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NewsReal Estate Executives Discuss General Plan Update At Urban Land Institute BreakfastJanuary 9, 2007 San Diego, CA - The Urban Land Institute (ULI) San Diego/Tijuana Chapter presented a breakfast meeting about the City of San Diego General Plan Update on Tuesday, January 9 at the downtown University Club. Speakers included Jim Madaffer, San Diego City Council member; Bill Anderson, Director of City Planning and Community Investment for the City of San Diego; and Barry Schultz, Chief Executive Officer of San Diego Capital Collaborative. The panel was moderated by Con Howe, Director of the Urban Land Institute's Center for Balanced Development in the West. At the sold-out event, the panelists discussed the importance of the General Plan and its impact on the city's current and future growth. Madaffer, who chairs the City's Land Use and Housing Committee, said many of San Diego's growth and development problems could be solved with an increase in the city's tax revenues. "If we have the tax revenues that the city of Los Angeles has, we would be able to do a lot more, "Madaffer said. "Los Angeles gets one cent on the dollar. We get one-third of one-half of a cent. That's a piddly amount." Madaffer said he would like to work on legislation that would allow San Diego to have more access to tax revenues, which would help to make San Diego a better place. "I want to leave San Diego better than I found it," he said. "We need to figure out ways to improve housing, improve transportation, to make San Diego a better place to live." Like Madaffer, Anderson also noted that his goal is to make San Diego a better place to live and, through the General Plan, the city hopes to do so. "This is the city's first general plan that has to make the transition to an urban city," Anderson said. This general plan has many other firsts as well, Anderson said, including the first time important aspects such as economic prosperity, service standards, conservation and transportation modes are considered. Schultz, who has worked in community development for more than 15 years in both the public and private sector, said the city's general plan will help guide land use decisions that go into making policies and should be embraced by all San Diegans. Schultz noted that the only way San Diego can successful grow is for both the public and private sectors to work together. "We can no longer rely on the private sector to solve our problems and the government alone can't solve our problems either," Schultz said. "The private and public sectors are going to have to work together and that's the key to success." "We are going to need to be creative to ensure that San Diego is as wonderful a place for us as it is for our children and grandchildren," he said. About ULI # # # |
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