuss the recent targeting of pedestrians and make policy changes. Then make a public apology and denounce the actions, while at the same time directing the City to study and implement safer streets for ALL users.

So blame the street or engineer for blatant design negligence. Blame the drivers. Blame the police. Blame the politicians. But for goodness sake, don’t blame the injured pedestrian who has the right to expect a safe street and public realm, and who has every right to use it just as much as, if not more so, than any other user.

Walter Chambers
GSSD 

There are two realities in the older, streetcar neighborhoods* of San Diego:
1) The street layout has been set for decades.
2) Properties fronting the street are nearly 100% built out.

(*Hillcrest, North Park, South Park, Golden Hill, Park West, Bankers Hill, Mission Hills, University Heights, Downtown, etc.)

Unless we start tearing down homes to widen roads or make new streets (not going to happen) these two realities won’t change. Whose homes and businesses are we willing to seize and tear down for wider streets? Who decides?

Whose homes and businesses do we tear down first to widen streets? Who decides? The reality is that we cannot increase street capacity in San Diego's older neighborhoods.

Therefore, here are two more realities:
3) There will be no increased street capacity for automobiles in the older San Diego streetcar neighborhoods (street capacity means widening roads or making new roads to accommodate more cars.
4) San Diego’s General Plan and Community Plans call for increasing density in these neighborhoods.

See the issue? More people, but no more street capacity. And that is what the anti-density, anti-development, anti-traffic crowd has been screaming about for years and years. 

So what are we to do?

One alternative is no more people – bring growth to a near halt. However, that is impossible to do in a democratic society with a capitalist economy. The government would have to put so many restrictions on people, land, and economic development, that San Diego would come to resemble a totalitarian, socialist regime from the 20th century. 

The only real solution is to acknowledge these realities in City policy. San Diego’s Transportation Plan must acknowledge that no new street capacity will be built in these older neighborhoods, and that accommodation for all new transportation growth will be through improvement of transit, walking, and cycling.

Likewise, transportation modes must be prioritized: 1) Pedestrian 2) Bicycle 3) Transit 4) Commercial Vehicles 5) Personal Use Vehicles.  All planning and funding decisions shall be made according to mode priority.

Impossible?  Not only is it possible, it’s neccessary. If we don’t act, we will be drowning in traffic.

16 years ago, (1997) Vancouver set the following 7 principles for their Transportation Plan:

1. We will accommodate growth in demand for transportation using the existing road network, without increasing road capacity.

2. Growth in demand for transportation, particularly to the Downtown, will be accommodated by improving alternatives to the car: transit, walking and cycling.

Now wait just a minute!  These two opening, bold principles from 1997 are jaw dropping to us in San Diego in 2013. Yet in San Diego’s older neighborhoods, they reflect our reality. We must use the existing roads without increasing capacity. Therefore, we must accommodate growth by improving alternatives to the car.

The remaining five principles support the first two, but are nonetheless as bold.

3. The car will continue to be a major form of transport particularly for areas not well served by transit. Regional measures to manage traffic demand, such as carpooling, parking limits, bridge tolls and electronic road charges, will be supported.

4. The importance of maintaining good truck access in the city is recognized by maintaining the existing truck route network. Improved access to the Port of Vancouver and Vancouver Airport will be pursued, where it can be achieved without unreasonable impacts on local neighbourhoods.

5. Traffic calming measures will be supported to slow the speed of traffic and prevent short-cutting to reduce the impacts of vehicles moving through neighbourhoods.

6. Residents of Vancouver and the region can help to achieve a more sustainable transportation system by leaving the car at home and using alternatives where practical.

7. Planning and development policies for the City will support local retailing, personal, business and community services so that residents can find more of the services and jobs they need closer to home.

Reality dictates that we cannot rely on increasing growth and increasing automobile use at the same time.

