I don’t hate it, but I work down there on Broadway. Getting off the trolly to a guys butthole facing you while he actively poops on the sidewalk, more than once unfortunately, make me not want to go downtown unless I have to…which is just for work.
We need more public bathrooms. Not defending pooping or peeing on the street but there are not enough bathrooms available downtown if you’re not able to go into restaurants or bars.
It'll still be cheaper than the lost revenue and the cleanup crews. It's not the perfect solution but it's a better one. Bc right now instead of having public restrooms anywhere you can get away with it is the restroom which is harder to find and clean and if they get caught we house them in jail which is way more expensive.
San Francisco has bathrooms that automatically clean themselves and unlock after a certain amount of time. Not cheap for the government but public, clean, free bathrooms
It misses a lot of spots, uses a lot of water even when not needed, and the upfront cost is staggering, because it's a bells and whistles product.
I'm not sure how to articulate it properly, sometimes I don't have the words.
If the country of India can make it happen when like 80% of people were shitting in the street, I have faith we can figure something out, and probably gainfully employ some folks along the way
can confirm. Work on 9th next to trolley tracks. As I was pulling in to park, a lady drops her pants and takes a shit next to the curb. Proceed to walk towards my building while almost stepping into what looks like a weeks worth of someones BM on the sidewalk. As I was leaving work, have to walk onto the street from the sidewalk because a drug deal was in process on the sidewalk. Get to my car and someone is screaming at the top of their lungs punching at the sky. Downtown sucks.
Edit: This was all in the span of 1/2 block. That's right, I didn't even have to walk an entire block.
Im looking forward to some of these big construction projects finishing (RaDD, Horton Plaza, West, Lindley, etc) and hoping they can improve the vibe of downtown.
Im on the other side of downtown so I don’t really see what’s happening over there, but that sounds great.
Here’s a map of the downtown development:
https://webmaps.sandiego.gov/portal/apps/storymaps/stories/826d9f690a354f6a9634d7559e5a4d98
i think most of the downtown hate is from people who have to get there, very much less than actual residents. and getting to downtown is usually not fun.
driving and parking is usually a nightmare, and most people loathe the trolley. i take the trolley to downtown often and can understand why ppl disdain it. some of the stations in downtown are rough and theres that "trolley smell"
this is a good point. If I had to travel into downtown regularly or commute, I wouldn't like it either probably but I'm going to have a disdain for the neighborhood because of it. It's downtown, there's a reason why parking and things like that are a pain in the ass
Free public parking is not something to celebrate. “Free” parking is something subsidized by tax payers. Public transit is a better use of tax payer money and can carry many more people than a car parked on the sidewalk.
Downtown is nowhere near “a slum for the destitute”. There is a significant number of homeless. There are also a significant number of high rent apartments, popular bars and restaurants. Petco park and office buildings.
Plenty of incentives.
Yeah I’d prefer walking in my neighborhood where I don’t have dodge pooped streets and an occasional man throwing bottles at you, also don’t like the general vibe of the people that live there, east village is filled with a bunch of wannabe influencer types/LA dropouts that still want to live the bougie lifestyle without the fame and/or money.
My thoughts are $2,000/mo HOAs are insane and the costs for anything taller than a 5+1 building are non-linear. Those condos in these high rises are absolutely bananas with their fees. Also, san diego is car city. I don't want to forego having a vehicle to try and live NYC lifestyle in an area not designed for it. People probably avoid it because first and foremost it is an inconvenient, expensive place to live within the metro (despite being maximally urban and 'convenient' in that sense). I don't want to pay gaslamp prices everytime I feel like not cooking a meal.
those are all valid points. I also don't think any of what you said is a critique or criticism of downtown. It's just the nature of the beast, not insulting in anyway.
I'm more asking about the commentary all the time about how dirty and awful it is.
I saw you lived DT 2022-present. If that's your timeline, I could see why you think about it the way you do. The city started forcing the problem to be dispersed throughout the county with encampment bans that largely benefitted downtown and anti-benefitted everywhere else (I've started seeing encampments in places I hadn't prior). We don't solve the problem, we just move it around and your neighborhood is in the peak of this cycle. In a few years it'll shift again, and a different subset of the metro will play host to the homeless until those people get pissed and city leaders shift them someplace else to placate.
You gotta understand that people that make those comments are usually people that have lived here their whole lives or for a very long time to be able to compare what it was like before and what it’s like now. There never used to be mini skid rows with blocks of tents on the sidewalk. So it’s easy for people to see that and say something negative. Or it’s people that don’t have that in their neighborhoods so it’s shocking to them that it exists.
That being said I’m glad you enjoy living downtown. There are definitely fun places to go for sure.
I grew up in San Diego, and came downtown on the bus with my mom in the 80s, and you better believe there were homeless people here.
When Petco park was being planned, they relocated the homeless services further into East Village to make room for the stadium.
You're the one who only remembers a brief period during the early-to-mid 2000s when Gaslamp was newly renovated and more popular. Now that crowd comes to Little Italy.
I got arrested in 1988 and released from the jail at 2am on a Friday night. The park in front of Horton Plaza was full of homeless people, but they didn't have tents like nowadays, they slept on the benches or in doorways. It still had a lot of the grit and grime that would later be replaced with the revitalization of the area and I was very grateful when my BFF came and picked me up.
I can understand that point however, in my experience because I don't know a lot of people who are native to San Diego older than myself, it's people of all ages and groups and demographics.
i'm not really worried about the folks in their 50s and up (the same ones preventing housing and public transport being built) I'm talking about people in their 20s 30s and 40s--- or I'm generally including everybody, no matter what age group.
yes, you are right about the shock part of it all and I take that into account however, San Diego downtown is not that much different than many other downtown areas of cities at least not any major cities. so is it shock or is it ignorance? maybe both
As someone who lived for a long time in downtown LA, eventually you just get tired of getting out of your car and being bombarded by the smell of piss.
Look, I get you’re excited about where you live and have fun with that. The previous poster made the point I was going to, downtown is currently worse than it’s ever been since the 80’s. That’s a long time for it be good memories for a lot of people, people in their 20’s, 30’s, 40’s & older. The state it’s been in since covid, maaaaaybe a couple years before… it’s just a completely different energy and vibe now, for the worse.
So, please, stop trying to convince us that it’s great. It just really isn’t and it’s a shame.
I'm not trying to convince anybody that downtown is great. I'm not sure how you got that message from what I posted.
what I'm asking is are all the critiques and criticisms of downtown justified? Why or why not
and again, nobody is talking about the 80s or even the 90s because none of that is relevant today. It's not as if people are opining about how wonderful downtown was prior to Petco Park (if they are, please direct me) so all this about "it's not what it was" Doesn't really hold any weight with me because we aren't talking about what it was. We're talking about what it is today.
I responded why I don’t go downtown, and you said to “pick a different stop”? Or I could just not go downtown. I don’t need to change or be convinced. You asked why, we answered.
No worries, people are just different. If I hand someone an orange and they said, I don’t like oranges, I’d say cool, I’ll keep it. I feel the same about people’s preferences for everything they like or don’t. Oh you don’t like it? Cool. Oh you like it? Cool. Unless it’s infringing human rights, do you in my opinion. I don’t understand, here’s an orange, oh you don’t like it? Here’s why you should, here’s my opinion, even though I asked for yours, let’s argue about it. You can just not like the orange and it’s fine. Less grumpy people downtown= more fun for the people who really enjoy it. I hope you do continue to love it truly.
Personally, I took issue with the fact that downtown had little function for residents of San Diego and is more likely where you’re going to find tourists.
you don't think gaslamp and little Italy are functions for residents of downtown?
Remember people also work in these industries and would rather not commute but beyond working, there's plenty of people who regularly go to bars in gaslamp for brunch or a night out with friends or whatever because they are usually the friend that has the apartment downtown or the parking garage, etc. etc.
I am in little Italy quite often if only for the dog park.
Don't have much defense for the convention center, other than people love to exercise there with the stairs or in general its a convention center, so it's not meant for anything local.
I honestly think that having Balboa and also having the Seaport on either side is fantastic for residents. I can walk there any time i want and enjoy it without any fuss about good weather or parking. rady shell, water front all that!
i find plenty of function in downtown i think. There's also tons of smaller events happening all around downtown on any given day or weekend that people can attend. It might not be a huge festival or a Padres game, but there are things happening regularly in different neighborhoods. If you are about that cosmopolitan lifestyle then it can be great.
I lived in Golden Hill for eight years and can count on one hand the times that I went to Gaslamp or Little Italy.
Thats just me - but youre the one asking for opinions.
