San Diego Needs to Toot Its Own Horn

Whitlock: “The National Geographic program came out last year at this time, ranking San Diego as a Smart City, and that didn’t get promoted enough; it should have been pressed hard.”

SAN DIEGO—The city should be more outspoken about its accomplishments in technology and its ranking as a Smart City , Architectural Concepts ‘ principal and creative director Margit Whitlock tells GlobeSt.com. We spoke exclusively with Whitlock, a spokesperson for the San Diego Architectural Foundation , after Context Vol.3, “A Day on the Bay,” a two-part event organized by SDAF that took place Downtown recently and exposed the public to planned development in the San Diego Bay region. The event included a free expo and information fair followed by a ticketed reception and presentation. Speakers during the panel presentation included City of San Diego ‘s deputy COO David Graham , Port of San Diego’s director of environmental and land-use management Jason Giffen , City of San Diego Commissioner Bob Nelson , Chula Vista city manager Gary Halbert and principal and founder of Luce et Studio Architects in La Jolla Jennifer Luce . We spoke exclusively with Whitlock, who was instrumental in organizing the event for SDAF, about the highlights. GlobeSt.com: What was the outcome of “A Day on the Bay”? Whitlock: We got almost 300 people for part 1, the expo and information fair, which was an impressive number. I think the formula for the Foundation of having a free public event tied to Context is a good formula, and everybody felt really good about it. There were two parts to the event that day: an afternoon session that was free to the public and included a trade-show expo fair. The Parks and Recreation department was there and had a great display, and the Port highlighted five different projects on the South and North Bay: Harbor Island, Central Embarcadero, Portside Pier , National City Bayfront and Chula Vista Bayfront . Later, there was a two-hour program on Smart Cities and envisioning a smart Bayfront. David Graham with the City of San Diego talked about his smart initiatives and tooted San Diego’s horn, which needs to be done more, and Jason Griffin talked about how the City is working with organizations sharing technology and sustainability initiatives and creating long-term, long-range plans together. The Port has handed over the writing of the 50-year master plan for the Bayfront to AECOM , and once it has and created a draft, it will be reviewed by the Port, so it will be 18 months or more before that document becomes a guiding document. In the meantime, there are a lot of initiatives going on including Harbor Island , the 10^th Ave. terminal and Seaport Village —with no master plan under which to work. Right now, they’re thinking about integrative planning and trying to get world-class projects built without that plan, which is difficult. The Port’s presentation focused on Harbor Island—whose RFC has been accepted and is under review. Portside Pier, the former Anthony’s Fish Grotto site, has been awarded, and there’s some pretty cool development going on right there. Then, there’s the Central Embarcadero site, which has been released, and the Brigantine won that bid. For Seaport Village, which was not discussed during the presentation, an RFP has been submitted that received 11 responses, and there will be a public exhibit June 13 and 14 at the Convention Center where those proposed projects will be on display for public comment. Then, there were the South Bay projects: National City’s balanced plan, including the commercial and public assets that the Maritime Museum wants to put together on its Bayfront, and the Chula Vista Bayfront, which will be an amazing asset to that market. GlobeSt.com: What was the most surprising revelation of the event? Whitlock: Until I heard David Graham’s presentation, I didn’t know how well San Diego ranked as a city in the nation. San Diego is not tooting its own horn enough. The National Geographic program came out last year at this time, ranking San Diego as a Smart City, and that didn’t get promoted enough; it should have been pressed hard. But having different cities talk about technology—including driverless cars, monitoring parking meters to know when cars have vacated the space and the Placemeter project to be piloted in Carlsbad, which will gather data via a radio cam to do a mobility study on people and cars going by different areas in order to then reset the traffic lights and make the infrastructure of the city run more smoothly—was really eye-opening. GlobeSt.com: How do you see the biggest changes on the Bay happening? Whitlock: I do wish they had talked more about that, but the Port is relying on private development and private initiatives to come up with the big ideas. One of the questions from the audience was, what if ideas come in and none is spectacular, what do you do then: put it back on the street and look for better or not do anything? But Jason said that is not the case. They are committed to creating a world-class Bayfront. GlobeSt.com: What else stood out for you in the presentations? Whitlock: David Graham said San Diego is on the leading edge of a wave of intelligent metros who are leveraging technology and data to better deliver services to the public. We’ve been at this for a long time, from SDG&E ‘s focus on renewable energy to the development of biofuels , EV charging , electronic recycling , energy management and solar —which are here because of the talent coming out of our universities. He said San Diego is ahead of the game when it comes to one of the fundamental parts of being a smart city: intelligent structure. I think that’s something most people don’t know about this city.