A Champion for Hillcrest
The HBA is has been advocating for the neighborhood of HIllcrest and Hillcrest businesses for over 100 years. This page details some of our advocacy efforts and includes our Hillcrest Explainer series.
Hillcrest Explainer: What’s going on at the Uptown Planners?
For decades the Uptown Planners has been the official voice of the neighborhoods of Uptown regarding new development in the neighborhood. However, last week, the City of San Diego began the process of de-certifying this group and certifying a new group that'll be the official voice concerning development in Uptown ~ Vibrant Uptown. In this Hillcrest Explainer, we're going to dive into why this is happening and what it means for Hillcrest.
There are two official groups that represent the neighborhoods of Uptown (Hillcrest, Bankers Hill, Mission Hills, University Heights, and Five Points)~ the Uptown Community Parking District and the Uptown Planners. While the UCPD focuses on transportation and parking issues, the Uptown Planners weighs in on development issues. For example, they are currently working with the City on Plan Hillcrest and they vote on how local infrastructure funds are spent. There are over fifty groups throughout the City like the Uptown Planners. They're called Community Planning Groups.
Over the last few years the San Diego City Council, nominally lead by Council Member Stephen Whitburn, has engaged with the groups they work with to make sure these groups are responding to the important social movements sweeping our nation (including the HBA). The Community Planning Groups are no exception and a robust reform program has been undertaken by the City's Planning Department. A critical part of this effort was to ask the many planning groups to detail how they'd reform themselves to be more representative of the neighborhoods they claim to represent. For example, most of the people who live in Uptown are renters yet most of the people on the Uptown Planners board are home owners. Or, Hillcrest is the largest neighborhood in Uptown, yet the Uptown Planners are dominated by home owners from Mission Hills.
Unfortunately, the Uptown Planners didn't respond well to this challenge and so a new group stepped forward~ Vibrant Uptown. The Hillcrest Business Association sent a letter to the Planning Department encouraging the groups include a number of seats on the board for each neighborhood relative to the size of each neighborhood (much like the UCPD). While the Uptown Planners didn't propose many new ideas for how they'd be more representative or inclusive, Vibrant Uptown did. The Uptown Planners were the only planning group in the city that wasn't included to be re-certified.
Vibrant Uptown is proposing a representative board of directors with slots for each neighborhood; and slots for renters, owners, and business people. They're also making a commitment to take their meetings to the community through public forums~ you may have attended a recent one held at Rich's discussing the LGBTQ+ Cultural District. There's another coming up on April 10th to talk about the final draft of Plan Hillcrest.
The good news is that there are some great ways for you to get involved. If the Uptown Planners are decertified by the City Council next month, Vibrant Uptown will hold elections for their new board within 90 days. There are seats reserved for business and property owners. You could also come to Vibrant Uptown's next community forum on April 10th from 6pm to 8pm and talk about the final draft of Plan Hillcrest.
Find out more about Vibrant Uptown, stay involved, and read their proposal for how they'd represent you on their website at: www.vibrantuptown.org.
Hillcrest Explainer: Why are the street lights always out?
Today we're returning to our occasional series where we discuss a persistent problem in the neighborhood and explain why it's an ongoing issue. Today we're discussing the street lights in Hillcrest. Why are they always out?
There are a variety of public street lights throughout Hillcrest. People have observed that the 14' high pedestrian lights are consistently out. These lights, commonly called acorn lights (due to the shape of the 'bulbs'), were installed in the 1940s along 4th, 5th, and University Ave. We noted last week that the City of San Diego is currently repairing these lights in Hillcrest. Terrific!
Repairing the lights is very costly in terms of labor because these lights are like old strings of holiday lights, when one of the lights fails, they all fail. To repair the lights, City crews have to go through each light, one by one, and test to see which is the light that failed and repair it. The big challenge (and the reason why they always seem to be out) is that any one of these lights could be the next to fail and then they all go out again. City crews are consistently repairing the lights but it doesn't take much to have them all go out again. This is why it seems like they never get repaired (in fact they're constantly being repaired).
Compounding this problem is the fact that the conduit beneath the sidewalk is old (80 years old) and is sealed beneath the sidewalk. It isn't in best shape and contributes to the "holiday light" issue described above. The only way to really repair and address this problem is to dig up the sidewalks and replace the conduit. This option is far too expensive considering how many lights we're talking about throughout the City.
The good news is that we are getting the lights turned on thanks to a heavy lift by Mayor Todd Gloria to free up labor for the project. Find out more about this interesting issue here.
Issues
Uptown Planning Group Reform
For years, the HBA has sought that the Uptown Planners better represent Hillcrest Businesses. The City of San Diego is requiring that neighborhood planning groups undertake reforms to make them more representative. Groups that fail to make the needed reforms may be replaced. The HBA recently wrote a letter seeking reforms to Uptown’s Community Planning Group to make it more representative. Read the letter here.
