October 15, 1999
No single issue has been as contentious in San Diego as the debate over a new regional airport. While it has been known for decades that San Diego's Lindbergh Field and its access roads cannot continue to accommodate the area's growing population and air cargo needs, the region's citizens, elected officials and civic leaders have reached an impasse over the issue of a new airport. The issue has been complicated further as ways to extend the life of Lindbergh Field have become a prominent part of the debate and increased traffic congestion has made access to any regional airport problematic.
Discussion of an airport strategy, therefore, has become part of a broader discussion of population growth, transportation and land-use concerns. San Diego's economic future is linked to an ability to maintain the region's highly prized quality of life and convenient access to air transportation. As San Diego's urbanized areas have expanded farther from the core, the volume of traffic has increased, the demands for urban infrastructure have expanded and the hopes for securing an airport site have diminished. San Diego faces an additional challenge by its "end-of-the-line airport" status —meaning that a higher percentage of passenger drive to and from the airport, rather than changing from one flight to another. Traffic congestion, urban sprawl, decreased open space and central city decline are not conductive to a new airport or to a positive regional economic future.
To facilitate discussion of this complex problem, San Diego Dialogue will host a Forum Fronterizo on "Smart Regional Planning and the Airport Question." The program will explore resolution of the "airport issue" through new ideas about intermodal transportation, economic development, land use and fiscal reform. The program will also encourage discussion about the types of regional institutional needed to face 21st century infrastructure requirements. The program will feature State Senator Steve Peace (D, El Cajon), chair of the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee and the Joint Legislative Budget Committee. Senator Peace wrote legislation that led to establishment of the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank (1994) and has been at the center of debates on smart growth, transportation infrastructure funding and regional decision-making.
A San Diego Dialogue Forum Fronterizo Program will be held on Friday, Oct. 22, 1999 at the Westin Horton Plaza, San Diego, 12:45-2:30 p.m.
For additional information, please call (858) 534-8638.
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