City Heights, San Diego

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City Heights Map and Boundary

City Heights is a large neighborhood in the eastern part of San Diego known for its ethnic diversity. Along the main streets (which include University Avenue, El Cajon Boulevard and Fairmount Avenue) one can find Hispanic, East African, African American, Middle Eastern, and Southeast Asian businesses. Although the area is notorious for gang violence and drug vending there is also a substantial amount of culture and history within the neighorhood.

Geographically, City Heights is large and diffuse, with many subneighborhoods. The city officially recognizes two neighborhoods which are collectively known as "City Heights"; City Heights East and City Heights West. The street pattern is mainly grid pattern, which has some interesting consequences near some of the fault lines and canyons in the neighborhood. City Heights West is bounded roughly by 805 freeway to the west and 43rd Street to the east. City Heights East is bounded by 40th Street to the west and 54th Street to the east. Both are bounded by El Cajon Boulevard to the north, and roughly by Home Avenue to the south.

Socially and economically, City Heights has a high concentration of lower income businesses and households, resulting from the newly arrived immigrant communities. Businesses tend to be smaller and wider spread than to the north and east. Pedestrianism is high relative to the rest of San Diego. Crime rates were quite high until the recent rennaisance, which ushered in one of the highest concentration of police presence in the city.

Students from City Heights generally attend Hoover High School in Talmadge or Crawford High School in El Cerrito as well as Clark Middle School.

Rennaisance

As with other older neighborhoods found just north of Downtown San Diego and Balboa Park, City Heights, is enjoying a rennaisance.

Interestingly, the presence of relatively high instances of crimes and the depressed economy until recently in the neighborhood was the catalyst for the recent redevelopements being experienced in the area. It is one of the major focus of the Smart Growth strategy by the City of San Diego aided and funded in part by private organizations and philantrophic individuals, notably Sol Price, founder of Fedmart and Price Club.

The project focuses primarilly on education, crime and gang-related activity reductions, economic improvements, smart urban growth, renewal of community pride and improvement of over-all quality of life, while at the same time the preseverance of the "melting-pot" identity that City Heights is known for.

Recent projects that have been completed includes the very first alternative fuel station in the city, a new retail complex with some mixed-use developments, several newly expanded and improved basic education schools, a new "urban village" that boasts a newly improved library, a new police headquarter and a gymnasium, and a number of innovative uses of open spaces as parks. Arts and architecture were also not overlooked evident in the new buildings, aiming to give the neighborhood its own identity.

As a result of the improvements, population in the neighborhood have been on the increase, reversing the trend of sort of a urban flight for those who could afford to move just a few years prior. Indeed, the redevelopment is now starting to focus on controlling growth.

A few trendy bars and clubs have also started to move into the neighborhood, a sign, some would argue that gentrification is also happening.

External links

• City Heights Town Council
• Mid-City CAN (Community Advocacy Network