Responding to columnist Eric Domeier
Re: The Craftsman awaits his wake [Volume 7, Issue 20 or bit.ly/1KOwFxh]
Let’s hear it for Eric Domeier and his article “The Craftsman awaits his wake.” I live in a Craftsman house that was mentioned in Don Covington’s book as being built 100 years ago this year. After living here for 18 years and raising two daughters, I can agree that a 100-year-old Craftsman is not the best place to do so.
—John Molin of North Park, via email
It’s difficult to get through Eric Domeier’s rant regarding Craftman style architecture and the implications of the neighborhoods that embrace them. He makes the most ridiculous statements, such as “the city makes even the smallest modification … Craftsman home exceedingly painful.” Not so — not even close. And “The dogmatic preservation of our historical buildings is contrary to common sense.” This truly is nonsensical.
Every town has its roots, its history and the architecture to go with it. Apparently he’d like San Diego to look like Tomorrowland, and he’d raze Gaslamp. I would bet that Domeier is a millennial hipster, with no children, a cat, lives with Ikea furniture and likes ultra sleek furnishings — no garden, no garage, no shade trees, not a sports fan, and lives for the brew fest in his neighborhood, where he wants to hang out on the sidewalk to be seen and get out of his sustainable, emotional refuge.
He can’t imagine that families want to live in homes with backyards and maybe a swimming pool? His last paragraph seems to plea for what he thinks is non-existent in San Diego, when, in fact, the “homes and communities that are in our image of the here and now” go up by the hundreds — have been for the last decade — can’t stop ‘em. Maybe he can’t see the forest for the high-rise there in North Park. As to “restor[ing] the culture of urban design” — what does that even mean? I think he should go back to wherever he came from and try his shtick there. And he wants these larger structures to be on small lots to be “affordable” — in San Diego. He whines: “We must regain our membership status in our own culture.” Again — going up by the HUNDREDS.
—Cindi L. of South Park, via email
Eric sounds like a very shortsighted individual, even philistine in his attitudes. I’m glad he isn’t in charge of creating the vision for community development. Perhaps he should practice his business in locations where there is no cultural heritage to speak of. There’s plenty of raw real estate to go around, I’m sure. Just not in my neighborhood.
—Russ Hamm, via Facebook
Oh great. Here we go again. Another self-serving “architect” who thinks he knows better than the community. Mr. Domeier wants to tear down your house and build his vision of what people want. And he doesn’t want any historic concerns to get in his way. As a landlord in Hillcrest and North Park, I see it over and over, the kids from the suburbs streaming into the older more genteel neighborhoods. These are the people the author wants to save from themselves. Because obviously, they don’t know what they want.
Perhaps the author should think about tearing down Santee or RB since those are the neighborhoods being rejected by the young. Of course, I suspect the residents of those communities wouldn’t care for the author’s outrageous notions either.
—Bob Martynec, via Facebook
Has this person ever been inside a Craftsman house? Mine has an open living room, kitchen and dining room. The floors are beautiful hardwood and the kitchen is modernized with stainless appliances and granite countertops. The bedrooms are large, separated from the rest of the house, and have glass doors that open out to the pool area. My heating and a/c bills are minimal. It’s already been built, so you can’t get more sustainable than that. What else would anybody want from a house?
—Tim Gahagan via Facebook
I, too, was surprised by this article. While the conclusions seem to serve an evolved sense of entitlement and ego, the evidence presented to support them do not meet the “reality test.”
At their best, Craftsman design homes provide a synthesis of backward and forward vision. Gustav Stickley, “the Craftsman,” explicitly acknowledged this as his goal.
Dr. Robert Winter (“Bungalow Bob”), one of the premier authorities of our time on the topic, suggests that these homes were the first time in history when “Architecture,” with a capital “A,” was available to anyone other than the privileged classes.
And they certainly do celebrate a sheltering domesticity, which seems a virtue appropriate to our homes.
Mr. Domeier states “the first room one walks into off of the street is usually one of the most private rooms of the house, creating an alienating juxtaposition …”
In fact, the “first room” is an outdoor room, a porch designed for living, and a transition between the public and private spheres, and a link to neighborhood and community.
Next, open the welcoming front door, and step into the “living room,” where guests are hosted; hardly “the most private room of the house.”
These designs actively engage the community, while providing an ordered, rational and zoned transition from public to private spaces.
I have never seen bungalow front doors opening into bathrooms or bed chambers, which would get my vote for “most private” spaces, and wonder how the author judges issues of intimacy, or engagement with community.
