Skip to main content

August 2012

North Embarcadero Visionary Plan

Posted 30 August 2012

The beauty of San Diego, California, continues to be accentuated with the North Embarcadero Visionary Plan. Located in an area of North Harbor Drive, the $28 million Embarcadero project includes the relocation of Harbor Drive to the east. It also provides the public easier access to San Diego Bay through a 105-foot esplanade that will extend from the B Street pier to the former Navy pier. Elaborate gardens, plazas, and shade pavilions that offer relief from the hot San Diego sun will also be key features.

James A. Bronner Boys and Girls Club Branch – A Heartfelt Addition to the Community

Posted 23 August 2012
The James A. Bronner Family Branch provides safe, affordable, and fun after-school programs.

Renowned in the City of Escondido, California, for their organic soap company, Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap, the Bronner family is not only business-minded, but they also take charity to heart. Earlier this year, the James A. Bronner Family Branch of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater San Diego opened at the Valley Center Upper Elementary School campus in Valley Center. Named after the late Jim Bronner, who served on the board of the San Diego Boys and Girls Clubs for many years and served as president of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap, the project received a $1 million donation from the soap company for its construction. The new branch provides a permanent gathering place for Boys and Girls Club members, a welcome change from the club’s former residence in a temporary modular building on the school’s grounds.

Reconnecting Vancouver's Downtown District to the Waterfront

Posted 16 August 2012
The existing riverbank conditions along the Columbia River.

Call it a renewal or a revival, if you will. As one local resident put it, “Vancouver is a riverfront city without a riverfront.” That is about to change. By reconnecting the riverfront with the city’s downtown core and creating new public open space, the Vancouver Waterfront Park project will stimulate continued growth and revitalization through its long-term investment in the social and economic future of Vancouver, Clark County, and the region.

For most of the past century, the industrialization of the Columbia River riverfront foreclosed retail, residential, and leisure uses. Now the old structures that housed shipyards, paper mills, and warehouses are long gone, and the waterfront is experiencing a new beginning through a public/private partnership fostered by the City of Vancouver. The first step is reconnecting downtown Vancouver to the waterfront – a process that is well underway with the extension of Esther and Grant streets through the railroad berm that has separated the city from the Columbia River.

Envision: Sustainability Rating System for Infrastructure

Posted 9 August 2012
Envision rates infrastructure projects in terms of environmental, economic, and community benefits.

Have you ever wondered how a wharf, bridge, railway, or other non-building, civil infrastructure project might be built sustainably and gain national recognition? Well, let us introduce you to Envision!

Envision is a rating system developed by the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure (ISI), a nonprofit organization founded by the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC), the American Public Works Association (APWA), and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). This system offers a way to assess the sustainability of an infrastructure project by emphasizing their overall contribution to a community through stakeholder engagement, cultural awareness, business sustainability, and environmental stewardship.

Ruocco Park – Enhancing San Diego’s Waterfront

Posted 1 August 2012
The 3.3-acre Ruocco Park is being built on the waterfront near Harbor Drive and Pacific Highway in San Diego, California.

When construction of the new Ruocco Park in San Diego is complete this fall, it’s a good bet visitors will flock to the 3.3-acre park along the city’s waterfront regardless of the season. San Diego’s beautiful weather year-round lends a pleasant walk in any park whether it’s July or November.

Located near Harbor Drive and Pacific Highway, Ruocco Park will be the Port of San Diego’s 18th public park, and its conception was on the minds of the late Lloyd and Ilse Ruocco many decades ago. Lloyd Pietrantonio Ruocco was a celebrated San Diego architect who stood out amongst the rest when he brought a more modern style of architecture to the city in the 1930s. His ideas were a refreshing change from the seemingly old-fashioned styles that prevailed. His wife, Ilse Hammon Ruocco, was a talented interior designer and art professor at San Diego State University. Together they dreamed of a park in the city that featured exceptional urban design. They started a trust fund to realize their dream, thus the Ruocco Fund, managed by the San Diego Foundation, eventually grew to $3.5 million and was gifted to the city. The Port of San Diego pitched in an additional $3.8 million for a $7.3 million park that will live up to the Ruocco’s expectations.