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Article: Padres to the rescue; Urban development (1).(San Diego's downtown revival)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- April 10, 2004
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Fabulous marinas, just a touch of smog
How a baseball team can revive a city
"THE city had to have a heart, so as not to look like Los Angeles." Wise words from San Diego's Republican mayor, Dick Murphy, explaining how the opening in 1985 of Horton Plaza, a seven-storey shopping complex, revitalised a decaying city centre. Clearly, no sane San Diegan, then or now, would want the vast, unfocused urban sprawl, congested freeways and polluted air that their neighbours some 120 miles to the north have to suffer. Just as Canada is proud to be "not America", so San Diego, with its green Balboa Park and sparkling yacht marinas, boasts of being "not LA".