LGBTQ+ Cultural District
As part of the HBA’s input on the City of San Diego’s Plan Hillcrest Focused Plan Amendment, a Cultural District that celebrates the history and culture of the LGBTQ+ community in Hillcrest is proposed. The HBA’s community coalition believes the City’s plan to preserve old buildings is not sufficient to celebrate our community. The HBA has hired a prominent land use consultant to work with the city to ensure that the new growth that is coming to Hillcrest does so in tandem with the preservation of cultural uses such as LGBT entertainment businesses and LGBT focused special events.
Learn more here about the LGBTQ+ Cultural District.
Connecting with the homeless
The HBA has worked over the years to, where appropriate, assist the City and County with their efforts to solve San Diego’s homeless issue. Attracted by hospitals, canyons, and Hillcrest’s generous nature, many homeless people live in Hillcrest. In 2016, the HBA funded a homeless engagement team as part of a partnership with the City of San Diego and the Alpha Project for the Homeless. Currently, the HBA is working with the County and the City to find a location for facility that can assist the homeless after they have received medical care from the area hospitals.
Pride Flag and LGBT Historical Monument
Success! The Pride Flag was constructed in 2012 and the Hillcrest LGBT Monument was constructed in 2013!
The HBA worked for several years to design and display a 65-foot flagpole and Pride monument to permanently display a rainbow flag at the intersection of Normal St. and University Ave. The rainbow flag is 20 feet by 30 feet. This monument has become a gathering space for the community in times of celebration and sadness.
LGBT Historical Monument repair
Success! The HBA worked with community leaders to raise enough money to repair the monument!
In 2019, the Hillcrest LGBT Historical Monument on Normal Street was vandalized in a hateful crime. Hillcrest businesses stepped forward and quickly raised the $10,000 needed to repair the monument. Groups that held fundraisers included the Crest Cafe, Hale Media, Vom Fass, Rise Uptown, and the Cohn Restaurant Group.
Uptown Community Plan
Success! The HBA’s recommendations were all adopted into the plan which was approved by the City Council in 2017!
In 2010 the Hillcrest Business Association (HBA) created “Hillcrest 2.0”, a series of business forums in the neighborhood of Hillcrest. These forums were attended by business owners and residents in the community and each had a designated topic relevant to the upcoming Uptown Community Plan. Significant outreach was undertaken to ensure participation and representation from a variety of backgrounds. Information and feedback from the 2.0 series was compiled in 2011, and with our Board of Director’s input, summarized into a plan for Hillcrest’s future.
The Little Spot
The Little Spot is a small parcel of CalTrans land at the SW corner of University and SR163 that the community has wanted to be a small public space for many years. The HBA has recently worked with Studio Varone to develop a concept for what the Little Spot could become. The first step to a project like this is to create a vision for the space.
AT&T Mural Project
Success! The mural has been installed and looks beautiful
Recently, AT&T has agreed to partner with the HBA to further develop concepts for the mural. Artist Sarah Stieber has been hired to develop a concept. If accepted, the mural will be installed in 2021.
HBA has been in contact with AT&T concerning beautifying their building by adding murals to the wall of their property along University Avenue and Sixth Avenue. HBA has polled the community concerning themes for the murals. A voting poll was created and released on various social media platforms. The most voted themes were LGBT related, Peace & Love, Abstract, and Nature/Floral. The HBA’s Beautification Committee implements projects to beautify Hillcrest. The AT&T mural is one such project.
Normal Street DMV
Success! The DMV placed their plans for unsightly renovation on indefinite hold!
Many folks will agree that the State of California DMV facility on Normal Street is in sore need of repair. Over the last decade there have been a variety of proposals that describe how the state will renovate its old facility. One popular, but now defunct plan, was to create a large mixed use building on the site with parking below and a new DMV facility on the ground floor.
In recent months, the State has proposed a renovation of the facility and has abandoned the idea of mixed use facility. Their plans can be found at www.normalstreetdmv.com. The plans have proved to be pretty unpopular with the neighborhood and a variety of community leaders and organizations have weighed in. Council member Chris Ward weighed in. The HBA objected to the proposed six foot fence around the site that would negatively impact the Hillcrest Farmers Market and the Normal Street Promenade. Assembly Member, Todd Gloria requested the DMV re-examine their plans.
City of San Diego and SANDAG Bikeway Projects
SANDAG (the San Diego Association of Governments) is San Diego County’s regional transportation planning authority. They are empowered by the state of California to plan regional transportation efforts. Their bike lane efforts focus on constructing “protected bike lanes” throughout Hillcrest. Their plans and information are here. Protected bike lanes take up a lot of space and often require the removal of parking spaces due to the requirement that adequate sight lines be maintained relative to the bike lanes. When SANDAG first proposed their bike lanes, their proposal included almost 191 lost parking spaces throughout Hillcrest.
University Ave. between First and Tenth:
Success! SANDAG’s planned protected bikeway was replaced by a City bike lane that removed no parking spaces!
