Publication Type: Session Paper

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: A detailed understanding of the consequences of immigration on the receiving society has long been of interest to American urban specialists and crime researchers, particularly during periods of surging immigration rates. Over the past decade, community-level research has found little support for the widely-held sentiment that immigration is positively associated with levels of criminal offending. Despite the renewed academic interest in this topic, a number of theoretically relevant questions have not yet been fully addressed in the extant literature. For example, few studies have examined whether levels of neighborhood crime are unaffected by compositional changes, as social disorganization theory expects. In this study, we focus on just this issue; that is, whether socio-demographic changes (i.e., arrival of immigrants) can be linked to temporal variations in lethal violence. Using tract-level homicide counts matched to census data compiled in the Neighborhood Change Data Base (NCDB) for four decennial census years, we find mixed support for the expectations of social disorganization theory. We argue that by carefully examining the relationship between community socio-demographic transitions and levels of lethal violence over a thirty year period, this research contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the temporal effects on community violence trends.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Ethnic and racial communities occupy symbolic and geographic spaces in which conflicting racial images are created and imbued with political, economic, and moral meaning by a wide range of interests, including those of developers, the media, city officials, and members of ethnic communities. To examine this issue, I compare two cases in the economic redevelopment of downtown San Diego. In one case, the Chinese Mission building, originally built in 1927 was saved and turned into a museum and cultural center. In the other, the Douglas Hotel, constructed in 1924 and the center of entertainment for African Americans until the post-WWII era, was demolished by the city to make way for a multi-use commercial and residential complex. In the history of urban areas in the U.S., images of ethnic communities have had real, material consequences as local governments have strategically employed these images to justify development plans. For example, city officials have declared neighborhoods as "blighted," "slums," and "dens of depravity" to justify displacing residents and businesses through urban redevelopment projects, or, as vital economic enclaves and sites of "exotic" activities to cultivate them as tourist attractions. I examine this process in my comparison of the two sites.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Information about drug use by adult and juvenile arrestees was collected in San Diego County as part of the federally-funded DUF and ADAM programs between 1987 and 2003. With the end of this cross-site study, the Criminal Justice Research Division of the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) has successfully identified local funding to continue this data collection effort on a bi-annual basis so that this historical information can be provided as an on-going resource for local prevention, treatment, and enforcement practitioners. This presentation will describe strategies utilized to maintain the program, include an overview of the current instrument that was revised to meet local information needs, and share findings collected through interviews completed with and urine samples collected from male and female adult and juvenile arrestees. Trends in drug use, including methamphetamine, over time will be discussed, as well as the results of additional analyses examining factors related to drug use and participation in other risky behaviors.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Like many large U.S. cities, San Diego has seen its downtown population grow substantially over the past 20 years, due, in part, to aggressive redevelopment efforts. Much of these efforts were pursued under public-private partnerships, with the City of San Diego providing land, capital and regulatory relief to developers undertaking new projects downtown. This paper critically evaluates San Diego’s major post-1990 downtown redevelopment efforts. We focus on recently-completed Petco Park and ancillary development in the once-moribund East Village. We compare the City’s role in building a new baseball stadium for the Padres to similar efforts in Los Angeles and around the country. We also examine the commercial re-use of former naval facilities – the Naval Training Center and Navy Broadway Complex – located near downtown. Despite the dedication of substantial public resources, the public benefits from these projects have minimal. Indeed, the City has often been left holding the bag for basic infrastructure and services on projects advertised as revenue neutral. We conclude with the lessons to be learned from San Diego’s redevelopment experiences, and suggest reasons for the City’s chronic inability to achieve greater public benefits from its substantial investments in public-private initiatives.