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I moved to San Diego around 8 months ago from Ann Arbor, MI - I had a great opportunity at UCSD (with I group I had connections with via my job in Michigan), and I was definitely tiring of the Michigan winters. Being as I don't drive (never had a license), the winters were perhaps even worse than for most, as walking around and waiting for buses took its toll in the winter months.
While San Diego may not exactly be the best for life without a car, it has seemed to work reasonably well for me here so far. It does help that I live downtown - I ended up renting at Harborview Apartments (formerly Archstone Harborview), which is over in the Marina District right next to the Seaport Village Green Line trolley station. It is great being able to walk to Ralphs and the Gaslamp area, and having the trolley right there makes it easy to get to a lot of places. I will say that the #150 express bus to UCSD has been a godsend - it makes few stops and is rarely crowded (unlike the Superloop buses around the UTC area...). Aside from downtown and UCSD, I've ended up frequenting a few other areas - mostly Coronado, Pacific Beach, La Jolla, Mission Hills/Hillcrest, and Mission Valley (for shopping) - which are all accessible via bus/trolley (or in Coronado's case, ferry...) And for beyond San Diego, we have quite frequent Amtrak trains - which have worked great for going to sporting events in LA/Anaheim (such as hockey games, given the lack of a team here...) I may consider trying for a license at some point - but that's far from certain given my struggles back in Michigan, and even if I did get one I'm not sure it's really worth the cost right now.
With that said, I have thought a little bit about whether it may make sense for me to move (within San Diego) at some point. While this has worked pretty well, it does get a bit loud on occasion - and it would be nice to have a bit shorter trip to work. Part of me also thinks it would be better to live in a more residentially-oriented area outside of downtown where there is a bit more sense of community, Furthermore, I ended up paying towards the high end of my range - around $1500/month for a studio (granted, it is 500 sqft, but still a studio). When I looked around in August, I did see a few places downtown a bit lower, but none with August availability that were under $1400 (and those around $1400-1450 didn't seem near as nice...) At what point may it make sense to move from a cost/commute perspective? The areas I'd probably consider (aside from downtown) are North PB/La Jolla, Mission Hills/Hillcrest, Old Town (though I don't think there's much suitable housing there...) and *maybe* UTC and Mission Valley (though I'm not the biggest fan, being that I like walkable areas) - as these all have at least decent transit access to UCSD.
Also, I have been trying to get a bit engaged in community activism - with quite a bit of frustration. Back in Ann Arbor, I got quite involved in city politics (albeit in a city of 120,000) - attending nearly every City Council meeting, serving on the taxicab board, and even running for office once. Obviously San Diego is a lot higher scale, but I'd still like to get engaged - particularly on public transit/walkability issues. As such, I was quite disappointed to find out that nearly every San Diego City Council meeting (and nearly every city/county board meeting, including MTS) is during the work day. Given that, how do San Diegans who actually have a day job get active in city issues? I did try to contact my councilmember (Council President Todd Gloria) and the Mayor about this, with no response - I figure SD council members are just too busy for personal contact... Granted, I came from a very activism-oriented college town, but I was expecting better than this (even the one rare evening council meeting I went to had less attendance than Ann Arbor...)
Thanks for sharing your story. I agree that compared to other places people are not as involved in community politics and activism. You might find a little more of that in some of the neighborhoods. I live in OB, and there is some involvement here, but nothing like when I was in Cleveland and most of the neighborhoods had a lot of interested people. If the places you mentioned, I think Mission Hills and Hillcrest are the best for no car and people might be more engaged than they are downtown. You could take the 150 from the hospital to UCSD. There is great walking and shopping. I again really appreciate this story, because I hate it when people act as if you will somehow die of misery without a car in San Diego. I hope I can find this thread again when someone asks about it, because I am tired of arguing it. besides you are much better at it than me, since you are actually living it!
Agree with Clevelandgal. I dont know offhand the population or size of Ann Arbor as compared to San Diego, but the SD council serves a massive range in population and general size. Take into account that the State of CA>County and local Govt structure is a little different here as opposed to other areas I have lived. I started connecting the dots a little better once I was involved with some oversight committees and looking at finances and where money was going. I still cant wrap my head around some of it, especially when it comes to the State lol.
For where you live, due to the newness of downtown living in SD, its somewhat transient in nature and HOA dominated so a lot of it is more internal rather external. However, if you go to an older more established community like Clevelandgal mentioned, you may find more local community groups that work WITH city council. But sitting down one on one with a Council member might a challenge if you dont have something to bring to the table. They usually have a staffmember that deal with local community affairs. So you should look into contacting your local council rep and seeing what groups they work with.
I too am heavily involved in my community with these types of affairs and even here you dont see tons of civic engagement from citizens at council meetings etc unless there is something that affects them in a big way (last year they closed our Rec Center and a line was out the door at the meeting.)
