Join Strong Towns San Diego every 2nd Tuesday for our monthly community meeting and happy hour at The Gärten in Morena.

We gather to welcome new members, share local updates, and plan next steps for building a stronger, community first, and more financially resilient San Diego, one small bet at a time.

This is our home base for building a better San Diego, block by block, street by street.

Whether you care about walkability, housing reform, ending highway expansions, or better budgeting at City Hall, you’ll find people here who want to get things done. We share updates, host special guests, and collaborate on real solutions to make our city work better for people.

RSVP is unnecessary, but helps us plan (We're hoping to ditch Meetup soon so that you're not constantly hounded by requests to pay for their pro account...sorry)

🕕 Time: 6:00–7:00 PM meeting, happy hour to follow in The Gartën
📍 Location: 5328 Banks St Ste B · San Diego, CA. Back patio of Lost Cause Meadery (find the red door - back right corner)
🍕 Food & Drink: Come early to grab food or drinks from Pizza Cassette, Lost Cause Meadery, and Oddish Wine. They're all great local spots worth supporting. Spending money here helps keep places like this alive. We love welcoming, walkable third spaces that bring people together.

🍻Note: Beer from Deft Brewing must stay in the front courtyard...we’ll head there for happy hour after the meeting. Wine & Mead are welcome at Lost Cause.

***

💬 Why Monthly Meetings?

These meetings are where we align our priorities, build relationships, and coordinate local action. Other events like Walk & Talks and pop-ups will continue throughout the city, but this is our consistent place to connect, strategize, and support each other.

***

🚲🚌🚈 Getting There

The Gartën is easily accessible by transit and bike:

• Trolley: 5 minute walk from Morena/Linda Vista (Green Line) and 10 minute walk from Tecolote Road (Blue Line)
• Bus: Served by Routes 105 & 44, both within a few blocks
• Bike: Bike rack and lock-up area available right out front
• Parking: Limited onsite and street parking available, but we encourage you to try walking, biking, or transit if you can!

See you there!

I keep hearing that the death of third spaces have made so many things worse, but it's genuinely unimaginable to be able to go to a place and just hang out and not have to spend a bunch of money. The only one I can think of near me is a library which, since it's government funded, doesn't require it to make a profit.

Did third spaces used to be more common? How did they fund themselves? What kinds of things did people do at them?

San Diego has hundreds of underused parcels sitting on productive land near people who need what could be there.

What's the most obvious missed opportunity in your corner of the city?

Share the address or cross streets and tell us what you'd build, open, or activate. Bonus points if you can tell us who owns it and what's actually preventing it.

Not a redesign. Not a new project. One small thing - a bench, a tree, better lighting, a painted crosswalk, a bollard, a bus shelter with a seat.

What's the change that would actually shift how people move through your block? Share the location and the fix. These specific, small asks are what we bring to council offices and community planning groups. (You can too. Find your CPG and attend their next meeting)

And then come and hang out with us at our next meeting.

We're gauging interest in hands-on neighborhood improvement projects that Strong Towns SD could organize. not just talk about, but actually do.

What sounds most worth your time, then drop a location in the comments if you have a spot in mind. And give other suggestions an upvote.

And then keep an eye out for it on our website and come help us do it!

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Strong Towns San Diego | strongtownssandiego.org

POLL OPTIONS:

1. Intersection mural or painting
2. Pop-up parklet or seating
3. Community garden or greenery
4. Little Free Library or Pantry
5. Neighborhood wayfinding signs
6. Block cleanup and beautification

Join Strong Towns San Diego every 2nd Tuesday for our monthly community meeting and happy hour at The Gärten in Morena.

We gather to welcome new members, share local updates, and plan next steps for building a stronger, community first, and more financially resilient San Diego, one small bet at a time.

This is our home base for building a better San Diego, block by block, street by street.

Whether you care about walkability, housing reform, ending highway expansions, or better budgeting at City Hall, you’ll find people here who want to get things done. We share updates, host special guests, and collaborate on real solutions to make our city work better for people.