In 2015, the HBA, local property owners, and our partners at the California Restaurant Association hired a lobbying firm to negotiate a compromise to make sure that certain parts of the bike lane be curtailed along University Ave. in order to reduce parking losses. With help from then City Council Member Todd Gloria, the section of SANDAG’s project between First Ave. and Tenth Ave. on University was removed from the project.
Fourth and Fifth Ave. between Bankers Hill and Hillcrest:
Success! SANDAG’s by negotiating with the City and SANDAG, the protected bikeway began construction in 2021 and will result in the loss of only four parking spaces!
The San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) is proposing a bike lane from Downtown to Hillcrest and while the HBA generally supports bike lanes, there are a number of challenges. The HBA has successfully reduced the number of losses on this section of the bike way to 12.
The City of San Diego has a bike master plan that seeks to create a bike network connecting neighborhoods. Their bikeway consists of painted bike lanes throughout the city. They are currently deploying their bike network as streets are repaved and repainted. In Hillcrest their bike lanes are being added as various pipeline replacement projects are completed.
Pride Plaza and the Normal Street Promenade
For ten years now, the Hillcrest community has been putting together plans and dreams, designs and ideas for Pride Plaza and the Normal Street Promenade. This fully-funded project would create a permanent home for the Hillcrest Farmers Market and a gathering space for the neighborhood all within the current footprint of the Farmers Market. However, at every step of the way, a local strip mall owner (NW corner of Normal and University) has been fighting and delaying the project (he also has been trying to move the Farmers Market).
Community members are reaching out to the San Diego City Council to finally get this project completed.
The Normal Street Promenade is part of SANDAG’s Easter Bikeway Project and the City of San Diego’s Uptown Community Parking District. Learn more about the project here. The Normal Street Promenade was approved by the City Council and SANDAG in 2018 and was slated to begin construction in 2020.
The final design for the Promenade is below. The project will add a net of 25 parking spaces in the neighborhood (3 private). It will create a beautiful gathering space for the community at the base of the Pride Flag.
Normal Street DMV Redevelopment
There have been many plans to redevelop the DMV on Normal Street and a resent Assembly Bill (AB1635) is a new effort to make it happen. The Hillcrest Business Association wrote a letter of support for this project.
If the renovation happens, the new development will include new housing (below and at market), a street wall and public space to support the proposed Normal Street Promenade, and a newly renovated DMV facility.
Greater Hillcrest CBD formation
Hillcrest has been growing for years and the level of maintenance expected by businesses has not kept up with reality. The primary way that neighborhoods receive services, beyond what the city provides, is to form Community Benefit Districts (commonly called Maintenance Assessment Districts or Property Based BIDs). CBDs are an assessment on property owners that pays for enhanced services such as cleaning and security.
Over the last several years, the Hillcrest Business Association (HBA) has taken steps to begin this process. This included:
The management plan for the GHCBD has been submitted to the City of San Diego for review (October 2021).
The GHCBD committee recently passed a resolution to have the HBA be the contracting entity to manage the district once formed (June 2021).
Creating a proposed Map for the Greater Hillcrest MAD (March 2021).
Creating the draft GHCBD Management Plan (March 2021).
Hiring a contractor to create the assessment model and management plan for the district. The contractor will also shepherd the project through the City approval process (December 2020).
Forming an organizing group and began meeting regularly.
Conducting a preliminary survey (2020 & 2017). The survey has had a 30.06% response rate (324 responsive parcels). This is a particularly high response rate considering that a typical response rate for a direct mail campaign is often less than 2%. Of property owners who were petitioned 27.09% (292 parcels) answered yes to the question as to whether they would like to move forward with the process of expanding the MAD.
The HBA also presented the findings of the earlier survey to the Uptown Community Planners Committee in March of 2016.
Assisting businesses during Covid 19
Success! All restrictions related to the Covid 19 Pandemic have been lifted and businesses can return to normal opperations!
The HBA is working on variety of efforts during 2020 and 2021 to assist businesses during the Covid 19 outbreak. The HBA was at the forefront, with other business districts, arguing that businesses should be able to expand their patios into the parking lane and on sidewalks. Where some had argued for full street closures, the HBA knew that this one-size-fits-all approach wouldn’t work for Hillcrest. The HBA ensured that the City stuck to their original their permitting timeline rather than letting it slip as they’d proposed. The HBA provided outreach, paperwork assistance, and even equipment to our businesses to help with this difficult time.
Documents concerning the State’s Regional Stay at Home Order.
HBA’s letter 12/15/20
Little Italy Association’s position statement
Midway Venture LLC vs. County of San Diego court ruling
Letter supporting AB61
Opposing “The West End”
Success! The “West End” proposal has been placed on hold by the backers and the HBA is currently in negotiations with them to create a Greater Hillcrest MAD!
The HBA opposed a proposal to create a new MAD called "The West End" that would have created a new assessment district that included parts of Hillcrest including the pride flag. The HBA worked with other neighborhoods to negotiate with the folks proposing The West End. The West End proposal has been indefinitely placed on hold and the HBA is currently in negotiations to create the Greater Hillcrest MAD.
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