However, in the 2+ years since we bought a house here, I have seen TONS of change in some ways, others not so much. The councilmen and women almost beg people to come to the meetings more regularly so its not that Govt is not interested in serving the community, its that there is a clear disconnect in what the expectations are from the citizens.
Again agree with Clevelandgal in regards to where to live as it relates to both sides. Work and community involvement. Areas like MIssion VAlley might not be much different than where you are now with the locals.
Mission Hills or the like might have more of this but I dont know how the bus lines run once you start going east of the trolley to get to UCSD.
Just know it might take a little homework to find community groups, but in my experience they are very dedicated to their cause, whatever that might be. Feel free to shoot me a PM if you are interested in some groups I worth with now as they work with all of the county, not just Lemon Grove.
Hillcrest and Mission Hills are good options worth considering as you could take the UCSD Hillcrest Hosptical shuttle directly to UCSD.
UTC won't have that sense of community as it's pretty transient and generic but it's not hard to live in UTC w/o a car. It's just a bit boring and you might feel stuck there at times imo.
The bus ride from PB would probably be a bit long imo as you'll have to go through La Jolla all the way up there along the coast. If you lived in Downtown LJ it might not be as bad though.
As far as places to live - I kind of felt the same way about UTC (and Mission Valley, though perhaps less so) - it would get a bit isolating/boring, and the roads out that way are as wide as freeways (annoying for walking). The big advantage there would be commute length and cost (I recall seeing places around $1200-$1250 in UTC - quite a bit less than Im paying right now) - though Im not sure even that much savings is worth living up there. I actually feel that Im doing pretty well where I am - I just have wondered if I could perhaps pay a lot less elsewhere and/or may benefit from moving to a more residential-oriented area. At the same time, I do like the access to transit I have (having the Green Line right next door helps - that takes me up to the Mission Valley malls and the Old Town Transit Center, where I can get buses to most anywhere I'd want to go). Also, moving has its own cost (and moreso if you aren't driving), so moving to save $80/month would hardly be worth it.
As far as city issues are concerned - I do realize that San Diego is way bigger than where Im from (Ann Arbor is around 1/10 the size - in SD terms, that would be a tad bigger than Carlsbad). At the same time, Im astounded to look at the City Council and city board/commission meeting calendars and see almost every meeting during the day. It makes it very difficult if you want to voice your concerns and don't happen to be retired, unemployed, or work right across from City Hall. Do people have to essentially take lots of time off work if they want to voice their opinion on city issues, or is there a different way people get involved? I have tried to contact my council member (Council President Todd Gloria) as well as Mayor Filner, but haven't heard anything from them or their staff.
it is a bit different to come from a smaller community where I knew a lot of people into the (comparatively) big pond that is San Diego. in all honesty, Im not sure moving would make a big difference in this - back in Ann Arbor, I lived most of the time in student/staff housing a few miles from campus (not exactly a civicly-engaged community) but managed to be involved in city issues (though I was perhaps more into things related to transit than your typical developer/resident and zoning conflicts). I had considered whether I may be better off in a city separate from San Diego proper (with transit to UCSD - which pretty much means the North County communities along the Coaster and 101 bus routes). However, transit is the obvious issue there - going to work would be fine, but doing much of anything else gets to be difficult with NCTD's service levels (and the Coaster ends fairly early on non-Padres game nights).
With that said, I have been seeking out activities besides those - I've started going to some of the University of Michigan alumni group events here - they get together to watch the NCAA tournament games (and football games earlier this year), and do some other things as well. I've also done some church activities at St. Brigids in PB (and have also checked out a variety of other Catholic churches around the areas, such as Our Lady of the Rosary downtown). Even so, I still miss the whole civic engagement thing (particularly on public transit issues - here, it seems like half the population doesn't even know San Diego HAS transit). Not so much from a political party/national perspective (I file myself somewhere in the center there, though perhaps leaning left more often than right), but from a local perspective.
The only interested constituency in San Diego city politics is the wealthy or pensioner ex-city employee retired and the developers, both usually are closely tied to the elected officials. They have no problem attending meetings during the day. Apathy reigns supreme in SD, it's an entrenched way of life in what remains mostly a transient resort city.
I don't understand the reluctance to get a license and learn to drive. as they say, 'when in Rome'? Downtown SD is probably best for someone reliant on public transit in SD, as you move into more residential areas your access to amenities increases but your need to take satellite transit routes does as well, leading to highly inefficient and IMO wasteful amounts of travel for basic needs. Some on this forum may disagree but I stand by the idea that living without a car in SD means missing out on a lot of what the region has to offer.
downtown SD, despite its noise and lack of community is at least well served by both public transit and basic neighborhood services, few other SD areas can claim that. Maybe hillcrest but my guess is you are tacking on even more wasted commute time. UTC and Mission valley are great if you really love the mall so much you actually want to live inside of it . Given that you work at UCSD, I think living closer to campus is pretty much a no brainier, at least get a license so you can get a car 2 go when you want to visit beaches, or downtown.
