San Diego Looks into Setting Up a New Mobility Department
At a recent CREW San Diego conference, Alyssa Muto of the City of San Diego said she is working with the city to set up the department.
San Diego is looking into making regulatory changes in response to the coronavirus pandemic. At a recent virtual discussion for CREW San Diego, Alyssa Muto, deputy director of environmental policy and public space in the planning department at the City of San Diego, who also has experience at the county level, said that she is working with the city now to develop a new mobility department to focus on a variety of new issues and needs that have emerged during the pandemic.
“I’m working in the City of San Diego to start up a new mobility department,” she said in the discussion. The department will focus on curb space management, including delivery windows, how curb space is being used and when it can be used for alternative practices, like dining. As a result, it will also focus on a wide range of parking issues, including parking changes for residential and multifamily properties, and it will find ways to decrease reliance on cars, especially in offices where people don’t want to drive and want alternatives. “How we move around and adapt as mobile workforce and support staff to find way to be mobile,” she said adding that people should try different access route, like busses when they have the opportunity and the city should provide those opportunities. Less parking could ultimately mean more outdoor space and parks and also more mobility. It is already happening in some parts of the city. Downtown 5th Street, for example, has closed to cares. “We need to find more ways to invigorate those spaces,” she said.
One option to accomplish that goal is through business improvement districts. Muto added that the department will also encourage the creation of BIDs that can unify and gauge more quickly what the businesses need and want, and, also, what consumers need and want.
While it is welcome news to hear that the city is looking to pivot to the rapidly changing environment, some audience members were concerned that other initiatives would fall to the wayside. Muto tempered those concerns, saying, “We haven’t stopped doing any of those things,” referring to updating CAP, the adaptation and resiliency plan for climate change and the environmental justice initiative. She also added that equity is on forefront of Complete Communities, and development impact fees are going back to communities that have been left behind.