Some San Diego residents went to the polls Tuesday to elect new members to the Uptown Community Planning Group, which comprises Hillcrest, Middletown, the Medical Complex area, Mission Hills, University Heights and Bankers Hill, while others just went on their phones or desktop or laptop computers and voted virtually.
Community planning groups advise city leaders about infrastructure and land-use issues.
“It’s important because our neighborhoods and our communities need to have a voice from the communities when it comes to infrastructure, development, changes in our demographics — and not just demographics but changes in the landscaping and things that affect the public,” said Mission Hills resident and Uptown Community Planning Group candidate Patty Ducey-Brooks said.
Ducey-Brooks is advocating for community planning groups to have more input.
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“We used to have the power to actually sit down with the developers and have conversations about what the community needs," Ducey-Brooks said. "Today we’re lucky if we get the chance to talk to one developer in a whole year."
The Uptown area is host to some controversial city-led projects.
“We are one of the thousands of people that are voicing concerns about the Kettner & Vine location,” Ducey-Brooks said.
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Those who live and work in the Uptown area are concerned about having effective representation, especially the recent passage of the city's controversial community plan that enables developers to add to the density of the communities that make up the Uptown Community Planning Group.
“It’s super important, especially to have a community voice,” said, Lauren Hudson, who owns Lefty’s Chicago Pizzeria on Goldfinch Street in Mission Hills.
The structure of the planning group is important, according to community members.
“The new structure has one homeowner and one renter from each of the six neighborhoods, and I think that will work out OK,” Tom Mullaney, a former member of Uptown Planners, told NBC 7.
Tuesday’s in-person voting for the Uptown Community Planning Group election ends at 8 p.m., followed by a board meeting at 8:30 p.m. at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Diego on Arbor Street in Mission Hills.