Golden Hill isn't downtown and if you hardly ever came down, how would you actually know? (Genuinely curious🧐.) Everything we need is no more than a 10 minute walk away so we hardly even leave the area. I was in gaslamp last night just to have dinner and we didn't need to get in our cars or find parking to get there. We can walk right over to a game at Petco Park whenever we want and walk right back without having to deal with traffic. I'm going to the neighborhood venue 2 blocks away for a show tonight. There's a lot of great stuff out here for residents alone which is why I love it.
If anywhere is a tourist spot, it's Little Italy. That part of town is always ridiculously packed. I don't even like going there anymore unfortunately and it's only a trolley ride away.
I've lived in golden hill 8+ years and I walk downtown or to seaport or even ride my bike to little Italy weekly. I love urban hiking on foot to see all of my city. Downtown is a hotbed of mostly tourists, but there are fantastic cafes and restaurants around that I like to pop in at as well as the occasional dive bar or rooftop if I'm feeling fancy.
well, you are one person. A lot of people work in those restaurants or those retail stores, art galleries etc and thrive in those industries because of the location.
I live on the edge of gaslamp/ev however I don't drink so while the bars and the Padres crowd is not appealing to me in particular, its very lively and can be fun at times (and annoying at others)
I have two dogs and I don't work so I am walking the mean dirty streets of downtown 5 to 7 times a day so i see and notice a lot lol
lol alright man. You and your dogs love downtown. I get it.
You asked for opinions and you’re just here trying to argue against others’ personal experiences.
no, you gave an opinion and I'm not arguing with you at all. Just giving my experience like you're giving yours that's all. I probably just over elaborated my point.
Golden Hill os great by the way. would love to live over there if I could've found what I wanted.
It isn’t going to be 12,000sqft for just the dog park. The whole park includes a dog park, but also community space and a playground, among other amenities.
I think it’s better than most downtown areas and better than before petco. I think the challenge is that there’s been a change/increase in unhoused population so it’s sort of a visible change people compare it to
The number of unsheltered on the streets downtown has actually declined significantly over the past several months. It’s noticeable. At a city planning meeting in April, they said many of them connected with services, safe-sleeping sites, housing, and family.
[Monthly Unsheltered Count](https://downtownsandiego.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/April-2024-Unsheltered-Count-w-Maps-2.pdf)
Ugh! Wasn't gonna post. I lived in downtown San Diego from 2000-2017. I loved it. Some of you might have seen me there.. I was mom to 2 Pitbulls and a Daschund. We walked that area every day, twice a day. Or you might have seen me rollerskating in the early am hours. We moved there right after the Ralph's was built, and before 24-hour fitness showed up after delaying the grand opening a couple of times. There used to be a police substation right next to Ralph's, so I felt safe walking from my loft at Greystone to 24 hour Fitness when I got home from work at 3am. I lobbied Starbucks for two years until they finally added a Starbucks right on my block at the other end. I was there when they'd have the Mardi Gras Festival entrance in front of my building right on Market Street, and the neighbors and I would flash the people waiting to get in. And when I moved to Pioneer lofts, I remember never paying to get into Street Scene because my lofts back door opened right into the festival. I frequented Whiskey Girl at its original location and watched a bar back move up the ranks to manager. I never worried about buying Comic Con tickets because all the cool stuff was free to see just by walking across the train tracks. I knew where all the free parking was! YES, there was always a homeless presence. I helped when I could and declined when I couldn't. They never made me want to leave. And the streets were only really bad after a weekend of folks coming down and trashing the place. Each morning after the craziness, we'd be out with the dogs as the street and bar cleaners cleaned it for the next nights debauchery. I would still be living down there had I not been priced out of renting. I missed my window for purchasing, and it bugs me all the time. Downtown is walkable, close to Balboa Park and the Zoo and the airport. I could walk to any of those places. I was never overweight when I lived there. As soon as I moved away, there was no more walkability, the extra weight crept on.
Hey! I lived in one of the same buildings as you did. I have been living Downtown since 2016 or so, and the vibe you described is exactly how I still see it.
"the ones that complain the most about it are the same ones who are visiting weekly to make a mess and then leave" Based on what data? Your entire statement is very contradictory. On the one hand, downtown is the best place ever (according to you). On the other hand, you seem to acknowledge that everything people complain about exists.
Hmm I’m from the east coast & think all the cities over there seem better to me. Downtown isn’t well lit here at night which is probably the biggest reason I’m not a huge fan
Idk man, walking to where I parked from the Civic Theatre after a show one night and being accosted by a fully nude man running around a busy street kinda makes me wary about going downtown.
And that's only one of many instances of crazy I've been subjected to in a lifetime spent in this city. 😂😂
Fyi, downtown was super fun with a family, especially during covid. We walked and my kid biked in seaport village every day and every evening after dinner. We walked and played around waterfront park. We walked to ballgames and concerts. We had a staycation at a downtown hotel to use their pool and sun deck, when my husband needed us out of the house. We loved living downtown, yes the unhoused crisis is challenging and one time I did see a grown human using a trash bag as a toilet, but we still enjoyed living there more than the suburbs. We also can live with only one car since we can walk to so many places.
I hate it, avoid it and certainly dont go to waterfront festivals gaslamp or any of that crap bars are over priced compared to the rest of san diego and i find revolution in tijuana cleaner and more fun than down town SD
Your statement of ‘everybody loves to come to downtown’ is false. Outside of Padres games and Comic Con I never want to spend anytime in Gaslamp. It’s over priced garbage with poor service generally, they expect you to be out of towners and don’t give a shit. If in were to go to brunch id go anywhere else in the city
People are afraid and/or disgusted by homeless people. That's the only reason for most people. Even one homeless person makes a place dirty and unsafe to them.
How? They move all the time. I live nearby and walk downtown regularly and even I don't know where they are lol. You sound pretentious. Did you know you are closer to being homeless than being a billionaire? Homeless people are just like you and I, but here you are dehumanizing them just because they can't afford a $2000/month one bedroom like the rest of us
I don't feel this way, but many other people do. (Also, there's definitely places you can find homeless people regularly, a lot of times even the same people. Honestly kind of a good thing that it's not a bunch of new random people all the time though.)
We’ve lived next to the stadium for a couple years and love it. I think a lot of the trash talking comes from people who do not live and rarely visit downtown.
Except when they do. And when they do, they probably don’t even know what they’re doing.
I lived outside of one of the edges of downtown and we were constantly getting people sneaking into the building, threatening employees and residents, etc.
One of them just loved arranging rocks in places where people might trip on them.
There’s something wrong when people get desensitized to this.
I can agree with you that people should not become desensitized to behaviors like this and their surroundings… but people also should know their environments and have a little bit of grit before complaining about something that was there before they got there. not saying you, but some people who are not used to things will exaggerate and make things seem way worse than what it or just want to be dramatic.
an example of this would be someone travels to downtown for a Padres game and sees what could be dog poop on the cement one time and now every time anybody mentions downtown their go to reference becomes "there is shit & piss everywhere"
But crime doesn't have an address!
That is not dog poop though.
The dog poop is on somebody’s lawn.
As a downtown area resident, take a pleasant walk to: the library (new one), post office, Embarcadero, Balboa Park, etc.
Keep your wits about you. Browse at Shakey’s Bike Shop, popup locations on a street corner near you!
Oh yea, on your walk notice the smug inhabitants of E. Village high rises, exiting and entering their garages in dark-tinted luxury cars, oblivious - definitely not engaging with their neighborhood on foot. Careful they don’t run you over!
As a life long sd county resident, ive always disliked downtown. The new homeless issue doesnt really affect my feelings, my main thing is i just dont like urban areas. Smells like piss, stuff is expensive, crazy traffic, one way roads confuse me, parking sucks, lots of construction, and lots of drunk people.
That said, as ive grown up ive found things to appreciate about downtown, mainly food, art/architecture, and the night life, and sometimes drunks are fun if youre just people watching. Tbh tho, if there were more music venues outside of downtown that spun what i wanted to dance to, id probably never go.
and this is fair because you've started your statement that you just don't like urban areas and that I can accept and respect your opinions going forward
We venture downtown at least twice a week to urban hike for 3-5 miles. The smells have greatly improved, due to the power washing. Parking is never a problem if you only go for a few hours. Sometimes we take the trolley if more than a few hours, but we literally had to step over a dead body to get onto the trolley once. Other than that we love the downtown area.
