r/StrongTownsSD

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.

San Diego's zoning makes it functionally illegal to run a small neighborhood-serving business out of a residential building. A corner grocery, a cafe, a shop, a tailor or seamstress, a small workshop, a barber. The city's Micro-Enterprise Kitchen Home Operation (MEKHO) program is trying to change that in select areas, but has a lot of limitation for anyone else trying to bring some vitality to their neighborhood.

What would you open, or what would you want your neighbor to open, if the rules allowed it? Share the neighborhood and your idea.

These responses feed directly into our Home Enterprise (HEU) and Accessory Commercial Unit (ACU), shophouse policy work.

One of the newer additions to San Diego's food scene MEHKOs (Microenterprise Home Kitchen Operations) are licensed home cooks selling meals from their homes.. We want to map the best ones alongside underrated food trucks and street vendors, or other little shops that don't show up on Yelp or Google Maps.

Micro-businesses are one of the best ways for a city to lower the bar for entrepreneurship, give people opportunities to build a living or family wealth, to create walkable neighborhoods. They let people take small bets on themselves before making major investments into leasing a larger restaurant or shop space and equipment.

Not only that, but they help the city generate more reliable tax revenue because these small businesses support the immediate community, have less tied up in debt and can survive economic downturns, and are also the businesses that their neighbors rally to save.

There are so many other benefits to building strong towns that these micro-enterprises have.

Share the name, neighborhood, and what to order. We'll compile the best into a neighborhood guide.

Share name & location in the comments and then vote for your favorites with upvotes.

Bonus points for parks that don't show up on every "best parks in SD" listicle. (sorry if you’re local to Kate Sessions or Balboa Park [say the specific part of the park if it's Balboa Park and less well known])

We’ll organize some events at these parks and then you can come hang out with us.