San Diego Activists Plan a Pedestrian Promenade and 'Nudillo'

A group of community activists calling themselves the "Village People" have initiated a grassroots planning effort in the East Village of San Diego's downtown. The East Village area was repeatedly characterized as a wasteland by the NFL Chargers and their supporters, when their owner, Dean Spanos, and his consultants were trying to convince the city to build them a new stadium there. These activists showed the voters that the area had value and potential without a stadium. They held well-attended community workshops and out of that effort came some interesting ideas. They created a vision of what the area could become if spared the stadium bulldozers. They put the vision in a draft document called the East Village South Focus Plan.  

Among the ideas coming from this effort was a pedestrian promenade through the heart of the would-be stadium site. The promenade would create a connection between downtown and Barrio Logan at a junction where the respective communities' different street grids abut. At this juncture, the promenade would take a slight turn, which they named the "Nudillo" (or knuckle). It would be marked with a landmark such as an obelisk and perhaps a round-a-bout. The Chargers derided the community vision as "airy-fairy," touting their stadium plan as vastly superior for the downtown. Nevertheless, the voters rejected the Chargers stadium, Dean Spanos moved his team to Los Angeles, and the Village People are now holding additional workshops to refine the promenade and Nudillo concepts. Michael-Leonard Creditor, a local design activist, attended the first workshop. He shares his photos and impressions in the source article.