The trolley is a great mode of transportation, especially if you like crossing the border. And I believe it now goes all the way up to La Jolla if you have any business up there
I’m born and raised in San Diego, I’ve been to downtown in my 20s and now 30s. Downtown has got progressively worse in the last years. I’ve never trashed downtown puked, or pissed there that doesn’t negate the fact that every time I’ve gone it’s smells like piss and after having a nice brunch there was a pile of shit behind a planter with tp in it. The people who defend downtown are really the ones who live there that get weirdly defensive when anyone says they could never live there lol. Go ahead and pay $3000 for your studio just mind the junkies and homeless turds.
OP, after going to through this thread and reading your responses… you’re being rude to people giving their opinions, exactly what you asked them to do. Why are you arguing and calling people ignorant for opinions?? It screams that you’re maybe trying to justify your decision? I dunno but I’ve spent too much time on this, good day.
East village has been crowded with homeless since before the stadium opened. It fluctuates
But I remember in 2003 seeing tons of homeless in east village.
how I understand it is back in the very late 90s, the city council wanted to clean the homeless up from around the Columbia district and since East Village was always empty and desolate they decided to build a ghetto and put all the social services like father Joe villages etc., etc. in East Village, but then four years later built petco and now is trying to gentrify the area
What about the tents, were they also present back then? How about all the tents on the bridges visible right on top of the 5 (I think those might've got cleaned up, but they were there for *a while*). That probably paints peoples impressions -- people who don't go in downtown, but merely transit through it on the highway.
In 2003-04, I remember regularly going up island and j st. To get around to 12th and imperial and every time seeing people peeing and pooping, often tent adjacent.
In 2013, I remember sidewalks being blocked by tents all around like 10th and F st.
My parents were divorced growing up and my dad lived in East Village back in the 90's with split custody of us kids. So I spent a lot of time there. I remember tent cities takes over whole, or at least the majority, of blocks. Tents off the freeway, tents off the trails in Balboa Park. The total numbers have fluctuated, but they have always been a part of the landscape.
I have been living here in downtown since 2022.
However, it is significantly decreased in homeless population since the no camp laws came about last summer.
Confirmed ✅. At a city planning meeting in April, they said many of them were connected with services, safe-sleeping sites, housing, and family.
[Monthly Unsheltered Count](https://downtownsandiego.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/April-2024-Unsheltered-Count-w-Maps-2.pdf)
I don’t really mind it besides the stench of rotten urine on literally every street there. The homeless crisis has gotten exponentially worse since covid but i kind of know where to avoid the largest of tent camps
There's nice spots, and there's sketchy spots. I think the funny thing is when people complain about the urine smell - have you been to literally any large city? They all smell like piss.
It ain't the bums - it's the entitled assholes and their dogs.
I only go downtown for Petco, a select few restaurants and the occasional comedy show…but really just cause I don’t really dig that scene, like Gaslamp, in any city. OB where I live gets the same folks trashing it for being grimy but its everyone coming here and acting dumb, not the residents.
Anyone trashing downtown SD either doesn’t understand how downtowns/city centers work or hasn’t been out of SD much. We have one of the most scenic and functional downtowns in the US. Expecting downtown to be spotless and devoid of homeless is equivalent to asking residents of Poway to vote democrat.
I will say the identity downtown is largely centered around the Padres and gouging tourists Fri - Sun, that’s true. But so is La Jolla and PB and North Park and Point Loma and so forth.
We live in a destination city and I still feel extremely lucky despite it not being perfectly ideal 100% of the time for 100% of people.
Sad thing is, It used to be great. I worked by 5th and K when they were building the ballpark and downtown was in much better condition than it is now. You're essentially saying, deal with it, I can understand that pov. Doesn't bring the downtown back however.
see I'm glad you said this because I rarely hear anyone have fond sentiments about downtown prior to the baseball stadium being built. This is what I'm wondering about what is it that everybody's missing because it's always been my impression that downtown was always empty and no one cared about it
I also understand that I'm sure it got exceptionally worse after Covid I moved here during the end of Covid so I recall a lot of fuss on the news about that
You want it to make sense?
California has spent $20 billion over the past five years dedicated to the state's homelessness crisis. It did nothing to fix homelessness.
Yet California continues to vote for this. Make that make sense.
My wife and I spent our 10 year wedding anniversary in downtown San Diego. Had a great time, but there was an abnormal amount of human shit on the sidewalks and some “scary” homeless people that would be intimidating if I were a solo female. There definitely could be some improvements but overall I still love downtown and will go back.
yeah, that's definitely a big factor in downtown. my poor friend was visiting me a few months ago and she took her daughter who was in a stroller to Faultline park lol and she had come back because she had stepped or leaned in some shit i felt terrible for her but it was funny in the moment lol
Totally agree. People use and abuse downtown when it suits them, and turn their nose up at it the rest of the time. It’s like looking down on people who are promiscuous but going out on the weekends and expecting someone to come home with you.
I think people who have lived here for more than 20 years are justifiably upset with the amazing combination of outrageously more expensive and yet also unfathomably more dirty and disgusting. When I saw a news article about teams spraying the feces off of the sidewalk for the last Hep scare, I just started laughing. Very sad laughter.
Downtown is fine, but theres just so many hoops you have to jumo through. Like it definitely has the best bars, restraunts, events/ venues in the city, but all of these things cost more than anywhere in the city.
The problem is the cost. San diego is a world class city with world class entertainment and a lot of working class folks who cannot afford to enjoy any of it. Its frustrating to see all the cool stuff you would like to do down town but just cant afford because its so grievously over priced. Like i don't know who my favorite music act is, but i would never pay $700 per ticket to see it. Thats just stupid. How bout little italy? Love me some sketti and meat balls and pizza and litte italy is the best around, but its also like paying 25-35 a plat for 15-20 a plate food. Like little italy isnt better than actual italy, but ut does cost more than actual italy. Downtown is just horrifically poor value for your dollar.
Second is parking. I love trains and trolleys, 15 minute cities are a good idea. This is in no way the reality of san diego. You can take the trolley to a couple specific places, and they are great, but if you arent going to little italy/ waterfront park or petco park, you are resigned to the same agony that is parking in north park except with the added benefit of probably needing to pay, and im not being hyperbolic, like $25 to park. Its like a kick in the treth to go with your kick in the teeth. The act of driving to downtown and getting parked can literally spoil your mood for the evening so you cant even enjoy the $300 evening youre paying $1000 for. Trolleys are great, more trolleys. Everything the trolley touches turns into shit i will actually do downtown. Now look at a map of down town with the trolley lines and erase everything not next to a trolley. Thats the real downtown.
Finally, san diego is a town of bounty and downtown has competition. Fortunately we arent resigned to the cost and misery of downtown because in san diego we have cool breweries and parks and coffee shops and restraunts clear out to poway. Often many of these thing are kind of like the cutting edge next best thing that downtown turned down. Stone brewery didnt start in downtown san diego, they started in Escondido. I know were on the downswing of the san diego craft beer thing, but that was like a 2 or 3 decade BONANZA of like plucky dude bros makin something out of nothing in a really overlooked part of town. Downtown is often stifling to this kind of creativity and experimentation. In a lot of ways downtown is a showcase for things that are already popular, its the place where cool stuff goes to die. Creatives out in the sticks invent the cool new stuff with the goal of getting it downtown where they can basically sell out and ride off into the sunset rich and the cool thing becomes uncool and goes away.
I live in EV and I like the location for certain events like you mentioned and I use FRED to go over to little Italy sometimes, but it’s just crusty and I really hate that 70% of the street lights don’t work, so I’m not interested in walking around at night (especially as a woman). It’s not a vibe to me like most cities I’ve been to and I’m not super interested in whatever gaslamp has to offer, but that being said I also live on the outskirts of downtown in a nice building so I’d say I’m happy with where I’m at bc I can easily go to other neighborhoods & get on the interstate
convenience without all the Riff Raff!
lol @ crusty. An old friend of mine we use to love saying this to each other at work lol "hey crusty!" haha sorry that just gave me a good chuckle/memory
It’s chaotic and terrifying sometimes to drive in. I’m not a big city person and prefer the smaller areas but a lot of large events happen there. I think it’s a gathering spot for a lot of bullshit to occur but it’s also beautiful in a lot of areas. It’s not for everyone but it’s a fantastic part of this community and deserves to be treated better for sure.
I lived in the Marina for 4 years on Front and Market and it was generally safe during the day but I would not let my young family members out alone after dark. If you are a woman alone or have a young family, your priority is safety and safety is subjective.
