When you cross over Boundary Street on University Avenue in uptown San Diego, you exit North Park and enter City Heights. There is a liquor store on your left, a newly constructed gas station on your right, and just up the hill is a powder-blue building with one entire side painted like an American flag.
You would be forgiven if you have not noticed it before. The building used to be beige and was easy to overlook, making the area attractive for undesirable activity, including prostitution and drug-dealing.
This is KPBS Midday Edition. I am Maureen Cavanaugh. What if crime can be reduced with a simple coat of paint and a little elbow grease? City Heights reporter tells us Everest to revitalize a corridor in a neighborhood began with a storefront makeover. This is new. He points out changes at the sports bar that he manages. It is located near the order with Moorpark. There are newly mounted TVs and a projector screen and a expanded bar. We have a bar. It is covered up and I'm finishing up. An American flag Merle will make the cement building hard to miss. You will be forgiven if you've not seen it before. The base structure was easy to overlook. It made the area attractive for undesired activity. Complaints were rolling in the summer. I saw there was a lot of bad people around the neighborhood and around our area. Prosecution was that in problems. This is the nonprofit city Corporation. She met Nunez after a police officer and community members help connect the bar manager. The organization hooked him up with grant funds to spruce up his storefront. With a fresh coat of paint and a brighter color, some nice lighting, it is improved the visibility but also it decreases loitering. Since then, Nunez says he is seen a reduction of activity in the corner and he is seen positive changes in the clientele. Some are stopping by. We see it -- different people are outside. We see a lot of the neighbors walking by and there is more freedom and it is more organized. I like it here expect the program has been around for three years and provides business owners with $2000 in grant funds to boost curb appeal. The owners apply and make improvements and show receipts and they are reimbursed. It prints a mural on a liquor store and gave a donor shop a new roof. The minor upgrades have a big impact. When you see it has been shut down or there are bars in the windows, it gives you and beat -- and an easy feeling. Should I be here? When you see bright colors and great lighting, there are no bars you feel safer and happier that this is your community. She says it helps establish and the establishment stretch funds. It tends to serve as a catalyst for larger changes. Juan Pablo Sanchez talks about the big plans he has for his restaurant. We are going to knock it out -- knock it down. There will be new signs and he is applying for a program for role of door and outside seating. It will be a remodel and restructure. Sanchez is encouraging businesses to apply including the owner of the market next-door. It's nice. He says storefront improvement is a big part of drawing people to the area which he sees as the gateway. He helped launch the Association of businesses aimed at promoting a corridor which they have dubbed the Avenue. They are improving the look of the businesses and to promote outsider district. We're making it a better place. There is a kitchen here. He says he is planning for changes. If you are Windows to increase visibility and a kitchen to serve tacos out of a walk-up window the name, he is thinking the Avenue to help brand the area one thing that will not change? The price of your beer. You cross the bridge. Your beer is going to be seven dollars we are three dollars. Happy hour is two dollars. It is nice for neighborhood. Welcome to the Avenue. Joining we -- me is Steve Russell, executive director of the housing Federation. He is a board member of the city Heights community development Corporation. Welcome to the program. Thank you for have any. What is the philosophy behind grants like the one given to this bar in city Heights for community moment? It is about improving the quality of life for the residents in the community. This is the front door of the community. To the extent that you pass by it on your way to and from work, improving it is a positive thing. For the businesses, is about trying to make it more inviting or and attractive -- an attractive. Is it to make the area become a destination? Certainly, there is a master plan within the shop program that looks at ways that they can create destinations in city Heights. You can spend time in other parts the city. Has this revitalization concept worked in other neighborhoods in San Diego? The best example is Moorpark, which has different fundamentals in terms of the population. There were higher levels but we've seen Adams Avenue and University Heights and now city-ites, the first Monday in his public improvements and mediums and things like that. You try to match that with the investment with the shop owners so you can see a catalytic effect. We have heard Nunez say that even with imprisonment -- improvements, the price will stay the same. If it becomes a destination, it will change? Back it will take a lot of the change to become that destination. You were talking about dislocation of those businesses. Back in happen. I think that is a long wait off. We talk about this, among the ways that you could diminish this or dislocation, is by increasing the wages of the residents. You can provide economic opportunities for them and there is rent protected housing which is the business I am in right now. From the standpoint of improving the business, if you have jobs that I never, you opportunity for residents. That is part of the strategy, trying to pour dock -- dollars in the hands of the residents. Considering the very small volume of affordable housing for that is happening in neighborhoods, even without revitalization. Absolutely. What you were singing in city Heights, it is a spillover from North Park. They are crummy across the freeway. The poor people can compete less a market. That speaks on a supply issue. We do not having supply of housing. If we have a few thousand units, people would choose to live in city Heights and they would choose to live along the boulevard. We are eager to see what happens in the years ahead. If you are a resident of city Heights, and you start to see the beautification with various stores and you see the medians be put in and you see that going out, does that make you think, my rent is going to go up. It is going to cost me more to live in this neighborhood as the years go on. It is reasonable that people might think that. I was a long time resident in city Heights in 2013. I saw the change. Having seen what happened in North Park, you might be afraid but the fundamentals are different. We are dealing with a large supply of affordable housing. I mean, affordable housing is not renting at a high market level. That large reservoir for housing is the protection. It is not unreasonable for you to be concerned and to look at ways that you can stabilize the housing. When an organization like the Corporation present and start to give grants out, to have that in your mind? Striking the balance between making the neighborhoods better for the people who live there and at the same time, knowing that if that is going to make it more attractive or other people outside of city Heights to move in and maybe change the character of the neighborhood? I would say that it is not in the forefront of our minds that we are trying to do. We are trying to improve the community for the residents. These grants are micro grants. They are $2000 or $3000. There is a small amount of commercial gentrification and you can see there is a martial arts place. They move from North Park and it stands apart from the other businesses in terms of finishes and things like that. There is a large amount of cultural change that would have to take place before people could be threatened. There is a large buffer in terms of housing and perceived quality and market forces. My hope is that one of the things that the CDC does is participate in producing more affordable housing and rent detected tax breaks in the community so residents who like to stay there are able to we cannot write another that to make up the difference between what is slowly going to go up in the environment where there is not for housing but it is part of the initiative to improve life for the residents. I am speaking with Dave -- Steve Russell. Thank you. Thank you.