As San Diego continues to update the Community Plans, it is no longer acceptable to have a Land Use policy that calls for increased density, and a transportation plan that relies on ever increasing growth in automobile use. Reality dictates otherwise. 

Now is the time to demand, especially in the older neighborhoods, that the Community Plans reflect today’s reality. Streets must be made for all users, with an focus on increasing walking, cycling and transit use, while maintaining or decreasing automobile use. That means you, Uptown, North Park, Downtown, and Mid-City.

Complete Streets are required by California law for updated General Plans. Take a look around your neighborhood and ask yourself, do we want to continue to accommodate more and more cars? How would they possibly widen my street? Or should we plan to make it easier for you and your neighbors to walk, cycle or take transit to work, school, shops, and restaurants instead? 

Know where this photo was taken? This is Times Square in New York City.

Before spending millions of dollar, Cities can just try things out for very little cost.

Broadway, Times Square

When NYC was considering making part of Times Square pedestrian only, the Department of Transportation went out and bought a bunch of lawn chairs and set them up in the street.  

Needless to say, it was a huge hit, and Times Square now has a permanent pedestrian plaza.  Could San Diego do something similar with the Plaza de Panama?!

Of course we can. The good news: it costs very little, requires no construction, is temporary, and allows for community feedback and refinement. The bad news: It takes political will and cojones.

From this .... to this. Times Square then and now

What’s to lose?  Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Here is a link to the Plan.

Walter Chambers
GSSD 

Mayor Filner announced today San Diego’s first Ciclovia, aptly renamed CicloSDias.  It is to be held on August 18th 2013, from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM. The new CicloSDias website went live today with detailed information and map of the route. The new Facebook page also provides information.

San Diego Mayor Bob Filner announces CicloSDias event at bike parking dedication ceremony

CicloSDias opens the streets to people walking, biking, playing, sitting and just enjoying their streets without the fear of vehicle traffic. Ciclovia started in Bogata and has since spread across the USA and to cities around the world. 

San Diego’s CicloSDias route takes 30th street from Logan Heights, thru Golden Hill, South Park, North Park and turns east to include City Heights. 

Mayor Filner campaigned on the promise of bringing Ciclovia to San Diego, and on making San Diego a more livable, walkable, bike-friendly city. He rededicated himself to these goals during today’s announcement.

CicloSDias is one of the 5 major goals of the Living Streets Coalition ”5-in-5″ Vision Plan for San Diego, of which GSSD is a part. CicloSDias is an event that has the possibility to change the auto-oriented culture by allowing people – many for the first time – to see the true possibility of livable streets.

New Bike Corral
The  announcement was made today at the dedication of new bicycle parking in Hillcrest. The brightly painted, rainbow colored bike corral can be found at Richmond and University in Hillcrest. It is the second corral in Hillcrest and only the fourth in San Diego. 

Bike Lanes Coming Soon?
Although bicycle parking is now available, Hillcrest still has no marked bike lanes. Biking in Hillcrest, especially on University Avenue, still proves to be a challenge that only the most seasoned biker is willing to risk.  However, that may be changing. SANDAG is working with an Uptown Community Advisory Group to design bicycle routes throughout Uptown. Funding for this project has been secured and bike facilities should be completed within a next few years.

Know hope; Living Streets are coming to San Diego, slowly, but surely.

Walter Chambers
GSSD 

Local planner Howard Blackson of Placemakers and architect Michael Stepner, former city architect, now with the New School of Architecture and Design, have floated a plan for the Plaza de Panama via social media sites. (click to enlarge)

The Blackson-Stepner Plan. Photo courtesy of Howard Blackson.

The beauty of this plan is that it can be done now – we can try it out, at very little cost and no construction. Try it. See if we like it. See if it works. Get community feedback. Tweak it. Refine it. And if all goes well, then make it permanent.

Try it first on low traffic days during the week. If that works, try it out on weekends. Move a few planters around, put up some orange cones, and Voila!  

