San Diego is a big city. Its territory covers pristine beaches and serene agricultural valleys, dense urban centers and sleepy suburban housing tracts, even a bustling international border. So although I’m voiceofsandiego.org’s neighborhoods reporter, there are still plenty of neighborhoods I don’t know as well as I’d like to. Some of them I’ve never been to at all.
So starting Tuesday, I’m taking Survival in San Diego on the road!
During the next couple of weeks I’ll be pounding pavement in a different neighborhood every day. I want to get a feel for the pulse of neighborhoods I haven’t paid a whole lot of attention to in my two years of reporting here. I’ll be filing dispatches as I meet residents or business owners like you. I want to find out about the important or not-so-important neighborhood issues people are talking about. I want to know about local prides or controversies. I want to know what makes your neighborhood fascinating or weird.
Here’s the plan: Each day I’ll show up at 7:30 a.m., according to the schedule below, and hunker down at a restaurant or coffee shop for an hour. If you live in one of these neighborhoods I hope you’ll come by to introduce yourself and tell me something about your community.
Then I’ll get out and start exploring the neighborhood, talking to residents and business owners, and filing dispatches and pictures.
Here’s the schedule I have in mind for Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday (I’ll be out of town Thursday). I need your suggestions for neighborhoods to visit after that.
Tuesday, May 31: Clairemont (one of San Diego’s oldest suburban communities). I’ll start the day at Troy’s Family Restaurant, 4827 Clairemont Drive (Next to the Big Lots).
Wednesday, June 1: Linda Vista (home to the University of San Diego as well as a growing immigrant and refugee population) Meet me at Yum Yum Donuts, 6925 Linda Vista Road (north of Comstock Street).
Friday, June 3: San Pasqual (An agricultural enclave in San Diego’s northeastern-most corner). I haven’t found a meeting place yet. Stay tuned for more information.
The dispatches will be published here but I’ll also be tweeting observations. Be sure to follow me on Twitter at @adrianflorido.
You can also give me suggestions for what I should see and who I should talk to. Or, if your neighborhood’s not on my itinerary but you’d like it to be, tell me why.
Email me story tips and suggestions at adrian.florido@voiceofsandiego.org.
Or call me at 619.325.0528. My desk line will be forwarding to my cell phone all week.
So those are the details. If you live or work in Clairemont, see you Tuesday morning at Troy’s Family Restaurant, at 7:30 a.m. If you already know you’ll swing by, shoot me an email so I know to expect you.
Staring Tuesday, I’ll be exploring a different San Diego neighborhood every day and filing dispatches from the field. If you’ve got a story idea for me or think I should visit your neighborhood, shoot me an email at adrian.florido@voiceofsandiego.org or call me at 619.325.0528 and follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/adrianflorido.