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Our goal today is, really, to continue gathering input to build our strategic
plan for the short-term basis with a long-term vision.
And we want to do that based on the insights and the ideas that we hear from you:
Our stakeholders.
Setting the stage for the future,
Pier 32 Marina in National City
was the site of the second strategic-planning forum organized by the Port of
San Diego.
The meeting, which was held on Monday, September 26, brought together
75 city officials from all across the bay as well as civic
leaders, labor and education representatives and environmental
advocates.
Back in 1962, the state legislature realized that smart
development of the waterfront
requires coordination among all five cities that surround the bay.
A single agency was needed to combine the resources and the interest of all
the cities to ensure that the bay was properly developed and protected.
All of you will have the opportunity to help the Port develop its long-term goals
and strategies as well as guide development and conservation of the Port
tidelands for the next 50 years.
Observations
from these two community forums will help the Port design a blueprint that will guide its
development for the next five years and beyond.
Participants were asked for their honest input
on regional priorities, challenges, opportunities as well as ideas for
partnerships.
Their feedback included ideas for more jobs, infrastructure investments, tourism
opportunities and a more balanced approach toward development in the South
Bay.
We very much appreciate
the Port of San Diego taking the time and investing the resources to come to south
county and talk to our citizens, our elected officials and our community
leaders about what's important to them:
About their bayfront.
For years, the Port of San Diego has been very
"city of San Diego-centric"
and there's been a lot of investment, as result of that, in the city of San
Diego and those
of us that represent other cities around San Diego Bay
have been interested
in seeing some of those investments
focused in our areas.
The new frontier for the Port
really is this area
of the South Bay and the entire
South Bay. There are wonderful opportunities here for us to do things differently and the way to do it, moving forward,
is not to fall apart over
simple differences of the past. The
future is right now in this moment.
I'm really glad that the Port decided to hold one their Port strategic-
planning forums here in National City
and for us, as a Chamber of Commerce, it's a balance between commerce, public
access and
and community development. I think this is a really great
direction for the Port to go. I think it's very important to draw
groups of stakeholders together. I wish that we had more representation from the
environmental community and from the local neighborhoods and community
residents. So, I hope that the Port will continue these and reach out
many more other groups of stakeholders. I think this is
long overdue.
As I said, I've been here 10–15 years in this position
and I've been to other meetings, but there was never a
follow-through.
With the two meetings I've attended here,
I'm highly supportive of what they're doing and the people
we're meeting here and
our problems, our concerns are basically the same.
We all have the same problems, but all we need to do is get together,
collaborate,
agree to disagree,
but still work
for our children.
There's even an opportunity to merge education with the Port of San Diego.
Education absolutely because I think that
the future— when students understand the importance of the Port and all that goes there,
and I guess the science piece, but the tourism piece as well, opens up a whole other
perspective for the students.