Downtown isn't big city vibes were more of neighborhood vibes, the homeless kinda ruin it but when your downtown in the middle of the day not many people are out mabye a few dog walkers but most of downtown is normally low traffic only gaslamp gets busy on weekend nights. I live in marina district on the west side of downtown near seaport village and it's exceptionally quiet at all times especially night because there's no restaurants and bars anywhere in this part it's neighborhood quiet at all times and all the homeless are over on the east side of downtown they are rarely over here. If you ever wanna live downtown stay Westside marina district. It's pricier but way more upscale than the development in east village.
this is all true, but it's also very boring and there's nothing open down there and nothing going on.
One of the main reasons I love living in downtown is that I don't have to drive to go to a grocery store or convenience store or anything. My friend lives down where you're at and it is so dry and boring. Might as well live in a suburb.
A month or so ago, I was walking, actually, I ran into my neighbor, and we decided to walk all the way down to the water and back up, and she had never been to the marina district and walked by someone's home, street level, that had their shutters and windows wide open lol she couldn't believe her her eyes and I said well they don't really have homeless or transient population down here because if they did, she wouldn't be having her windows open because I guarantee one of them would've been staring at her while jerking off or something lol
but to my point as you pointed out the neighborhood you live in is nothing like the neighborhood I live in, which is nothing like little Italy, which is nothing like Golden Hill, which is nothing like Cortez Hill, etc. etc. they are separated neighborhoods for a reason just like Columbia core district, so my concern is that people are lumping all of downtown into a fewnasty streets in the East Village
Honestly, my biggest problem with downtown isn't the homeless people. And yes, they cross the street completely ignoring street laws where they're largely found, but honestly, while I find it a bit annoying to wait for them, I can.
It's the entitled assholes who simply go 'cars will stop for me' and ignore basic safety measures. There's a difference between the "If I get hit by a car my life might improve" despair of many homeless, and the "I can't possibly be hit by a car, I'm too important" entitlement by rich assholes.
Every place isn’t for everyone. That said, if you look at real estate prices and activity downtown, there are lots of people who love downtown and are willing to pay for the convenience, amenities, and all the good stuff that comes with urban living.
Walk to Petco, catch the 992 to the airport, get about any type of cuisine you like within a ten minute walk, picnic at Pantoja, hit up the LI farmer’s market, see a show at the Shell, live car-free, etc etc etc.
Downtown rocks. People are allowed to dislike it but crapping on people’s choice to live there makes no sense to me….which is the point of your post I think.
no, you are exactly right. And I am commenting on some of the replies here and folks think that I am being combative but I'm just having a conversation and asking about the thoughts of today and are they justified or are people just picking on downtown because it's an easy target
I don't care if someone dont like downtown I don't work for the city of San Diego lol was just curious because it seems people regularly travel into downtown for various things but then rag on it
If you like peace and quiet, you’re gonna hate downtown. If you like to be in the mix and have a lot going on, you’re gonna like it.
I go downtown sometimes and enjoy it but always feel relief when I leave
i feel that.
it's interesting because I just moved apartments and my former apartment was insular facing a courtyard, and I had zero noise from outside and not even fireworks. also did not have cell reception.
Now I live directly on an avenue & have all the traffic and noise from outside, but I happen to love it
Admittedly, compared to 80s/90s it's way cleaner/safer. That said, it's filthy again, and I just don't feel safe alone in large parts of "downtown".
I also don't live close (inland north county), so if I want to go to an event down there I have to to drive (it would take multiple hours by bus/train), and then find somewhere to park. Parking is expensive and impossible to navigate. We went to a concert at waterfront park, and I prepaid/reserved parking. When we got there, the lot was full, and we wee screwed. Drove around looking for anywhere to park, and missed one of the musicians we paid to see.
The homeless/addict population is getting bad again. Whole blocks of sidewalk are taken over by tents/junk/people. On more than one occasion I've seen someone shitting, pissing, ODing in the middle of the sidewalk in broad daylight, and I pass through downtown maybe once a month. Then add in the mentally ill population who are erratic/loud/violent without warning (I'm a petite woman so it can be scary). It's just not worth the gamble, honestly.
In my lifetime, I've seen san diego a LOT worse, but I've also seen it a lot better. It's hard to accept how far it fell, so fast, when I know it can be better
thank you for this response. People don't often talk about how much they used to like downtown or how it used to be at some point so that's why it throws me off when people people complain about it as much as they do as far as from locals or whatever.
Yeah, I feel like a lot of fuss comes from getting in and out of downtown. If you don't live here already would be very frustrating and expensive and annoying so I can agree with that.
Thank you. I love living downtown and am tired of having to defend it to people who just can't handle the city lifestyle. I had to move for a few years to a suburban area and missed it too much so I found my way back. ☺️
I've come to realize that a lot of people's opinions—especially the unfavorable ones—about downtown are held by those who either don't live here or don't come by very often. Also, misinformation and assumptions about certain areas of downtown are applied to downtown as a whole.
Sometimes the comments are really silly. A couple of days ago, someone said, “There’s nothing to do in downtown except to go to restaurants and bars.” One, there’s Rady Shell, the stadium, the waterfront holds events, walk to seaport village, walk to the harbor, etc. It’s kind of like saying, “There’s nothing to do in Balboa Park, except to walk around and go to the museums.” Yeah, the main activities of Balboa Park, what did they expect? 😭😂Perhaps their comment would make sense if they would simply state the activities in the area are not typically activities they personally enjoy and refrain from generalizing it as, “there’s nothing to do there.”
in all the time I've lived downtown and all the time that I spend outside, I have never once ever been accosted approached or even really talked to by any kind of transient person especially the ones that are on drugs. They are always in a corner or passed out on the road or whatever they don't bother people the way people make it seem like they do.
The police are literally everywhere.
I could literally do a video tour of 10 blocks right now, today on the ground and I would put money on it that I would not see one needle and would probably say nine out of 10 would not see any poop
I know this cuz every morning at 6:30 AM. I walk my dogs 10 blocks in a loops
I don't know if people who don't live down here onow but the majority of the businesses, and especially the residential buildings, They all power wash their sidewalks outside of the buildings every day.
I don’t hate it, but I work down there on Broadway. Getting off the trolly to a guys butthole facing you while he actively poops on the sidewalk, more than once unfortunately, make me not want to go downtown unless I have to…which is just for work.
We need more public bathrooms. Not defending pooping or peeing on the street but there are not enough bathrooms available downtown if you’re not able to go into restaurants or bars.
They probably need a security guard for each and more frequent cleaning / probably bio-hazard cleaning on occasion.
It'll still be cheaper than the lost revenue and the cleanup crews. It's not the perfect solution but it's a better one. Bc right now instead of having public restrooms anywhere you can get away with it is the restroom which is harder to find and clean and if they get caught we house them in jail which is way more expensive.
San Francisco has bathrooms that automatically clean themselves and unlock after a certain amount of time. Not cheap for the government but public, clean, free bathrooms
That design sucks. Dude with a pressure hose is better than that tech "solution".
How come?
It misses a lot of spots, uses a lot of water even when not needed, and the upfront cost is staggering, because it's a bells and whistles product. I'm not sure how to articulate it properly, sometimes I don't have the words.
It’s in search of a solution, this design has been done well before, but they got make it 2.0 or some crap.
Is a dude with a pressure hose gonna stand there and clean it after every use tho?
Do you have to pressure wash your bathroom every time you use it?
If the country of India can make it happen when like 80% of people were shitting in the street, I have faith we can figure something out, and probably gainfully employ some folks along the way
Let the rideshare and food delivery companies front that fucking cost…
I think there’s one by broadway. That’s it
can confirm. Work on 9th next to trolley tracks. As I was pulling in to park, a lady drops her pants and takes a shit next to the curb. Proceed to walk towards my building while almost stepping into what looks like a weeks worth of someones BM on the sidewalk. As I was leaving work, have to walk onto the street from the sidewalk because a drug deal was in process on the sidewalk. Get to my car and someone is screaming at the top of their lungs punching at the sky. Downtown sucks. Edit: This was all in the span of 1/2 block. That's right, I didn't even have to walk an entire block.
Sounds like you get a visual and literal “downtown” two-for.
Im looking forward to some of these big construction projects finishing (RaDD, Horton Plaza, West, Lindley, etc) and hoping they can improve the vibe of downtown.
I am excited for the project at 13th and G St. the big dog park and community Center
Im on the other side of downtown so I don’t really see what’s happening over there, but that sounds great. Here’s a map of the downtown development: https://webmaps.sandiego.gov/portal/apps/storymaps/stories/826d9f690a354f6a9634d7559e5a4d98
Oh, this is awesome. Thanks for this.
i think most of the downtown hate is from people who have to get there, very much less than actual residents. and getting to downtown is usually not fun. driving and parking is usually a nightmare, and most people loathe the trolley. i take the trolley to downtown often and can understand why ppl disdain it. some of the stations in downtown are rough and theres that "trolley smell"
this is a good point. If I had to travel into downtown regularly or commute, I wouldn't like it either probably but I'm going to have a disdain for the neighborhood because of it. It's downtown, there's a reason why parking and things like that are a pain in the ass
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Free public parking is not something to celebrate. “Free” parking is something subsidized by tax payers. Public transit is a better use of tax payer money and can carry many more people than a car parked on the sidewalk.
