Source : http://buffalorising.com
Category : Luxury Hotels In San Diego
By : buffalorising
Posted By : Hotels in Virginia Beach North Courtyard
I was flipping through some images from a California trip I took a few years ago. The pictures of San Diego reminded me of what a wonderful urban city San Diego is. You might have the impression that San Diego is a sprawling mess in the California tradition of auto-centric living. You would be partially right. It is that for sure. But it is also a beautiful and walkable urban place in many areas. The first time I visited San Diego I was a teen without a car. I traveled all over town quite easily on their great bus system. That was even before they built an extensive light rail system with beautiful red train cars running all the way to the Mexico border. The city’s hilly terrain tends to break it up into various compact regions with densely built clusters of buildings and busy, often walkable, commercial streets. Sprawly areas tend to be up in the hills and more remote valleys. Although the city is not the perfect model of urbanism it has done enough right to make any urbanist smile.The images included here were taken during a visit about three years ago. They are of a beachside neighborhood. (I am forgetting which one.) This part of the city is composed of a very dense collection of small houses and cottages packed tightly along narrow footpaths with alleys in back that run perpendicular to the beach. On the ocean side of these houses is a wide sidewalk and then the sand beach beyond a low concrete wall. On the city side of the houses is a local service road. The entire environment is extremely pleasant. It all has a bit of a casual down market vibe but I am sure is very expensive by Buffalo standards. The beach path is packed with people walking and skating and shopping. Much of the path is lined with houses and budget style hotels facing the water. At occasional breaks in the wall of buildings a road will dead end into the beach. Commercial nodes tend to cluster around these “entry points” at the dead end roads. This commercial activity is often housed in the colorful little wooden shacks and tent structures.
This brings me to the point of this post. When I see these shacks I think of Canalside and what could be. Since the demise of the Bass Pro folly, the mantra for Canalside development has been “Lighter, Quicker, Cheaper”. The idea behind this phrase is to emphasize Canalside as a place to be and to give people a reason to be there and do things quickly and on a small budget.To an extent this approach has had success. This once desolate part of the city is now a popular place to be with just a few simple moves. Progress has been promising and the area is becoming a destination of sorts. But have they done enough? People can be found strolling, picnicking and participating in special events every day of the week, and concerts attract thousands. This is all good but, I think the powers that be may have already forgotten the Lighter Quicker Cheaper part of the equation. “Huh?”, you say. ”Hundreds of mIllions of dollars in construction is right now being concentrated in this small section of the city.” ”How much faster can they go?” you say. Yes major construction surrounds the site, and historic canals are being built. All of this is great and will serve to make this a major focal point of the city in a few years. But, I think they could take the concept of Lighter Quicker Cheaper much further and in so doing so strengthen this area into a true regional destination.
The historic roads of Canalside were laid out and rebuilt going on a few years now. The intent is (I think) to fill these recreated historic blocks with densely built new structures housing, commercial enterprises and residential units. So far the only thing built in the area is one wooden food shack.What is the big delay in filling these historic streets with buildings? Is that never going to happen? Why not start filling these blocks with colorful little shacks like these in San Diego. These shacks are attractions in themselves. They can serve as incubators for new businesses which could eventually fill new permanent buildings on the site. The $600,000 the city is spending on an addition to an existing building just down the river at Erie Basin could have funded 50 or more of these colorful San Diego shacks. Is Canalside gradually slipping back into silver bullet land? These small historic blocks of Canalside have tremendous potential to be great city places and very popular streets on which to live and shop. Why not set up 30 small colorful shacks and give the space rent free to some start up businesses. It is a no brainer. So what if 90% fail each year? It does not matter. You now have three new businesses a year that start to fill in the space and attract people. I admit to knowing nothing about the plans for these CanalsIde blocks but I think the temporary grass has had its time in the sun.
Category : Luxury Hotels In San Diego
By : buffalorising
Posted By : Hotels in Virginia Beach North Courtyard
 |
| Luxury Hotels In San Deigo |
I was flipping through some images from a California trip I took a few years ago. The pictures of San Diego reminded me of what a wonderful urban city San Diego is. You might have the impression that San Diego is a sprawling mess in the California tradition of auto-centric living. You would be partially right. It is that for sure. But it is also a beautiful and walkable urban place in many areas. The first time I visited San Diego I was a teen without a car. I traveled all over town quite easily on their great bus system. That was even before they built an extensive light rail system with beautiful red train cars running all the way to the Mexico border. The city’s hilly terrain tends to break it up into various compact regions with densely built clusters of buildings and busy, often walkable, commercial streets. Sprawly areas tend to be up in the hills and more remote valleys. Although the city is not the perfect model of urbanism it has done enough right to make any urbanist smile.The images included here were taken during a visit about three years ago. They are of a beachside neighborhood. (I am forgetting which one.) This part of the city is composed of a very dense collection of small houses and cottages packed tightly along narrow footpaths with alleys in back that run perpendicular to the beach. On the ocean side of these houses is a wide sidewalk and then the sand beach beyond a low concrete wall. On the city side of the houses is a local service road. The entire environment is extremely pleasant. It all has a bit of a casual down market vibe but I am sure is very expensive by Buffalo standards. The beach path is packed with people walking and skating and shopping. Much of the path is lined with houses and budget style hotels facing the water. At occasional breaks in the wall of buildings a road will dead end into the beach. Commercial nodes tend to cluster around these “entry points” at the dead end roads. This commercial activity is often housed in the colorful little wooden shacks and tent structures.
This brings me to the point of this post. When I see these shacks I think of Canalside and what could be. Since the demise of the Bass Pro folly, the mantra for Canalside development has been “Lighter, Quicker, Cheaper”. The idea behind this phrase is to emphasize Canalside as a place to be and to give people a reason to be there and do things quickly and on a small budget.To an extent this approach has had success. This once desolate part of the city is now a popular place to be with just a few simple moves. Progress has been promising and the area is becoming a destination of sorts. But have they done enough? People can be found strolling, picnicking and participating in special events every day of the week, and concerts attract thousands. This is all good but, I think the powers that be may have already forgotten the Lighter Quicker Cheaper part of the equation. “Huh?”, you say. ”Hundreds of mIllions of dollars in construction is right now being concentrated in this small section of the city.” ”How much faster can they go?” you say. Yes major construction surrounds the site, and historic canals are being built. All of this is great and will serve to make this a major focal point of the city in a few years. But, I think they could take the concept of Lighter Quicker Cheaper much further and in so doing so strengthen this area into a true regional destination.
The historic roads of Canalside were laid out and rebuilt going on a few years now. The intent is (I think) to fill these recreated historic blocks with densely built new structures housing, commercial enterprises and residential units. So far the only thing built in the area is one wooden food shack.What is the big delay in filling these historic streets with buildings? Is that never going to happen? Why not start filling these blocks with colorful little shacks like these in San Diego. These shacks are attractions in themselves. They can serve as incubators for new businesses which could eventually fill new permanent buildings on the site. The $600,000 the city is spending on an addition to an existing building just down the river at Erie Basin could have funded 50 or more of these colorful San Diego shacks. Is Canalside gradually slipping back into silver bullet land? These small historic blocks of Canalside have tremendous potential to be great city places and very popular streets on which to live and shop. Why not set up 30 small colorful shacks and give the space rent free to some start up businesses. It is a no brainer. So what if 90% fail each year? It does not matter. You now have three new businesses a year that start to fill in the space and attract people. I admit to knowing nothing about the plans for these CanalsIde blocks but I think the temporary grass has had its time in the sun.
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