As publishers of an annual book, each spring we retreat from much of our activism to focus on creating the best handy little guide possible to showcase Hillcrest, the community that we love. Now in our ninth year, the HillQuest Urban Guide will again share the insights of those who live and work in here, travel through or just plain love our neighborhood.
Please use our 2011-12 edition to learn more about Uptown and Old Town — this year’s neighbor chapter. If you haven’t been to Old Town lately, we encourage you to take the short trip and discover the Birthplace of California. Feel like a tourist in your own backyard! History, fun and lots of free parking!
We hope this HillQuest will encourage you to become more involved in making San Diego better. You may know that Hillcrest was selected as one of the nation’s best neighborhoods in 2007, yet there are opportunities for improvement. Share your views of the future. We’re in the midst of a two-year community plan update (there will be a story on page 11). While opinions vary, a common thread exists to reduce building heights and promote trolleys (see pages 28-29). Parking. The community continues to advocate for a reformed parking advisory board (see page 23), which will need everyone to share their ideas such as residential permits, streetcars, validation and adjusting meter rates that can vary from 25¢ to $2.50 an hour. Redistricting. Voters’ approval of the “strong mayor” also gave thumbs up for a ninth council district based on 2010 census data. How will our district be redrawn?
Fortunately, our neighborhood is packed with activism. As a voice for residents, the monthly Hillcrest Town Councilmeetings (2nd Tuesdays) are a melting pot of issues and ideas. Most importantly the HTC allows residents to meet their neighbors and begin a dialog! Whether it’s working with the city to fix the Tenth & Robinson bottleneck, hosting political forums, saving a tree (see page 9 of HQ9) or removing trash (see page 7)…this group does it all.
Much has changed in our community’s history (see the four page timeline beginning on page 31), but what made Hillcrest so special over the years lingers today — a village of characters with strong opinions. Community-minded people, who discuss, even argue, but try to find workable solutions.
We hope you enjoy HQ9. Distribution will begin the end of next month at our advertisers!