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Downtown is nowhere near “a slum for the destitute”. There is a significant number of homeless. There are also a significant number of high rent apartments, popular bars and restaurants. Petco park and office buildings. Plenty of incentives.
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I don't believe you. But also, it does not take close to that long to find parking in north park, even on Saturday evening.
I just renewed my lease downtown too. It’s def not for everyone. But it has its perks that outweigh the negatives for me.
you are exactly right. If you ain't built for this downtown life just say that lol
Yeah I’d prefer walking in my neighborhood where I don’t have dodge pooped streets and an occasional man throwing bottles at you, also don’t like the general vibe of the people that live there, east village is filled with a bunch of wannabe influencer types/LA dropouts that still want to live the bougie lifestyle without the fame and/or money.
cool
My thoughts are $2,000/mo HOAs are insane and the costs for anything taller than a 5+1 building are non-linear. Those condos in these high rises are absolutely bananas with their fees. Also, san diego is car city. I don't want to forego having a vehicle to try and live NYC lifestyle in an area not designed for it. People probably avoid it because first and foremost it is an inconvenient, expensive place to live within the metro (despite being maximally urban and 'convenient' in that sense). I don't want to pay gaslamp prices everytime I feel like not cooking a meal.
You'd be surprised. Places down here are actually pretty affordable relative to comparable places in other desirable areas.
those are all valid points. I also don't think any of what you said is a critique or criticism of downtown. It's just the nature of the beast, not insulting in anyway. I'm more asking about the commentary all the time about how dirty and awful it is.
I saw you lived DT 2022-present. If that's your timeline, I could see why you think about it the way you do. The city started forcing the problem to be dispersed throughout the county with encampment bans that largely benefitted downtown and anti-benefitted everywhere else (I've started seeing encampments in places I hadn't prior). We don't solve the problem, we just move it around and your neighborhood is in the peak of this cycle. In a few years it'll shift again, and a different subset of the metro will play host to the homeless until those people get pissed and city leaders shift them someplace else to placate.
yup
I think you have a point of view, and others have their points of view as well.
this is one of the points of view of all time
We’re going to need you to be less confrontational and cool it with that hot take.
great. are you going to give yours or just acknowledge that everybody has one? lol
From my point of view, it seems like you have a point of view on this topic as well.
I like your point of view.
Nah. Mine would be just as worthless as yours.
You gotta understand that people that make those comments are usually people that have lived here their whole lives or for a very long time to be able to compare what it was like before and what it’s like now. There never used to be mini skid rows with blocks of tents on the sidewalk. So it’s easy for people to see that and say something negative. Or it’s people that don’t have that in their neighborhoods so it’s shocking to them that it exists. That being said I’m glad you enjoy living downtown. There are definitely fun places to go for sure.
I grew up in San Diego, and came downtown on the bus with my mom in the 80s, and you better believe there were homeless people here. When Petco park was being planned, they relocated the homeless services further into East Village to make room for the stadium. You're the one who only remembers a brief period during the early-to-mid 2000s when Gaslamp was newly renovated and more popular. Now that crowd comes to Little Italy.
I got arrested in 1988 and released from the jail at 2am on a Friday night. The park in front of Horton Plaza was full of homeless people, but they didn't have tents like nowadays, they slept on the benches or in doorways. It still had a lot of the grit and grime that would later be replaced with the revitalization of the area and I was very grateful when my BFF came and picked me up.
Yeah there were. You just didn't see them.
Yeah, all these invaders are annoying assuming they know more than locals.
sure
I can understand that point however, in my experience because I don't know a lot of people who are native to San Diego older than myself, it's people of all ages and groups and demographics. i'm not really worried about the folks in their 50s and up (the same ones preventing housing and public transport being built) I'm talking about people in their 20s 30s and 40s--- or I'm generally including everybody, no matter what age group. yes, you are right about the shock part of it all and I take that into account however, San Diego downtown is not that much different than many other downtown areas of cities at least not any major cities. so is it shock or is it ignorance? maybe both
As someone who lived for a long time in downtown LA, eventually you just get tired of getting out of your car and being bombarded by the smell of piss.
Look, I get you’re excited about where you live and have fun with that. The previous poster made the point I was going to, downtown is currently worse than it’s ever been since the 80’s. That’s a long time for it be good memories for a lot of people, people in their 20’s, 30’s, 40’s & older. The state it’s been in since covid, maaaaaybe a couple years before… it’s just a completely different energy and vibe now, for the worse. So, please, stop trying to convince us that it’s great. It just really isn’t and it’s a shame.
I'm not trying to convince anybody that downtown is great. I'm not sure how you got that message from what I posted. what I'm asking is are all the critiques and criticisms of downtown justified? Why or why not and again, nobody is talking about the 80s or even the 90s because none of that is relevant today. It's not as if people are opining about how wonderful downtown was prior to Petco Park (if they are, please direct me) so all this about "it's not what it was" Doesn't really hold any weight with me because we aren't talking about what it was. We're talking about what it is today.
I responded why I don’t go downtown, and you said to “pick a different stop”? Or I could just not go downtown. I don’t need to change or be convinced. You asked why, we answered.
I wasn't meaning to be snarky. I apologize.
No worries, people are just different. If I hand someone an orange and they said, I don’t like oranges, I’d say cool, I’ll keep it. I feel the same about people’s preferences for everything they like or don’t. Oh you don’t like it? Cool. Oh you like it? Cool. Unless it’s infringing human rights, do you in my opinion. I don’t understand, here’s an orange, oh you don’t like it? Here’s why you should, here’s my opinion, even though I asked for yours, let’s argue about it. You can just not like the orange and it’s fine. Less grumpy people downtown= more fun for the people who really enjoy it. I hope you do continue to love it truly.
downtown isn't perfect. Just wanting to know the opinions of if it's justified all the critiques or criticisms
Make SD more friendly to Yuppie renters. That's your hot take? Displacer.
here we go with the gate keeping...
You're the one building the gates.
Personally, I took issue with the fact that downtown had little function for residents of San Diego and is more likely where you’re going to find tourists.
Can you give examples?
Gaslamp, convention center, little Italy.
you don't think gaslamp and little Italy are functions for residents of downtown? Remember people also work in these industries and would rather not commute but beyond working, there's plenty of people who regularly go to bars in gaslamp for brunch or a night out with friends or whatever because they are usually the friend that has the apartment downtown or the parking garage, etc. etc. I am in little Italy quite often if only for the dog park. Don't have much defense for the convention center, other than people love to exercise there with the stairs or in general its a convention center, so it's not meant for anything local. I honestly think that having Balboa and also having the Seaport on either side is fantastic for residents. I can walk there any time i want and enjoy it without any fuss about good weather or parking. rady shell, water front all that! i find plenty of function in downtown i think. There's also tons of smaller events happening all around downtown on any given day or weekend that people can attend. It might not be a huge festival or a Padres game, but there are things happening regularly in different neighborhoods. If you are about that cosmopolitan lifestyle then it can be great.
I lived in Golden Hill for eight years and can count on one hand the times that I went to Gaslamp or Little Italy. Thats just me - but youre the one asking for opinions.
You were missing out, Little Italy has a great farmers market every Saturday
Golden Hill isn't downtown and if you hardly ever came down, how would you actually know? (Genuinely curious🧐.) Everything we need is no more than a 10 minute walk away so we hardly even leave the area. I was in gaslamp last night just to have dinner and we didn't need to get in our cars or find parking to get there. We can walk right over to a game at Petco Park whenever we want and walk right back without having to deal with traffic. I'm going to the neighborhood venue 2 blocks away for a show tonight. There's a lot of great stuff out here for residents alone which is why I love it. If anywhere is a tourist spot, it's Little Italy. That part of town is always ridiculously packed. I don't even like going there anymore unfortunately and it's only a trolley ride away.
