How one downtown rebounded from the pandemic, even as others struggle

[Streamliner]

How one downtown rebounded from the pandemic, even as others struggle
BY ASH-HAR QURAISHI, AMY CORRAL, RYAN BEARD

MARCH 7, 2023 / 6:00 AM / CBS NEWS
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/san-die...ties-struggle/

At the onset of the pandemic in the spring of 2020, downtowns across the country emptied out. Soft lockdowns, office closures and a massive shift to remote work meant businesses in the urban core that were traditionally dependent on the daily foot traffic of commuters were at risk of financial ruin.

In San Diego, a downtown economy dependent on tourism and convention-goers, restaurant owners were bracing for the worst.

The city's downtown rebound is something of an anomaly. Many cities are struggling to entice remote workers and residents back to the urban core.

New data from researchers at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Toronto indicates that most American downtowns are still struggling.

"We started the study early in the pandemic, as we noticed folks departing actually in New York City," said Karen Chapple, professor emerita of city and regional planning at UC Berkeley and the study's lead author. "That was our first case that we looked at was the New York City, the metropolitan area, realizing that folks were leaving for the exurbs, for rural small towns all over the region."

Chapple and her team analyzed those patterns using cell phone data in 62 downtowns. They studied how much activity there was before, during and after the pandemic.

"It's a very significant number of pings all over North America that we were able to collect, about 18 million pings," she said. "We record all kinds of activity, and that's what makes it better than, say, those office footfall indicators or office vacancy rates, which are only looking at office workers. We're looking at everybody who comes downtown."

San Diego, it turns out was near the top of the list by the end of 2022 — recovering 99% of its pre-pandemic activity.

"What San Diego did right is it made a 24/7 city," said Chapple.

That resiliency was due in part to economic plans that started long before COVID.

"There's decades of planning and a lot of thought that's gone into it. And that has made San Diego one of the most resilient cities in North America," said Chapple.

One strategy that seems to have paid off was having a diverse job sector that continued to bring employees into their downtown workplaces. San Diego's downtown industries included food services, accommodations, education, and health care.

"Like they said about Bill Clinton, 'It's the economy, stupid,' because if you have the right mix of sectors, you're doing pretty well right now. But if you were too specialized, you might be suffering," said Chapple.

San Diego didn't over-specialize, whereas tech heavy cities ended up flatlining since many "techies" now work remotely.

"San Francisco might have been able to come back," she said. "It had a compromised hybrid work situation with its tech sector. But now it's going through the layoffs, and that's what's happening in in Los Angeles and Seattle and Portland and a few other tech places too."

A bit of a puff piece, but interesting nonetheless

[DCReid]

Originally Posted by Streamliner

How one downtown rebounded from the pandemic, even as others struggle
BY ASH-HAR QURAISHI, AMY CORRAL, RYAN BEARD

MARCH 7, 2023 / 6:00 AM / CBS NEWS
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/san-die...ties-struggle/







A bit of a puff piece, but interesting nonetheless

Of the west coast cities mentioned, I got the impression that San Diego had the least dense/active downtown pre-covid. I did not see that many office buildings; in fact, I recall seeing as many condo/apartment high-rises as offices in downtown SD. So I don't think the article is telling us that much.

[citywatch]

• Video Link

[craigs]

I'd love to see some numbers--how many people work in downtown San Diego, what industries they work in, etc.

We know that the cities with downtowns that are mostly or significantly filled with office buildings full of tech employees have been the hardest hit and come back the slowest. We know that is because those tech workers (who are still employed) can easily work from home at least a few days a week, with their employers' blessings. This article indicates to me that San Diego's tech jobs are mostly clustered outside of downtown.

[badrunner]

Originally Posted by DCReid

Of the west coast cities mentioned, I got the impression that San Diego had the least dense/active downtown pre-covid.

You must have missed the Gaslamp district which has been active for a long time, and is pretty much 100% back to pre-pandemic levels.

[pdxtex]

The only thing that will save downtowns are people. Either living there or working there. As much as it pains me to say, WFH introverts have urban America by the balls. Downtown Portland is in a weird state of flux. Id say appx half of downtown, the part that is more residential or with hotels is doing pretty good.The south end of the cbd with all the class a office space is doing much much better. All of the streets with our really old offices, like early 1900s brick buildings are a complete horror show. They are definitely empty with boarded up store front and zombie hobos camping in tents. It looks WORSE than all those Kensington videos you see in Philadelphia.

