Drop underground parking from park plan

Re “East Village Green, Downtown San Diego’s long-promised park, now costs $80M and comes with fewer features” (May 16): Every neighborhood would love to have an $80 million park, but in Downtown San Diego, such spending will only produce half of the long-awaited, 4-acre East Village Green at 13th and F streets. Drop the $35 million underground garage — most Downtown users will presumably get there on foot — and retain the cafe building. And give up plans for the eastern block, given its very high acquisition costs. If there must be more parking, put it above ground somewhere else or take advantage of underutilized City College parking.

Then use the savings to build one of the other parks proposed in the Downtown community plan years ago.

There’s a lesson here. Along with pretty renderings, insist on realistic, contractor-informed cost estimating. That goes not just for parks but for all project projects.

Roger Showley

Scripps Ranch