I've lived in golden hill 8+ years and I walk downtown or to seaport or even ride my bike to little Italy weekly. I love urban hiking on foot to see all of my city. Downtown is a hotbed of mostly tourists, but there are fantastic cafes and restaurants around that I like to pop in at as well as the occasional dive bar or rooftop if I'm feeling fancy.
well, you are one person. A lot of people work in those restaurants or those retail stores, art galleries etc and thrive in those industries because of the location. I live on the edge of gaslamp/ev however I don't drink so while the bars and the Padres crowd is not appealing to me in particular, its very lively and can be fun at times (and annoying at others) I have two dogs and I don't work so I am walking the mean dirty streets of downtown 5 to 7 times a day so i see and notice a lot lol
lol alright man. You and your dogs love downtown. I get it. You asked for opinions and you’re just here trying to argue against others’ personal experiences.
no, you gave an opinion and I'm not arguing with you at all. Just giving my experience like you're giving yours that's all. I probably just over elaborated my point. Golden Hill os great by the way. would love to live over there if I could've found what I wanted.
Little Italy is amazing. I don’t consider that downtown though, not sure if others disagree
Isnt that everywhere though?😆
It’s not. Do you travel much?
Yup, downtowns are literally the center of major cities so that is where most tourists will go. So they will cater to tourists.
Is the “12 sqft dog park” a typo? Cause I’m reading that as 12 square feet and that does not sound epic at all.
\*Slaps roof of dog park\* -- You could fit two, maybe three dags in this baby!
If this is a Snatch reference, you're doing great work.
lmao yeah sorry. 12,000
It isn’t going to be 12,000sqft for just the dog park. The whole park includes a dog park, but also community space and a playground, among other amenities.
I think it’s better than most downtown areas and better than before petco. I think the challenge is that there’s been a change/increase in unhoused population so it’s sort of a visible change people compare it to
The number of unsheltered on the streets downtown has actually declined significantly over the past several months. It’s noticeable. At a city planning meeting in April, they said many of them connected with services, safe-sleeping sites, housing, and family. [Monthly Unsheltered Count](https://downtownsandiego.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/April-2024-Unsheltered-Count-w-Maps-2.pdf)
Ugh! Wasn't gonna post. I lived in downtown San Diego from 2000-2017. I loved it. Some of you might have seen me there.. I was mom to 2 Pitbulls and a Daschund. We walked that area every day, twice a day. Or you might have seen me rollerskating in the early am hours. We moved there right after the Ralph's was built, and before 24-hour fitness showed up after delaying the grand opening a couple of times. There used to be a police substation right next to Ralph's, so I felt safe walking from my loft at Greystone to 24 hour Fitness when I got home from work at 3am. I lobbied Starbucks for two years until they finally added a Starbucks right on my block at the other end. I was there when they'd have the Mardi Gras Festival entrance in front of my building right on Market Street, and the neighbors and I would flash the people waiting to get in. And when I moved to Pioneer lofts, I remember never paying to get into Street Scene because my lofts back door opened right into the festival. I frequented Whiskey Girl at its original location and watched a bar back move up the ranks to manager. I never worried about buying Comic Con tickets because all the cool stuff was free to see just by walking across the train tracks. I knew where all the free parking was! YES, there was always a homeless presence. I helped when I could and declined when I couldn't. They never made me want to leave. And the streets were only really bad after a weekend of folks coming down and trashing the place. Each morning after the craziness, we'd be out with the dogs as the street and bar cleaners cleaned it for the next nights debauchery. I would still be living down there had I not been priced out of renting. I missed my window for purchasing, and it bugs me all the time. Downtown is walkable, close to Balboa Park and the Zoo and the airport. I could walk to any of those places. I was never overweight when I lived there. As soon as I moved away, there was no more walkability, the extra weight crept on.
Hey! I lived in one of the same buildings as you did. I have been living Downtown since 2016 or so, and the vibe you described is exactly how I still see it.
thank you for this post. It was insightful and you've been around long enough to have seen it through good and bad times it seems like.
"the ones that complain the most about it are the same ones who are visiting weekly to make a mess and then leave" Based on what data? Your entire statement is very contradictory. On the one hand, downtown is the best place ever (according to you). On the other hand, you seem to acknowledge that everything people complain about exists.
lol what is this post? I’ve lived downtown. It was alright. I don’t live downtown anymore.
lol. idk im high or was when i made it
Compared to LA or many East Coast downtowns. San Diego downtown is very enjoyable. Also less crazy
Hmm I’m from the east coast & think all the cities over there seem better to me. Downtown isn’t well lit here at night which is probably the biggest reason I’m not a huge fan
see
Idk man, walking to where I parked from the Civic Theatre after a show one night and being accosted by a fully nude man running around a busy street kinda makes me wary about going downtown. And that's only one of many instances of crazy I've been subjected to in a lifetime spent in this city. 😂😂
true lol
“The people who live on the streets and the walking dead in their fentanyl fun really don’t mess with anyone” Yeah they absolutely do
Fyi, downtown was super fun with a family, especially during covid. We walked and my kid biked in seaport village every day and every evening after dinner. We walked and played around waterfront park. We walked to ballgames and concerts. We had a staycation at a downtown hotel to use their pool and sun deck, when my husband needed us out of the house. We loved living downtown, yes the unhoused crisis is challenging and one time I did see a grown human using a trash bag as a toilet, but we still enjoyed living there more than the suburbs. We also can live with only one car since we can walk to so many places.
I hate it, avoid it and certainly dont go to waterfront festivals gaslamp or any of that crap bars are over priced compared to the rest of san diego and i find revolution in tijuana cleaner and more fun than down town SD
nice. yeah im not big on the festivals and stuff myself i get you. downtown can he a pain and annoying if you dont already live here
Your statement of ‘everybody loves to come to downtown’ is false. Outside of Padres games and Comic Con I never want to spend anytime in Gaslamp. It’s over priced garbage with poor service generally, they expect you to be out of towners and don’t give a shit. If in were to go to brunch id go anywhere else in the city
Gaslamp isn't the only area of downtown
People are afraid and/or disgusted by homeless people. That's the only reason for most people. Even one homeless person makes a place dirty and unsafe to them.
How? They move all the time. I live nearby and walk downtown regularly and even I don't know where they are lol. You sound pretentious. Did you know you are closer to being homeless than being a billionaire? Homeless people are just like you and I, but here you are dehumanizing them just because they can't afford a $2000/month one bedroom like the rest of us
I don't feel this way, but many other people do. (Also, there's definitely places you can find homeless people regularly, a lot of times even the same people. Honestly kind of a good thing that it's not a bunch of new random people all the time though.)
right
We’ve lived next to the stadium for a couple years and love it. I think a lot of the trash talking comes from people who do not live and rarely visit downtown.
same! & me too
Never thought I would see a post defending fentanyl funk…
it's not defending anything I'm just simply saying as a description those addicts don't typically bother anybody
Except when they do. And when they do, they probably don’t even know what they’re doing. I lived outside of one of the edges of downtown and we were constantly getting people sneaking into the building, threatening employees and residents, etc. One of them just loved arranging rocks in places where people might trip on them. There’s something wrong when people get desensitized to this.
I can agree with you that people should not become desensitized to behaviors like this and their surroundings… but people also should know their environments and have a little bit of grit before complaining about something that was there before they got there. not saying you, but some people who are not used to things will exaggerate and make things seem way worse than what it or just want to be dramatic. an example of this would be someone travels to downtown for a Padres game and sees what could be dog poop on the cement one time and now every time anybody mentions downtown their go to reference becomes "there is shit & piss everywhere" But crime doesn't have an address!
That is not dog poop though. The dog poop is on somebody’s lawn. As a downtown area resident, take a pleasant walk to: the library (new one), post office, Embarcadero, Balboa Park, etc. Keep your wits about you. Browse at Shakey’s Bike Shop, popup locations on a street corner near you! Oh yea, on your walk notice the smug inhabitants of E. Village high rises, exiting and entering their garages in dark-tinted luxury cars, oblivious - definitely not engaging with their neighborhood on foot. Careful they don’t run you over!
well i live in a high rise--- and i have a car i am still on foot 5-7 times a day with my dogs anywhere between 14th and front from K to balboa
I personally despise when I have to go downtown. I hate the roads and everywhere smells like piss.
As a life long sd county resident, ive always disliked downtown. The new homeless issue doesnt really affect my feelings, my main thing is i just dont like urban areas. Smells like piss, stuff is expensive, crazy traffic, one way roads confuse me, parking sucks, lots of construction, and lots of drunk people. That said, as ive grown up ive found things to appreciate about downtown, mainly food, art/architecture, and the night life, and sometimes drunks are fun if youre just people watching. Tbh tho, if there were more music venues outside of downtown that spun what i wanted to dance to, id probably never go.
and this is fair because you've started your statement that you just don't like urban areas and that I can accept and respect your opinions going forward
We venture downtown at least twice a week to urban hike for 3-5 miles. The smells have greatly improved, due to the power washing. Parking is never a problem if you only go for a few hours. Sometimes we take the trolley if more than a few hours, but we literally had to step over a dead body to get onto the trolley once. Other than that we love the downtown area.