The domestic design paradigm of our recent past is to front the home with a garage, the sleeping room for the most important member of our family, the automobile, and to place the “living room(s)” back away from the street, insulated from any interaction with community.
While many planners and designers do view this as a problem, the solution is one that remains often elusive.
The Craftsman homes, nestled in their streetcar suburbs, provide a middle path, providing moderate density, near the urban core, served by transit (now too often dismantled), and set in walkable engaging communities.
I vote we “redevelop” Eastlake before we attack South Park, Sherman Heights, Golden Hill, North Park, Mission Hills, Logan Heights and our other vintage livable neighborhoods.
—David Swarens, via Facebook
If you want modern living buy a f***ing condo.
—Gregory May, via Facebook
I couldn’t disagree with the author of this article more. Interesting is it not that he lives on “Grim Ave.”?
—Luke Terpstra of Hillcrest, via Facebook
The author of this article has a huge misunderstanding of the origins of Craftsman style.
—David Gleason, via Facebook
This article is seriously flawed. Please learn the differences between an old house, a historically designated house, and a house which is qualified to receive a property tax reduction under the Mills Act. I do not expect an exceptionally nuanced grasp of San Diego history and culture from a paper which calls itself Uptown News and yet tries to include the entirety of greater San Diego in its realm, but this was really just embarrassing.
—Justine, via Facebook
[Editor’s note: San Diego Uptown News covers the Old Town, Mission Hills, Bankers Hill, Hillcrest, University Heights, Normal Heights, North Park, South Park, Golden Hill, Kensington and Talmadge neighborhoods. The newspaper does not “include the entirety of greater San Diego in its realm,” as the writer claims. Please understand that Eric Domeier’s column series states his opinion, and this newspaper is open to hearing all sorts of different voices in our communities. We regularly feature columns devoted to our historical homes and neighborhoods, such as House Calls, which can be found on Page 20 in this issue. And just for the record, your editor lives in a house in North Park that was built in 1932 and he would describe it as an “old house” with lots of character.]
About that #ExploreNorthPark article
Re: Explore North Park campaign targets tourists [Volume 7, Issue 20 or read at bit.ly/1jqQJPD]
Great way to show off all the great things that North Park has become!
—Benny Cartwright, via Facebook
Having just read your article, I feel compelled to respond thereto.
First of all, I take umbrage at your unfounded statement that “(a)s long as a decade ago, a running joke was that you might get ‘caught dead’ in North Park” because this neighborhood was allegedly “so run-down and crime-ridden that businesses and people were moving out in droves.”
Just what proof do you have to substantiate that statement? If you were looking at so-called crime statistics, your inquiry should have delved a little deeper — those areas that may have seen an uptick in crime were probably those in which single-family residences had been replaced with apartment and condo complexes, attracting a transient population, as well as unregulated and unpatrolled park areas which became hangouts for unsavory characters. And, who is to blame for getting rid of single-family residences? — developers and City Council members who care little about preserving the ambience of a neighborhood.
Secondly, I sincerely doubt that you are old enough to know what North Park was like decades ago, when it was comprised mainly of single-family homes and small businesses. I am 81 years of age and have lived in North Park for more than seven decades. I grant you that every
neighborhood has its great areas and not-so-great areas, but it is simplistic and erroneous to lump everything into one description or definition. When my father bought our house near Morley Field
in 1941, North Park was a wonderful, quiet and upscale area where families felt safe in bringing up their children. Even after the malls were built in Mission Valley, North Park retained a lot of small businesses — dress and jewelry shops, small restaurants, banks, drugstores, bakeries, corner groceries, a movie house, shoe stores, etc. My father owned a restaurant, the Fox Café, on University Avenue by 30th Street. I believe that the athletic store on University Avenue, Schloss, has been here for 70 years and is currently still being run by the original owner’s sons.
Never has North Park, in general or as a whole, become “run-down” or “crime-ridden.”
The real estate values bear this out, particularly in those areas that are still largely comprised of single-family homes. As a matter of fact, I would venture to guess that the large influx of breweries and bars will lead to an increase in crime. Perhaps you haven’t talked with people who live near these places and who complain about persons urinating or throwing up on lawns, about finding used condoms, about raucous behavior in front of their homes when the bars close, about fights in the middle of the street, and so forth. And what about drunk drivers — two of our cars in front of our house were sideswiped one night, presumably by a drunk driver. I suppose it’s easy to applaud the presence of an ever-increasing number of bars and pubs when one doesn’t live near them.
This so-called wonderful influx of “restaurants, bars, brew pubs and boutiques” that you rave about in your article has also resulted in a tremendous increase in traffic, noise and trash. Have you even considered the fact that the increased number of bars and brew pubs may also attract what may rightfully be called “low-life” characters?
