downtown-san-diego-real-estate/national-city-rejects-downtown-san-diegos-proposed-10th-avenue-deck/262/
Damn. The proverbial beer truck on it’s way to a futuristic NFL stadium built on prime waterfront property just lost another load.
On Wednesday, October 8th, yet another subset of the San Diego port community spoke out against the proposed 10th Avenue deck.
“National City rejects Downtown San Diego’s proposed 10th Avenue deck” was written by Ron Powell in the UT PolBlog. “It just makes no sense at all,” said National City Mayor Ron Morrison. National City joins the other Port District member cities of San Diego, Chula Vista, Coronado and Imperial Beach that oppose this idea.
If you haven’t already heard, the proposed 10th Avenue Deck is a proposal for a 96-acre deck over the Downtown San Diego 1oth Ave terminal that could house a football stadium – a proposition that may attract voters who see it as a way to keep the San Diego Chargers in town. deck is
In another UT article published on Tuesday, October 7th, Navy Secretary Donald C. Winter’s letter to U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-El Cajon indicated that “the proposal is incompatible with the facility’s use as a strategic military port.” He went on to say that “San Diego is our principal fleet concentration area on the West Coast. As such, we are heavily dependent on the Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal. Over 50 percent of West Coast military support for Operation Iraqi Freedom has passed through this vital hub, which is ideally suited for rapid load outs of heavy equipment for military units associated with contingency operations.” Winter also said the terminal is also critical because it is a delivery point for supplies to San Diego area shipyards, some of which service Navy vessels. Winter said “In short, the proposed development would have a significant impact on the terminal’s operational utility and other essential fleet activities in the area.”
A myriad of other archived UT articles written about the 10th Ave Deck can be found here.
For the love of Chad! Even the military is not for this deck. Am I personally disappointed that we can’t turn Downtown San Diego into another overcrowded Gotham City of sports venues? I say this tongue-in-cheek around the 92101 Urban Living office in response to the previous blogs posted by my fellow colleagues about this 10th Avenue deck. See 92101 Urban Living Chad Cavanaugh’s blog on this subject matter and broker/owner Mike Ciampa’s blog prior to that.
I resonated more with Gerry Braun’s opinion written in the UT on August 17th, 2008 entitled “Waterfront Proposal is taken to the next level.” I can’t help but share a few excerpts of his article here with you here for fear that you may never click on the above link to his also tongue-in-cheek article. Gerry writes:
“He (Richard Chase) wants to build a sprawling, 40-foot-high concrete deck above the warehouses, rail lines and fuel tanks of the Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal. It’s the sort of project that strikes a chord with every 10-year-old who owns a Lego set.
Beneath the deck, waterfront business would go on as usual.
Bananas, fertilizer and military equipment still would be unloaded from ships. The 250-foot crane might not work so well lying on its side, and the forklifts may bump a load-bearing column every six feet. But the longshoremen won’t worry about sunstroke. Whatever the weather, they would be in the shade.
Up on the roof, meantime, there’d be billions of dollars in real estate for Chase to develop, with sweeping views of Coronado, the bay and downtown.
It’s a developer’s dream, a blank slate. You could put anything up there on Dick’s Deck: a sports arena, an aquarium, a casino. The sky’s the limit.
Imagine a decktop hotel taller than the Coronado Bridge. His conceptual plan has one.
Imagine a decktop football stadium with decktop tailgate parties where fans eat double-decker hamburgers on double-decker buses.
Imagine the day the big earthquake comes and the only thing that survives is Dick’s Deck, its steel pilings sunk so deep that technically it’s not part of California.”
Rest assured, we can all sleep well at night knowing that the fate of the 10th Ave Deck project lies safely in the hands of the capable voters in the San Diego Unified Port District’s five member cities — San Diego, National City, Chula Vista, Imperial Beach and Coronado. Their collective vote on Prop. B will decide the outcome of this project on Nov. 4.
All politics and our elected politican’s opinions aside, vote with your heart ~ and of course your reverse baseball cap on if you will be wearing one at the polls. What ballot measure could be MORE important than THIS?
Read some of the linked articles above and check out the Project Renderings provided by The Union Tribune Documents. Tell us what you think about the proposed 10th Avenue Deck. Fill out the comments section below and let us know your thoughts. Keep ‘em clean and we’ll post your comment below this article!
-Pete Thistle, [email protected]