Bar manager Jesus Nunez said complaints started rolling in over the summer.
“I saw that it was a lot of really bad people — let’s put it that way — around the neighborhood and our area,” Nunez said.
That was months ago. Since then, Nunez said he has received a reduction in the unwanted activity nearby and said his clientele has gotten younger and friendlier.
“We see different people outside, so we see a lot of the neighbors walking by, more freedom, more nice and everything and that’s why I like it,” Nunez said.
It all started with a fresh coat of paint, a little elbow grease and encouragement from neighbors, who are urging businesses along University Avenue to update their shops in a larger effort to revitalize one of the neighborhood’s main economic corridors.
For the paint job and lighting improvements at his bar, Nunez received grant funds via the City Heights Community Development Corporation, which runs a storefront improvement program called Fresh Look City Heights. Concerned community members and a San Diego police officer helped connect Nunez with the group.
The Corporation’s Economic Development Manager Maritza Maksimow said the initiative reimburses neighborhood businesses up to $2,000 for minor improvements.
“When you see a storefront that’s been shut down or has bars on the window, it has an uneasy feeling, like is this a safe neighborhood? Should I be here?” Maksimow said. “When you see bright colors, great signage, great lighting, no bars, you just feel safe and happier that this is your community, you feel a sense of pride.”
The nonprofit selects a handful of applicants each round of funding. This most recent cycle, it helped put a mural on a liquor store, gave a donut shop assistance for an updated roof and aided four other businesses, including the bar Nunez manages.
Maksimow said the program permits smaller establishments to stretch their funds for simple upgrades, but said it tends to serve as an incentive for even larger changes.
For example, down University Avenue from Nunez’s bar is Super Cocina, where owner Juan Pablo Sanchez has grand plans. Fresh Look City Heights helped him pay for new paint, signage, planters and an awning and now he is applying to a city program to knock down a cement wall to make space for outdoor seating.
“We’re going to do a roll-up door, like a garage,” Sanchez said.
Sanchez said requirements for the city’s Storefront Improvement Program can be cumbersome for many of the independent and immigrant-run businesses in City Heights, possibly preventing some from applying. Since 2000, the city received 81 applications for projects in the City Heights community planning area and 41 have been completed.
Storefront Improvement Program Applications Since 2000
- North Park, 156 applications
- Centre City (Downtown), 105 applications
- Normal Heights, 93 applications
- City Heights, 81 applications
- Ocean Beach, 66 applications
- Uptown (Hillcrest, Mission Hills, Bankers Hill, University Heights), 55 applications
- Pacific Beach, 45 applications
- College Area, 44 applications
- Golden Hill, 39 applications
- San Ysidro/Southeastern San Diego, 38 applications each
Source: City of San Diego
Sanchez added that the city's program can be a helpful follow-up to the Fresh Look program.
“Most of the business here just need a simple face lift, a coat of paint, and a lot of times it’s a catalyst to keep going,” said the City Heights Business Association member.
Sanchez has encouraged nearby establishments to update their exteriors — the market owner next door has now applied — and he sometimes serves as an ambassador for the program when owners are skeptical or unfamiliar with it.
He said storefront improvement is a big part of drawing visitors to University Avenue, which he sees as the gateway to City Heights. He helped launch an association of residents and businesses aimed at promoting the corridor between interstates 15 and 805, which the members have dubbed The Avenue.
“Obviously improving the faces of business, so maybe creating more windows, so a face or paint job, increasing visibility from the outside,” he said.
After the face lift at his bar, Nunez is planning more changes. He wants to add windows for better visibility and a kitchen to serve tacos out of a walk-up window. He wants to change the name too. Formerly it was known as El Uno bar, but now he is thinking of using The Avenue to further help brand the area.
One thing that will not be changing, he said, is the price of his beer.
“You cross the bridge and your beer is going to be $7 and up,” he said, referring to neighboring North Park. “We’re still pretty much $3 beers and up. Happy hour: $2 cans. So it’s pretty much reasonable for the neighborhood.”
