S.D. ACTS ON PAVING DIRT STREETS

Council votes to change 1952 policy it says will help boost social equity

San Diego reversed some decades-old policies that have prevented the city from paving more than 60 miles of dirt streets and alleys, which are located primarily in low-income neighborhoods.

Calling the policy change a key advance for social equity in San Diego, the City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to allow city money to be spent upgrading dirt streets and alleys and to add those streets into the city’s road maintenance plans. The policy change does not require any immediate spending during the budget crisis created by the COVID-19 pandemic, but it allows the council to consider such road work among the many capital improvement projects it evaluates each spring.

A recent analysis estimates that it would cost between $300 million and $900 million to pave and upgrade all 60 miles of dirt alleys and streets, many of which are in areas built before modern neighborhood development standards.

“Dirt roads and alleys have no place in America’s Finest City — or any neighborhood,” said Councilwoman Vivian Moreno, who has spearheaded efforts to pave them.

Moreno said Tuesday’s unanimous vote is a signal that the council is truly committed to boosting equity.

“These dirt streets are vestiges of the past, maintained by policies that are over six decades old,” she said. “This is the first step to addressing this equity issue, as the communities most greatly affected by unimproved streets are those made up of low-income residents of color.”

The policy preventing the city from upgrading dirt streets dates to 1952. The policy preventing the city from agreeing to take over long