San diego redevelopment agency linda vista

The controversy surrounding a proposed shopping and community center has laid bare tensions that have evolved as Linda Vista has become an increasingly low-income and immigrant community.

The recent drama that has played out at an otherwise nondescript intersection in Linda Vista just up the street from the University of San Diego has been anything but pretty. On one corner is the Bayside Community Center, which Thursday morning was humming with a flurry of activity as senior citizens, immigrants and young people with developmental disabilities streamed in for lunch. Across the street is Skateworld, the last remaining roller rink in San Diego. In the final plan, parts of the renovated roller rink would have doubled as public community hall.

But the project encountered fierce resistance from roller rink supporters. They initially feared the rink would be closed but continued opposing the project even after it was announced that it would remain open. In the early s, large parts of Linda Vista were built to house wartime aerospace workers. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt dedicated the shopping center where Skateworld now stands.

As the aerospace industry declined over the decades, the community changed, and many of the tract apartment buildings were occupied by refugees and immigrants, many undocumented. The community center, which was established in Little Italy 80 years ago, moved to Linda Vista 30 years ago to serve that population.

Riquelme believes the opposition that helped scuttle the project, led by a large group of rink supporters, many from outside of Linda Vista, came at the expense of satisfying the social service needs of residents who actually live nearby.

But in a February message to supporters posted on its website, Friends of Skateworld said the issue affected more than just Linda Vistans.

Riquelme thought the final plans had been taking shape nicely and believed they should have satisfied the needs of the community center, the developer and rink supporters.

Have a story idea for me? Email me at adrian. Username or Email Address. MRW Development was to purchase this 1. But after MRW Development could not find enough private financing to complete the transaction, the deal fell through. Commercially, it's a good return on investment but others didn't see the value.

The project also had other challenges. Eliana Barreiros, project manager for the Redevelopment Agency, said the current building on the 1. Leetma said a number of other issues made the company bow out of the deal, including revised plans to the existing Skateworld skating ring that the community did not "wholly" support.

This, coupled with MRW Development's inability to find enough investors, forced the company to withdraw from the project. Barreiros said city staff will now consider options, including finding a new developer or possibly selling the 1. The Linda Vista area proposed town center first began when the San Diego Redevelopment Agency placed a request for proposal in October