The worst that could happen is that we find out that it doesn’t work, and that the only plan that will work is the Jacobs Plan. If that happens there will be a whole lot of mea culpa’s around the City, but at least we will have tried alternative plans before spending $40 million to build something permanent.

GSSD has proposed a plan that is very similar to the Blackson-Stepner plan. The only difference is creating a free ADA valet instead of ADA parking on the plaza, and making the El Prado Drive a shared space, instead of separated by different travel modes. (click to enlarge)

GSSD Proposed Plan for Plaza de Panama

Trying the Blackson-Stepner Plan first can tell us if we want to refine El Prado into a shared space, or if we want ADA parking off the plaza. But if we don’t try it, we will never know. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Just Try It!  Tell Balboa Park and City Hall we want to try it out – now. Time is wasting before 2015.

-Walter Chambers
GSSD 

The controversial and divisive “Jacobs Plan” for Plaza de Panama and a bypass bridge has been ruled illegal by a judge. It will not be built. GSSD opposed the plan, so good riddance.

What’s next? We can still make a Cabrillo Bridge that serves everyone, and a Plaza de Panama for people, and complete construction by 2015. Here’s how:

• Make Cabrillo Bridge and El Prado Drive a “shared space”. (See picture and explanation below)
• Allow one way vehicular traffic moving east into the Park.
• Provide ADA drop-off, free ADA valet and paid valet for businesses.
• Create a pedestrian Plaza de Panama

Plan for Plaza de Panama by GSSD/3mph

Cars still need access to Cabrillo Bridge.
I have an 87 year old mother who is wheelchair bound. I understand the need to get her by car to the restaurants and museums in the heart of the Prado.  Getting her on a trolley is extremely hard on her and me. Pushing her in a wheelchair from 6th Avenue isn’t going to cut it.

Twice as many pedestrians use Cabrillo Bridge than cars.*
So design it for pedestrians first. Duh! Only in America would we give a small number of cars an ample expanse of pavement, and then squeeze twice as many people onto narrow sidewalks. And bicycles? They were forgotten in the original design.

Shared Space street is designed for pedestrians but allows slow moving cars

Share the Space.
Cabrillo Bridge / El Prado Drive can become a Shared Space street. Not familiar with Shared Space streets? Take a look at this picture of a shared space street in England. it is exactly what it says it is … “shared” … by ALL users.  

What makes a shared space street different? It has no curbs. The entire space is level and uses the same paving materials throughout. It’s designed for pedestrians first. Cars move slowly because they are sharing the space with people and bicycles. Drivers become less lazy, and more vigilant. 

Won’t people be hit by cars? 
When people are present, cars drive more slowly. Think parking lot — do you drive 30 mph in a parking lot? Of course not. Do you walk down the drive aisles? Of course you do. If you knew that people and bicyclist were walking down the street, wouldn’t you drive more slowly to avoid hitting them? Of course you would.

ADA drop off and free ADA valet.
We can still get mobility challenged people into the heart of the Prado. An ADA drop-off would allow those who have assistance to be dropped off. A free ADA valet would replace ADA parking on the plaza, freeing the space for people.

Paid valet 
We are trying to attract people to the museums and restaurants – not keep them away. Some people want paid valet, and businesses benefit from it. It should be available.

That leaves a large majority of the Plaza for People!
Cafe tables, umbrellas, chairs and benches, watching your children run around the fountain …  all of that will be possible on a new Plaza de Panama designed for pedestrians.

We can have it all … for a lot less money.
This plan requires very little time, and a lot less money than the 40 million Jacobs plan. It could easily be completed by the 2015 Centennial celebration

Let’s hear your plan!
San Diego is full of creative people. Let’s hear your plan! Maybe you have an idea no one had thought of yet. Send it to GSSD and we will publish the best ideas.

*Traffic studies showed 7,000 vehicles and 14,000 pedestrians used Cabrillo Bridge during peak hours.

Walter Chambers
GSSD