My name is Dylan Mancuso and I own Cuso’s Creamery and Cuso’s Bikes on State Street, as well as Cuso’s Sandwich shop coming soon!
I am proud to join a growing coalition of downtown businesses owners who do not want cars on State Street. Our group is called Businesses for State Street.
I love car-free State Street because it creates a safer and more pedestrian-focussed atmosphere. It’s more family-friendly. We haven’t seen any car incidents since the closure. Having the street car-free helps build more of a community feel downtown.
The closure has not had a negative effect on our State Street vacancy rate; in fact, our vacancy rate today is lower than it was in 2018 back when we had cars. It’s good for businesses and retail overall. The closure might not be the best for big box stores, but retail market places aren’t focussed on big box stores so much anymore–its much more the small guys, for whom the closure is great. Also, our community has always loved local businesses more than national chains!
Our customers love car-free State Street. They know that not every road in Santa Barbara is safe, but we know this one is. They love walking up and down the street.
What benefit would bringing cars back have? Some people think they could park on State Street to easily access shops, but they won’t be able to. People will still have to utilize the same parking complexes that exist today, get out of their car, and walk back down the street. In other words, opening the street to cars would not save customers any time or effort.
Bringing cars back would only have negative effects on our business and Downtown. We would lose a lot of the families that come here and a lot of the tourists that visit here looking for a pedestrian promenade. We would gain more noise pollution, car incidents — especially drunk driving incidents, as there are a lot of people drinking downtown. We would lose the safe atmosphere we’ve been cultivating for a long time.
I’m not alone in this opinion. There is another group, the State Street Business Alliance, which claimed in their survey that two-thirds of business owners want cars back. Our group, Businesses for State Street, has connected with dozens of owners up and down State Street, and none of them have ever heard of the Alliance or contributed to that statistic. We are being misrepresented — the majority of us do not want cars coming back!
My closing message: Mayor Rowse, and City Council, keep State Street closed to cars please! It’s essential for all of us small business owners, and it’s what most of us want!
