City Heights

The City Heights area of the City of San Diego is an ethnically diverse neighborhood located at the eastern end of Mission Valley.  The area is currently undergoing a renaissance of a sort with new commercial and residential projects going up at a rapid pace.  Once an example of urban decay and high crime, City Heights is now a model for public and private cooporation and is well on the way to once again being a strong part of the city.

The area has benefited from a grass roots movement that began over 10 years ago. Crime and the drug culture have been reduced significantly and the area no longer is losing population.  Now it's problem is controlling growth.  More than $550 million has been invested in the area in an effort to bring it back to life led by Sol Price, the co-founder with his son of the Price Club wholesale chain.  Price Charities has donated more than $40 million to the neighborhood's revitalization projects. Price has come up with creative ways to stretch the schools to accommodate the growing population of students and with ways to add affordable housing to the area.

New projects in the area include City Heights, once a strong shopping mall, restored to its former glory; a new Head Start program that serves over 100 children chattering in 30 different languages; a new library; a San Diego Community College District Continuing Education facility; and a San Diego State University Community Center.

Other additions to the community include an Imax theater, a new transportation center for alternative-fuel vehicles and a transit plaza/San Diego Workforce Partnership career center that is expected to train over 10,000 people a year.

Education is an important part of City Heights revitalization program and there are now three model schools that train new teachers about the challenges of teaching in the inner city.  Test scores are rising and students from Hoover High School are increasingly being accepted at prestigious colleges.

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