RSVP is unnecessary, but helps us plan (We're hoping to ditch Meetup soon so that you're not constantly hounded by requests to pay for their pro account...sorry)

🕕 Time: 6:00–7:00 PM meeting, happy hour to follow in The Gartën
📍 Location: 5328 Banks St Ste B · San Diego, CA. Back patio of Lost Cause Meadery (find the red door - back right corner)
🍕 Food & Drink: Come early to grab food or drinks from Pizza Cassette, Lost Cause Meadery, and Oddish Wine. They're all great local spots worth supporting. Spending money here helps keep places like this alive. We love welcoming, walkable third spaces that bring people together.

🍻Note: Beer from Deft Brewing must stay in the front courtyard...we’ll head there for happy hour after the meeting. Wine & Mead are welcome at Lost Cause.

***

💬 Why Monthly Meetings?

These meetings are where we align our priorities, build relationships, and coordinate local action. Other events like Walk & Talks and pop-ups will continue throughout the city, but this is our consistent place to connect, strategize, and support each other.

***

🚲🚌🚈 Getting There

The Gartën is easily accessible by transit and bike:

• Trolley: 5 minute walk from Morena/Linda Vista (Green Line) and 10 minute walk from Tecolote Road (Blue Line)
• Bus: Served by Routes 105 & 44, both within a few blocks
• Bike: Bike rack and lock-up area available right out front
• Parking: Limited onsite and street parking available, but we encourage you to try walking, biking, or transit if you can!

See you there!

San Diego has 42 Community Planning Groups where residents officially weigh in on land use decisions in their neighborhood. They're also some of the most underattended civic bodies in the city.

If you've gone: was it useful? What happened?

If you haven't: what would it take?

CPG meeting schedules and how to join: sandiego.gov/planning/community-plans/cpg/agendas

We regularly organize events for 15+ people and we're always looking for new venues that have no issues accommodating a large group, especially ones that are walkable from transit or a protected bike lane, have outdoor seating, and don't mind a lively crowd.

What's your favorite large-group spot in San Diego? And if you own or manage a space, reach out directly: event request form

If you want to come hang out with a bunch of nerds who talk about making their city a better place, come hang out with us!

San Diego City Council reinstates 30-foot height limit for Midway District.

However, the 30-foot height limit will not stop Midway Rising or future developments with affordable housing from breaching the limit per CA state density bonus law.

Several cities in San Diego have passed ordinances aimed at improving safety for e-bikers, but many lack the level of bike infrastructure that would do more to protect riders.

I don't think that you can have a healthy society unless it celebrates people of all walks of life coming together. And key to that is families. 3rd spaces are great, but many of the ones that we have here in San Diego are actively hostile to children. The number of casual bar & grills that don't have high chairs or have turned us away entirely....

I've been to other cities and countries with biergartens, or parks with coffee shops, public squares in the city with real commerce and kids are running around while their parents chat.

A place where parents can have a real conversation while kids run around and nobody's stressed about it. Parks, breweries with big patios, certain cafes, playgrounds with good coffee nearby.

Bonus points for accessibility by walking or biking or transit.

Share your picks. We're always looking for STSD event venues that work for families. And if you're a family friendly business owner who wants to host us, reach out: event request form

And then come and hang out at our next family friendly event!

Every road, park, and utility line has a maintenance cost. Not all of them are covered by the taxes generated by the properties they serve. That gap  between what infrastructure costs and what it earns is how cities slowly go broke.

What's the most obvious example near you (like, within a mile of your home or school or work)? The eight-lane arterial through a low-density neighborhood, the stadium parking structure, the park facility that's never open.

Comment below. We use these observations in our Finance Decoder analysis and fiscal transparency advocacy.

Finance Decoder - Strong Towns SD

* Note: We believe that most subsidies are good. But subsidies that exceed your income isn’t sustainable. Education is a subsidy and that’s GOOD. Libraries are subsidized and that’s GOOD. Your neighborhood park is subsidized and that’s GOOD. These things provide social and economic value that increases equality in our society and enjoyment of our lives. Not all subsidies do this and should be thoroughly scrutinized and sometimes sunset.

something like the 7 bridges but shorter. We mean a walk where you go slow, notice things, and feel like you're actually somewhere - not a nature trail or a beach path, but a neighborhood. Streets, alleyways, mixed-use blocks, historic housing stock, whatever makes it worth walking slowly.

Share the neighborhood and a rough route. If you've done one of our Walk & Talks, this is a good place to share what you highlight for visitors.