And, let’s not forget the newest trend of the [Airbnb] rentals which, again, is fueled by the desire to make money, regardless of the result it may have in a neighborhood — strangers coming and going at all hours of the day and night, inability to park in front of one’s own home, increased noise by “guests” who are here to party. There are, unfortunately, many recent and younger homeowners in North Park who believe that they are “entitled” to engage in this business, regardless of whether it interferes with neighbors’ quiet enjoyment of their properties.
You see, everything you wrote in your article seems to revolve around bringing more tourists to North Park — in other words, bringing in more money to the bars, boutiques, “trendy” restaurants, and craft breweries. As politicians, I’m sure that Toni Atkins and Todd Gloria, who are cited in your article, are happy to see businesses making money. But, is that what defines a neighborhood? Reference to North Park’s reputation as a “hipster neighborhood” and the “suds capital” is directed solely to the businesses, not to the single-family homes, the playgrounds, the schools and the parks.
Perhaps you should have talked with longtime residents of North Park (not business people and politicians) prior to writing your article. Like myself, I’m sure that there are many others who are not enamored with the presence of more bars and craft breweries, resulting in increased traffic and noise.
—Nikki Nicholas of North Park, via email
[Editor’s note: I first heard the joke in 2005 from a local Realtor who was showing me around North Park, South Park and Hillcrest. He discouraged me from moving to North Park at that time, and I heeded his advice. But after living in suburbia for a couple of years, I moved to North Park in 2009 because I wanted to live in a walkable neighborhood that was close to everything. North Park may not be perfect, but it offers exactly what I want and expect from a livable and thriving community. I can walk, I can bike and I can take public transit. But this article was not about the problems of North Park, it was about the hashtag #ExploreNorthPark tourist campaign by North Park Main Street. Keep reading San Diego Uptown News because we do cover all these issues that you raise.]
“It’s easy to see the businesses packed with bicyclists …”
And yet the area remains a dangerous place to ride, with motorists threatening cyclists and no bike lanes on University or 30th, which both need them desperately.
—Robert, via Facebook
Where is the affordable housing?
I have been following the density issues in Uptown. There is one aspect of the problem that I have not see discussed.
What happens to the people who have lived in rental units that were what they could afford when they moved in 20 years ago but the old structures are purchased, renovated and replaced with expensive housing?
Where do those people go who can only afford the rents they have been paying for many, many years? Social Security income does not allow them to afford to live in the new units that are replacing the old units. Where do those people go who have spent the last 20 years in Uptown?
It seems this situation could create a whole new group of homeless. When escrow closes on a property the tenant may have up to two months to go somewhere else. Where do they go? Where is the affordable housing in Uptown?
—Carol Emerick, via email
About TargetExpress in South Park
Re: TargetExpress in South Park to open Oct. 7 [Volume 7, Issue 20 or at bit.ly/1GflOL4]
Of course we will visit the new Target in spite of all the idiot naysayers!
—Chris Salem, via Facebook
Very much looking forward to this!
—Benny Cartwright, via Facebook
It’s about time … And I’m sure everyone who opposed this store will secretly be shopping there, too. Hypocrites.
—Justin G., via Facebook
More on those bicycling lanes
Re: Groups urge SANDAG to support city’s Climate Action Plan [Volume 7, Issue 20 or at bit.ly/1FGxtHC]
One way to help achieve the 18 percent bike mode share in Uptown would be to restore SANDAG’s planned protected bike lane on University Avenue. This was removed from the Uptown Bike Corridor after successful lobbying of SANDAG by the Hillcrest Business Association.
The HBA is now lobbying SANDAG to also remove planned protected bike lanes on Fourth and Fifth avenues, which would completely gut this $40 million dollar TransNet sales tax investment in Uptown. The HBA’s actions contradict the city’s Climate Action Plan goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and ignore the potential impacts of climate change.
—Paul Jamason, via Facebook
Hillcrest Town Council report
Re: Hillcrest Town Council update [Volume 7, Issue 20 or at bit.ly/1Wwpql8]
Thank you Benny for that thorough report. Looks like you had interesting presentations from both hospitals that continue to serve not only our community but the entire region in a very professional way.
—Luke Terpstra, chair of the Hillcrest Town Council, via Facebook
I hope many Hillcrest residents come and join us for our next meeting, Oct. 13, where we will talk about parking! There are two proposals on the table, angled parking in some areas, and residential permit parking. What do you think about that? What ideas do you have to make parking easier in the neighborhood? Please join us to speak up and make your voice heard!
—Benny Cartwright, via Faceboook