February 14, 2025
Glen Schmidt’s Letter to the Editor at San Diego Union Tribute: ‘Blue Green Vision’ in City’s Flood Response is Promising
SDG Founding Partner Glen Schmidt discusses the City of San Diego’s Blue-Green Vision for flood response and encourages potential new ‘Rain to Recreation’ opportunities across the City in his letter to the editor at The San Diego Union-Tribune!
Read on below or follow the link at the bottom for the full letter!
In response to San Diego UT article: “A year after flood disaster, is San Diego’s stormwater system better equipped?” (January 26, 2025):
Thank you for sharing flood mitigation infrastructure projects considered as part of the “Chollas blue green vision”. Instead of “piping and concrete” improvements, the blue green infrastructure featured in the article emphasizes more natural water management and vegetation solutions. The key point we can take from this article is how this new approach creates multiple public and environmental benefits from our stormwater infrastructure investments.
Blue green examples such as replacing school yard asphalt with permeable surfaces are mentioned, but the key solution touched on is the benefit of expanding recreation and open space. Older communities in San Diego already are living with recreation and open space shortfalls. And our ever-expanding dense infill projects (and ADU’s) are intensifying that deficit. Our Mayor and City Council should create a city-wide “Rain to Recreation” program that leverages our need for stormwater infrastructure improvements with the multiple public benefits of more parks, trails, and canyonlands.