[destroycreate]

Downtown San Diego is wonderful, full stop. It definitely feels way less depressing/dead right now than the fentanyl-ladden enclaves of SF, DTLA, Seattle, or PDX. Yes, there's homeless presence but for some reason not nearly as much. And there's more to DTSD than 5th avenue in Gaslamp (4th and 6th are very lively too btw)--you've got a very vibrant waterfront embarcadero, Little Italy which is probably got some of the best pedestrian activity of anywhere in SD, and East Village as well.

[Crawford]

I haven't been to San Diego since the pandemic, but the downtown never had much of a corporate base. It was heavily residential and visitor oriented. Most of downtown was dominated by newer glassy condo buildings and convention-oriented hotels. It also has to be one of the most generic U.S. downtowns. Definitely the least impressive core among the major West Coast cities.

And all those remote tech and new economy jobs would be in North San Diego, around UCSD, Scripps, and the like. So the pandemic wouldn't have been that disruptive to the downtown core.

[k1052]

Originally Posted by Crawford

And all those remote tech and new economy jobs would be in North San Diego, around UCSD, Scripps, and the like. So the pandemic wouldn't have been that disruptive to the downtown core.

This is correct. Even those markets haven't been hurt badly since a lot of space is taken up by companies either in or adjacent to the defense industry that are all in the office.

[destroycreate]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Definitely the least impressive core among the major West Coast cities.

1000% disagree with this. It may not be teeming with commuters and hot shot business folk, but it's livable, clean for West Coast standards, and much safer than most. It seems more resident oriented too...isn't that one of the goals?

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by destroycreate

1000% disagree with this. It may not be teeming with commuters and hot shot business folk, but it's livable, clean for West Coast standards, and much safer than most. It seems more resident oriented too...isn't that one of the goals?

Are we talking about a bedroom community that just happens to be called "downtown"? And if we are, I doubt it's even the most successfully rebounded urban neighborhood in California let alone the country.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by destroycreate

1000% disagree with this. It may not be teeming with commuters and hot shot business folk, but it's livable, clean for West Coast standards, and much safer than most. It seems more resident oriented too...isn't that one of the goals?

"Clean" wouldn't have any relevance for my personal judgments of urban cores. Paris is pretty dirty, Irvine is pretty clean, bc there are no people walking around, and you need people to make a mess. Pretty sure Paris has one billion times better urbanity.

I never found San Diego to be unusually "clean"? Like you can eat off the sidewalk or something? There are plenty of homeless, needles and the like. Big tent cities around my usual hotel (the Hilton San Diego, right on the bay, near Gaslamp). Maybe it isn't as bad as LA's skid row, but it's still pretty obvious.

Cores shouldn't strive to be heavily residential. They're supposed to be activity hubs. Some residential is good, but a residential-dominated core is not really a core anymore.

[homebucket]

All this tells us is that San Diego never had a lot of office workers downtown to begin with. I don't really see anything that San Diego itself did specifically to diversify its downtown job sector during the pandemic. Most major cities also have downtown industries that include "food services, accommodations, education, and health care".

[edale]

I wonder how much San Diego's conservatism has impacted its recovery. While it's not conservative compared to the South or Midwest, it's definitely the most conservative major city on the West Coast. Liberal cities/regions took Covid much more seriously, embraced the WFH movement, and are largely the places struggling to get back to pre-pandemic norms. Some conservative cities/regions basically ignored the pandemic all together, and while there might be companies that are still doing WFH or hybrid, it's less prevalent than in cities like DC, SF, NY, LA, etc. I bet San Diego has more of a 'back to office' culture than other West Coast cities.

Other points that have been raised already still stand, though. Its downtown has had a large residential base for years, and it's also pretty reliant on tourism and conventions, which have rebounded fairly well. I'm not sure if it's less of a corporate center than Downtown LA, but definitely less than Seattle or SF.

[citywatch]

As for the major city north of SD, this youtuber on his walking tour makes some observations, admittedly anecdotal but probably more accurate than not....

https://youtu.be/rmd9APprHAs?t=464

I watched a vid of Paris awhile back that showed how some of that city's sidewalks were full of squatters in homeless camps, mainly migrants from north africa or elsewhere. I was really turned off by what I saw & it really chilled my impression of Paris. If that can happen to what's probably one of the, if not most, respected city in the world, other cities are even more vulnerable.