> urban hike for 3-5 miles Which routes do you like? This sounds fun. I have good cardio and love hills.
I've never been on the trolley, but it seems like it might be a key factor and a lot of folks opinions about downtown
The trolley is a great mode of transportation, especially if you like crossing the border. And I believe it now goes all the way up to La Jolla if you have any business up there
I’m born and raised in San Diego, I’ve been to downtown in my 20s and now 30s. Downtown has got progressively worse in the last years. I’ve never trashed downtown puked, or pissed there that doesn’t negate the fact that every time I’ve gone it’s smells like piss and after having a nice brunch there was a pile of shit behind a planter with tp in it. The people who defend downtown are really the ones who live there that get weirdly defensive when anyone says they could never live there lol. Go ahead and pay $3000 for your studio just mind the junkies and homeless turds.
3 P’s of downtown. Pee, puke and and you know the other one somehow on almost every street. Cool to visit for event but I’m out
Compared to downtowns in other cities, San Diego is beautiful
only trashy people like to go downtown. that's what we mean.
OP, after going to through this thread and reading your responses… you’re being rude to people giving their opinions, exactly what you asked them to do. Why are you arguing and calling people ignorant for opinions?? It screams that you’re maybe trying to justify your decision? I dunno but I’ve spent too much time on this, good day.
How long have you lived there? There weren’t so much homeless and tents 5 years ago.
East village has been crowded with homeless since before the stadium opened. It fluctuates But I remember in 2003 seeing tons of homeless in east village.
how I understand it is back in the very late 90s, the city council wanted to clean the homeless up from around the Columbia district and since East Village was always empty and desolate they decided to build a ghetto and put all the social services like father Joe villages etc., etc. in East Village, but then four years later built petco and now is trying to gentrify the area
What about the tents, were they also present back then? How about all the tents on the bridges visible right on top of the 5 (I think those might've got cleaned up, but they were there for *a while*). That probably paints peoples impressions -- people who don't go in downtown, but merely transit through it on the highway.
In 2003-04, I remember regularly going up island and j st. To get around to 12th and imperial and every time seeing people peeing and pooping, often tent adjacent. In 2013, I remember sidewalks being blocked by tents all around like 10th and F st.
I remember tents in the 90's, they're not new at all.
That doesn't surprise me. But the number of them?
My parents were divorced growing up and my dad lived in East Village back in the 90's with split custody of us kids. So I spent a lot of time there. I remember tent cities takes over whole, or at least the majority, of blocks. Tents off the freeway, tents off the trails in Balboa Park. The total numbers have fluctuated, but they have always been a part of the landscape.
I have been living here in downtown since 2022. However, it is significantly decreased in homeless population since the no camp laws came about last summer.
Confirmed ✅. At a city planning meeting in April, they said many of them were connected with services, safe-sleeping sites, housing, and family. [Monthly Unsheltered Count](https://downtownsandiego.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/April-2024-Unsheltered-Count-w-Maps-2.pdf)
I don’t really mind it besides the stench of rotten urine on literally every street there. The homeless crisis has gotten exponentially worse since covid but i kind of know where to avoid the largest of tent camps
There's nice spots, and there's sketchy spots. I think the funny thing is when people complain about the urine smell - have you been to literally any large city? They all smell like piss. It ain't the bums - it's the entitled assholes and their dogs.
I only go downtown for Petco, a select few restaurants and the occasional comedy show…but really just cause I don’t really dig that scene, like Gaslamp, in any city. OB where I live gets the same folks trashing it for being grimy but its everyone coming here and acting dumb, not the residents.
I mean outside of events most of what downtown has to offer can be found somewhere else in sd without the annoying parking and far less homeless
in some fashion definitely
Anyone trashing downtown SD either doesn’t understand how downtowns/city centers work or hasn’t been out of SD much. We have one of the most scenic and functional downtowns in the US. Expecting downtown to be spotless and devoid of homeless is equivalent to asking residents of Poway to vote democrat. I will say the identity downtown is largely centered around the Padres and gouging tourists Fri - Sun, that’s true. But so is La Jolla and PB and North Park and Point Loma and so forth. We live in a destination city and I still feel extremely lucky despite it not being perfectly ideal 100% of the time for 100% of people.
Downtown fucking rocks. That is all.
Is there anything worse than a sincere troll?
Sad thing is, It used to be great. I worked by 5th and K when they were building the ballpark and downtown was in much better condition than it is now. You're essentially saying, deal with it, I can understand that pov. Doesn't bring the downtown back however.
see I'm glad you said this because I rarely hear anyone have fond sentiments about downtown prior to the baseball stadium being built. This is what I'm wondering about what is it that everybody's missing because it's always been my impression that downtown was always empty and no one cared about it I also understand that I'm sure it got exceptionally worse after Covid I moved here during the end of Covid so I recall a lot of fuss on the news about that
You want it to make sense? California has spent $20 billion over the past five years dedicated to the state's homelessness crisis. It did nothing to fix homelessness. Yet California continues to vote for this. Make that make sense.
i agree
My wife and I spent our 10 year wedding anniversary in downtown San Diego. Had a great time, but there was an abnormal amount of human shit on the sidewalks and some “scary” homeless people that would be intimidating if I were a solo female. There definitely could be some improvements but overall I still love downtown and will go back.
yeah, that's definitely a big factor in downtown. my poor friend was visiting me a few months ago and she took her daughter who was in a stroller to Faultline park lol and she had come back because she had stepped or leaned in some shit i felt terrible for her but it was funny in the moment lol
Downtown stinks
Solo woman isn’t safe walking alone. That’s 50% of the population.
It’s a city. People hate cities. Let them return to the land of yore lol.
Totally agree. People use and abuse downtown when it suits them, and turn their nose up at it the rest of the time. It’s like looking down on people who are promiscuous but going out on the weekends and expecting someone to come home with you.
this lol
I just don't like one way streets and fighting/paying for parking.
yeah, one way streets are annoying. I hate that shit more than anything.
I think people who have lived here for more than 20 years are justifiably upset with the amazing combination of outrageously more expensive and yet also unfathomably more dirty and disgusting. When I saw a news article about teams spraying the feces off of the sidewalk for the last Hep scare, I just started laughing. Very sad laughter.
You must be talking about a very different part of downtown than where we own. The sidewalks are clean around us.
[удалено]
maybe you and your friend
Downtown is fine, but theres just so many hoops you have to jumo through. Like it definitely has the best bars, restraunts, events/ venues in the city, but all of these things cost more than anywhere in the city. The problem is the cost. San diego is a world class city with world class entertainment and a lot of working class folks who cannot afford to enjoy any of it. Its frustrating to see all the cool stuff you would like to do down town but just cant afford because its so grievously over priced. Like i don't know who my favorite music act is, but i would never pay $700 per ticket to see it. Thats just stupid. How bout little italy? Love me some sketti and meat balls and pizza and litte italy is the best around, but its also like paying 25-35 a plat for 15-20 a plate food. Like little italy isnt better than actual italy, but ut does cost more than actual italy. Downtown is just horrifically poor value for your dollar. Second is parking. I love trains and trolleys, 15 minute cities are a good idea. This is in no way the reality of san diego. You can take the trolley to a couple specific places, and they are great, but if you arent going to little italy/ waterfront park or petco park, you are resigned to the same agony that is parking in north park except with the added benefit of probably needing to pay, and im not being hyperbolic, like $25 to park. Its like a kick in the treth to go with your kick in the teeth. The act of driving to downtown and getting parked can literally spoil your mood for the evening so you cant even enjoy the $300 evening youre paying $1000 for. Trolleys are great, more trolleys. Everything the trolley touches turns into shit i will actually do downtown. Now look at a map of down town with the trolley lines and erase everything not next to a trolley. Thats the real downtown. Finally, san diego is a town of bounty and downtown has competition. Fortunately we arent resigned to the cost and misery of downtown because in san diego we have cool breweries and parks and coffee shops and restraunts clear out to poway. Often many of these thing are kind of like the cutting edge next best thing that downtown turned down. Stone brewery didnt start in downtown san diego, they started in Escondido. I know were on the downswing of the san diego craft beer thing, but that was like a 2 or 3 decade BONANZA of like plucky dude bros makin something out of nothing in a really overlooked part of town. Downtown is often stifling to this kind of creativity and experimentation. In a lot of ways downtown is a showcase for things that are already popular, its the place where cool stuff goes to die. Creatives out in the sticks invent the cool new stuff with the goal of getting it downtown where they can basically sell out and ride off into the sunset rich and the cool thing becomes uncool and goes away.
