Post by sdsuaztecs on Oct 10, 2009 13:05:48 GMT -8
I haven’t heard if Mark Fabiani or Mayor Sanders have contemplated the idea of having new city hall offices built around a new stadium at the Qualcomm site. It seems to me that the $432 million cost figure for the new city hall offices could be devoted to new offices along the San Diego River next to a new stadium with a bond issue floated by the City of San Diego to include the cost of a new stadium. The total bond issue would probably be somewhere around $1.5 billion which would include a lease agreement with the Chargers to pay for the cost of the stadium while the City throws in the land for the stadium or a facsimile thereof. This seems like a very workable plan to me because city workers generally work Monday thru Friday while the stadium is typically used Saturdays and Sundays for football, meaning no conflict of parking for either football or city business. Additionally, the City could expedite planning and processing of permits for the “Q” site and perhaps enable the long, sought-after access to the “Q” site from Camino del Rio North over the San Diego River which could be used as a dedicated access for City offices.
The “Q” site would mean easier access for City employees as well as customers of City Hall who currently have to spend a lot of time and effort finding a parking place downtown. There are a whole bunch of other benefits not to mention allowing the properties owned by the City downtown to be sold to private businesses increasing the tax base and generate more business for existing businesses in the downtown area. Having city offices downtown are of no benefit to downtown businesses on the weekends in particular. Development of a parking garage on the “Q” site might also enable some of the land area to be sold off separately for additional retail development along Friars Road.
Moreover, having a football stadium downtown also means taking up a lot of valuable land for very little utility in terms of the number of days the stadium would be used. Between the Chargers and the Aztecs and the two bowl games, the “Q” only gets used 18-20 days a year.
This would also allow the Chargers and the City plenty of time to design a cohesive plan together without any critical deadlines to meet. I don’t know if this idea has been floated before but I think it kills a whole bunch of birds with one stone.
The “Q” site would mean easier access for City employees as well as customers of City Hall who currently have to spend a lot of time and effort finding a parking place downtown. There are a whole bunch of other benefits not to mention allowing the properties owned by the City downtown to be sold to private businesses increasing the tax base and generate more business for existing businesses in the downtown area. Having city offices downtown are of no benefit to downtown businesses on the weekends in particular. Development of a parking garage on the “Q” site might also enable some of the land area to be sold off separately for additional retail development along Friars Road.
Moreover, having a football stadium downtown also means taking up a lot of valuable land for very little utility in terms of the number of days the stadium would be used. Between the Chargers and the Aztecs and the two bowl games, the “Q” only gets used 18-20 days a year.
This would also allow the Chargers and the City plenty of time to design a cohesive plan together without any critical deadlines to meet. I don’t know if this idea has been floated before but I think it kills a whole bunch of birds with one stone.
