Neighborhood Improvement
CHCDC has helped residents to define neighborhoods and create associations to participate in planning improvements including siting new schools and other needed public facilities. Hundreds of street trees have been planted and hundreds of dusk to dawn lights installed to provide visual relief, shade and night lighting on public rights-of-way. We are working with residents, property owners and elected representatives and city officials to prepare neighborhood improvement plans. The more people appreciate and use their neighbrohoods, the more secure and valuable they become.
With the addition of the new elementary schools in City Heights, one of our community development objectives is that these new schools and the remodeled existing schools will be the center pieces for revitalization of identified neighborhoods in City Heights and safe routes to school plus intermodal transportation.
Part of neighborhood revitalization has included art projects partnering professional artists and area youth in mural installations. A City Heights Arts and Neighborhood Culture Enterprise (CHANCE) program has been created to coordinate our involvement in neighborhood arts projects and event production. The CHCDC has organized many events that foster community unity including the International Village Celebration (IVC) which began in 1996 with the help of the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture. It has expanded over the years and now over 45,000 residents and visitors attend this street fair festival each year. A unique characteristic of the Celebration is the participation of many individual residents, associations and organizations from throughout City Heights and San Diego in the event Steering Committee.