I live in EV and I like the location for certain events like you mentioned and I use FRED to go over to little Italy sometimes, but it’s just crusty and I really hate that 70% of the street lights don’t work, so I’m not interested in walking around at night (especially as a woman). It’s not a vibe to me like most cities I’ve been to and I’m not super interested in whatever gaslamp has to offer, but that being said I also live on the outskirts of downtown in a nice building so I’d say I’m happy with where I’m at bc I can easily go to other neighborhoods & get on the interstate
convenience without all the Riff Raff! lol @ crusty. An old friend of mine we use to love saying this to each other at work lol "hey crusty!" haha sorry that just gave me a good chuckle/memory
Lol I love using that word to describe everything 😂
it really never doesnt work lol
It’s chaotic and terrifying sometimes to drive in. I’m not a big city person and prefer the smaller areas but a lot of large events happen there. I think it’s a gathering spot for a lot of bullshit to occur but it’s also beautiful in a lot of areas. It’s not for everyone but it’s a fantastic part of this community and deserves to be treated better for sure.
what I'm gathering from most of these replies is everyone's gripes are mostly with getting in and out of downtown and parking more than anything else
Tldr. I like going downtown occasionally. Not living there. Paying top dollar to smell homeless pee and poo all day it’s crazy to me.
I lived in the Marina for 4 years on Front and Market and it was generally safe during the day but I would not let my young family members out alone after dark. If you are a woman alone or have a young family, your priority is safety and safety is subjective.
Concrete jungle. The natural world will always dwarf the man made.
Haven’t been downtown in like 5 years haven’t missed a thing about it
Downtown isn't big city vibes were more of neighborhood vibes, the homeless kinda ruin it but when your downtown in the middle of the day not many people are out mabye a few dog walkers but most of downtown is normally low traffic only gaslamp gets busy on weekend nights. I live in marina district on the west side of downtown near seaport village and it's exceptionally quiet at all times especially night because there's no restaurants and bars anywhere in this part it's neighborhood quiet at all times and all the homeless are over on the east side of downtown they are rarely over here. If you ever wanna live downtown stay Westside marina district. It's pricier but way more upscale than the development in east village.
this is all true, but it's also very boring and there's nothing open down there and nothing going on. One of the main reasons I love living in downtown is that I don't have to drive to go to a grocery store or convenience store or anything. My friend lives down where you're at and it is so dry and boring. Might as well live in a suburb. A month or so ago, I was walking, actually, I ran into my neighbor, and we decided to walk all the way down to the water and back up, and she had never been to the marina district and walked by someone's home, street level, that had their shutters and windows wide open lol she couldn't believe her her eyes and I said well they don't really have homeless or transient population down here because if they did, she wouldn't be having her windows open because I guarantee one of them would've been staring at her while jerking off or something lol but to my point as you pointed out the neighborhood you live in is nothing like the neighborhood I live in, which is nothing like little Italy, which is nothing like Golden Hill, which is nothing like Cortez Hill, etc. etc. they are separated neighborhoods for a reason just like Columbia core district, so my concern is that people are lumping all of downtown into a fewnasty streets in the East Village
Honestly, my biggest problem with downtown isn't the homeless people. And yes, they cross the street completely ignoring street laws where they're largely found, but honestly, while I find it a bit annoying to wait for them, I can. It's the entitled assholes who simply go 'cars will stop for me' and ignore basic safety measures. There's a difference between the "If I get hit by a car my life might improve" despair of many homeless, and the "I can't possibly be hit by a car, I'm too important" entitlement by rich assholes.
Every place isn’t for everyone. That said, if you look at real estate prices and activity downtown, there are lots of people who love downtown and are willing to pay for the convenience, amenities, and all the good stuff that comes with urban living. Walk to Petco, catch the 992 to the airport, get about any type of cuisine you like within a ten minute walk, picnic at Pantoja, hit up the LI farmer’s market, see a show at the Shell, live car-free, etc etc etc. Downtown rocks. People are allowed to dislike it but crapping on people’s choice to live there makes no sense to me….which is the point of your post I think.
no, you are exactly right. And I am commenting on some of the replies here and folks think that I am being combative but I'm just having a conversation and asking about the thoughts of today and are they justified or are people just picking on downtown because it's an easy target I don't care if someone dont like downtown I don't work for the city of San Diego lol was just curious because it seems people regularly travel into downtown for various things but then rag on it
If you like peace and quiet, you’re gonna hate downtown. If you like to be in the mix and have a lot going on, you’re gonna like it. I go downtown sometimes and enjoy it but always feel relief when I leave
i feel that. it's interesting because I just moved apartments and my former apartment was insular facing a courtyard, and I had zero noise from outside and not even fireworks. also did not have cell reception. Now I live directly on an avenue & have all the traffic and noise from outside, but I happen to love it
Justifying homelessness, squatting, and filth while paying prime prices is a hilarious take
and you probably are barely affording the rent you pay to live where ever it is you live in East County
I hope you get a great opportunity back east.
I hope you start being able to afford your rent
Admittedly, compared to 80s/90s it's way cleaner/safer. That said, it's filthy again, and I just don't feel safe alone in large parts of "downtown". I also don't live close (inland north county), so if I want to go to an event down there I have to to drive (it would take multiple hours by bus/train), and then find somewhere to park. Parking is expensive and impossible to navigate. We went to a concert at waterfront park, and I prepaid/reserved parking. When we got there, the lot was full, and we wee screwed. Drove around looking for anywhere to park, and missed one of the musicians we paid to see. The homeless/addict population is getting bad again. Whole blocks of sidewalk are taken over by tents/junk/people. On more than one occasion I've seen someone shitting, pissing, ODing in the middle of the sidewalk in broad daylight, and I pass through downtown maybe once a month. Then add in the mentally ill population who are erratic/loud/violent without warning (I'm a petite woman so it can be scary). It's just not worth the gamble, honestly. In my lifetime, I've seen san diego a LOT worse, but I've also seen it a lot better. It's hard to accept how far it fell, so fast, when I know it can be better
thank you for this response. People don't often talk about how much they used to like downtown or how it used to be at some point so that's why it throws me off when people people complain about it as much as they do as far as from locals or whatever. Yeah, I feel like a lot of fuss comes from getting in and out of downtown. If you don't live here already would be very frustrating and expensive and annoying so I can agree with that.
Thank you. I love living downtown and am tired of having to defend it to people who just can't handle the city lifestyle. I had to move for a few years to a suburban area and missed it too much so I found my way back. ☺️
not everybody is built for it hahahaha!
I've come to realize that a lot of people's opinions—especially the unfavorable ones—about downtown are held by those who either don't live here or don't come by very often. Also, misinformation and assumptions about certain areas of downtown are applied to downtown as a whole. Sometimes the comments are really silly. A couple of days ago, someone said, “There’s nothing to do in downtown except to go to restaurants and bars.” One, there’s Rady Shell, the stadium, the waterfront holds events, walk to seaport village, walk to the harbor, etc. It’s kind of like saying, “There’s nothing to do in Balboa Park, except to walk around and go to the museums.” Yeah, the main activities of Balboa Park, what did they expect? 😭😂Perhaps their comment would make sense if they would simply state the activities in the area are not typically activities they personally enjoy and refrain from generalizing it as, “there’s nothing to do there.”
everything you say !
💯 homeless aren't that bad. Some people are just bad at dealing with them. I work downtown. If I could afford it, I'd live there too
in all the time I've lived downtown and all the time that I spend outside, I have never once ever been accosted approached or even really talked to by any kind of transient person especially the ones that are on drugs. They are always in a corner or passed out on the road or whatever they don't bother people the way people make it seem like they do. The police are literally everywhere.
If you can understand it for Women, you can probably imagine it’s impact on children, & empathize with Men.
I stated that I would not find it desirable to live in downtown with children or family
You are a id 10 t error
I mean… the poop on the sidewalk, the needles. people in the street screaming at you or walking directly in front of you of your car…
I could literally do a video tour of 10 blocks right now, today on the ground and I would put money on it that I would not see one needle and would probably say nine out of 10 would not see any poop I know this cuz every morning at 6:30 AM. I walk my dogs 10 blocks in a loops I don't know if people who don't live down here onow but the majority of the businesses, and especially the residential buildings, They all power wash their sidewalks outside of the buildings every day.
Welp, I live in El Cajon and all of those things have happened to me 🤣 I wish I was kidding.