I guess I figured that what I've seen with respect to city government was in part related to apathy - as well as it suiting the entrenched interests to keep "the public" at arms length. Not surprising, but disappointing. I've definitely seen my share of city government existing to please entrenched interests (mostly developers) back in Michigan - though at least they had the common decency to have most of their meetings after work hours and at least *act* like they're listening (and some of the members really did care about the public interest). I'll keep trying to get someone's attention (particularly on this transit stuff - my councilmember also sits on the MTS board, and as such would be involved in that...).
As for why I don't bite the bullet and do everything it takes to learn to drive and buy a car - there's a few reasons for that. First of all, when I first tried (some 10+ years ago, back when I was the taking-drivers-ed age), I found I had depth perception issues that resulted in some very scary (though without any actual injury) moments (after which I had no one to practice with...) And this was in some not-too-dense areas of Michigan (and not during snow). Given that, it may prove to be quite difficult (and involve some costly specialized training) to actually get a license - though I do think I'd do better now, I still think back to those scary moments...
With that said, even if I knew I could get a license and drive well with little effort, I'm not even sure it would be worth it. For one, I'm not sure the time/money tradeoff is necessarily worth it for me, given that I'm not really that interested in going to outer suburbia too much. Secondly, since I've never driven, transit - and transit advocacy - has been a big part of my life. I actually like riding transit (to an extent - I don't necessarily enjoy hourlong rides on a stop-every-block local bus route), and I do want to see it improve and become a more used option here in San Diego (and in the US in general). Both to improve mobility for those with no other option, and to offer a viable alternative for those who do (and in turn promote walkable/bikeable communities as well). Getting a car and joining the herd would be giving up on this.
Obviously, that isn't the norm in San Diego, but nowhere is going to be perfect for me - while other cities may have better transit, they are also going to have worse weather (and as a non-driver, winter is 100x worse...), and not have the kind of natural beauty SD offers. It is a shame that there isn't more of a transit culture here - the weather really makes walking/biking viable year-round (unlike in most of the cities with more of a transit culture), which does help make things better for those without cars. And the Trolley does seem like a good foundation to build on, too...
Yes they are at odd hours, but still open to the public. I am not entirely sold of the belief that the process is exclusive to seniors and private interests. But there is no question that if you look at voter turnout, these are two groups that show up at polls. But implying a conspiracy theory? That is giving these guys far too much credit for as much as one wants to believe that is happening.
I also think its somewhat naive to think that a council person serving a population the size of Todd Gloria's will be reachable. I am not saying his office not returning calls or emails is an excuse, but it seems you are going about trying to reach him the long winded way.
I suggest contacting his assistant or council reps to get better direction. I would highly advise emailing AND a follow up phone call. Staff | City Council District 3
Keep in mind, with the exception of perhaps San Diego's city council, many other councilpersons are part time that sit on the SANDAG board. So some of these council members on boards , either dont attend all meetings or will have someone sit in for them.
San Diego city has the biggest clout in the room when it comes to regional planning on SANDAG as well as MTS but they do work hand in hand in the grand scheme of things.
Your best bet and most effective way of getting attention around these parts, is via advocacy groups. There are TONS ranging from health to transit of all sorts.
Here are some of the boards that you should be interested in, especially if it has to do with transit.
Todd Gloria alone does not take care of transit matters in the region. Its wise to understand how the system works vs what may seem like the logical way it should work. This is local govt and it almost never makes sense lol
I wasn't necessarily expecting that any council member would answer me personally - however, I was at least hopeful Id get some kind of response out of their staff. I've still been trying to wrap my head along all the agencies/boards involved here (besides the council itself, MTS and NCTD, I've heard of SANDAG), though nearly every one of them meets in the middle of the day (which makes it hard to go to these if you have a day job, particularly far from downtown... )
With that said, going back to the first part of my message - I will say I do like downtown (particularly the Marina/Little Italy areas), though I do wonder if it may be worth considering a move at some point given how I ended up on the high end of the rent scale (and I have to guess it will go higher in August). I guess I'm perhaps not too interested in living in the more suburban areas - though I had mentioned UTC/Mission Valley, I perhaps meant to say I'd tolerate them more than some other more suburban areas and may consider them if there was a spectacular deal out there.
If I left downtown (which Im not even sure I want to), Id be more interested in near Hillcrest (Id take the direct shuttle to UCSD) and other more walkable areas with transit access to UCSD (such as some of the beach areas off the #30 route). If I did drive, Id perhaps consider the less spread-out areas of North County outside of the SD city limits (which may be a better fit from the civic-engagement front), but Im not sure that's worth such a fundamental lifestyle change (and the cost) even if I succeeded at getting a license. It may make sense to stay put (saving a small amount of money or commute time is hardly worth the cost of moving itself...), but its just something I've been thinking about...
I'd say stay put if I were you. You're looking for a walkable place, you say you like downtown.
Why leave when you've got something pretty good?
And you don't want to drive. Well, given that you can walk to the grocery store, the gym, entertainment, restaurants, etc, why leave?
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