Closer to home, the bad publicity about cities like Portland, Seattle, SF, NYC, Chicago, Baltimore....&, of course, LA....haven't been exactly ideal for a city's chamber of commerce.

[destroycreate]

Originally Posted by citywatch

As for the major city north of SD, this youtuber on his walking tour makes some observations, admittedly anecdotal but probably more accurate than not....

https://youtu.be/rmd9APprHAs?t=464

With the exception of DTLA, I feel like Los Angeles as a whole is pretty much back to normal. Venice, Santa Monica, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Manhattan Beach etc. don't look too different than pre-pandemic and is light years ahead with activity compared to 2020/2021. I was in SF a few weeks ago for work, and that to me felt like an entirely different city--it felt like half the population moved out and it was WAY more dead everywhere, not just the core but even places like Dolores Park. Felt sedate. Hell, I even saw people driving around alone in their cars with masks on...SF went way overkill with Covid.

Not really following this. Just watched his video--was Sunset Boulevard ever really jam packed with pedestrians walking around? It has certainly always been traffic clogged save it for a few people walking their dogs, jogging, or walking to their cars lol, which it still is. Not sure that was ever really a massive tourist hub to begin with, outside of visitors staying at hotels and parking up to valet. Sunset Boulevard gets busy at night with club, bar and restaurant goers but there's not much by daytime. It looks like he's walking around on a Sunday morning. I live next to WeHo, and to me it seems like it's thriving and pretty much back to normal (Santa Monica Blvd. is really where there's a lot more activity), with the exception of a lot of for lease signs on many storefronts/businesses still.

[destroycreate]

Originally Posted by edale

I wonder how much San Diego's conservatism has impacted its recovery. While it's not conservative compared to the South or Midwest, it's definitely the most conservative major city on the West Coast. Liberal cities/regions took Covid much more seriously, embraced the WFH movement, and are largely the places struggling to get back to pre-pandemic norms. Some conservative cities/regions basically ignored the pandemic all together, and while there might be companies that are still doing WFH or hybrid, it's less prevalent than in cities like DC, SF, NY, LA, etc. I bet San Diego has more of a 'back to office' culture than other West Coast cities.

Other points that have been raised already still stand, though. Its downtown has had a large residential base for years, and it's also pretty reliant on tourism and conventions, which have rebounded fairly well. I'm not sure if it's less of a corporate center than Downtown LA, but definitely less than Seattle or SF.

It for sure had something to do with it. Even by March 2021, SD defied the bans on indoor dining and restaurants were hosting indoor dining while cops turned a blind eye. I remember restaurants in the Gaslamp, Coronado etc. were busy with patrons. People were going to gyms, a lot of bars were open (granted with seating being distanced). My SF friends would state how proud they were at not having gone to a restaurant for a whole year, just for comparison's sake.

Let's just be honest--the most liberal and progressive cities shot themselves in the foot, whereas the more red/conservative cities got back to normal way faster and are thriving now.

[citywatch]

Originally Posted by destroycreate

with the exception of a lot of for lease signs on many storefronts/businesses still.

that youtuber recently did a few walking tours of other areas, such as around mid wilshire near Hancock park...the la brea tar pits, etc. He pointed out all the vacant store fronts & seemed to imply that LA remains in a post Covid funk. Publicity about crime, squatter camps, smells of piss & feces, etc, throughout any city is bound to not help people's mood.

[citywatch]

The vid of Paris I've mentioned was from a few yrs ago. This one posted recently doesn't make France's most famous city look nearly as bad.

• Video Link

At least the homeless shown in France are in an enclosed space, not outside under rows of tents. They've become way too common in many cities of the US. Vids I've seen of LA, Portland, seattle, SF, NYC (vandalism more than just squatters), & stories about crime in chicago, etc, make them look or seem way worse.

[citywatch]

Ppl both inside & outside any city see things like this & they're going to be turned off. Maybe their mood won't be so negative that they'll stop going out & having a good time. But they're probably unconsciously less optimistic, more sour or apprehensive.

• Video Link

^ the claim that's mainly in LA's skid row isn't entirely accurate. Scenes like those are found throughout LA & surrounding towns. However, the culture & politics in any urban area's already very gritty sections, such as central Portland or SF, Philadelphia, chicago, or other cities of the midwest & east, do ramp up the problem.