Okay, after six years, a gaggle of consultants, and long committee meetings to decide the future of our main street, the results are in. We have discovered what doesn’t work. Still, council voted to continue the status quo. No “interim plan” as continually promised, no “trial and error” closing and opening of blocks. One councilmember made a suggestion that we form a committee or hold a workshop. As I recall, we have travelled that well-beaten path before. We are apparently defending a concept labelled “The Promenade” which, as confirmed by the State Street Advisory Committee Chair at the final meeting, we’ve had in name only.
We are into our seventh summer of the closure of downtown State Street, a legacy of little compromise or improvement, resulting in stagnation and expenditure of taxpayer money. Santa Barbara’s traditional parades and festivals have been displaced. E-bike rider misbehavior, unobstructed by traffic, and unhampered by mid-block pedestrian crossing flashers, dominates the blacktop.
Property values have fallen, rents have decreased dramatically, and businesses have experienced uncertainty. Downtown property owners have self-assessed a good deal of money to help maintain the downtown but also to have a voice with council. Wanting something to happen, many of them favor going forward with a master plan, but their collective desire to open the street in the interim fell on deaf ears among most of the council. We should not fear success.
State Street and its cross streets are our central business and cultural district. El Pueblo Viejo was designated to be protected along our main street as part of our architectural heritage.
The return of linear circulation to State Street has been dismissed as “dated” or “nostalgic” thinking. The “Urban Mall” concept, which we have test-driven here for the past six years, was the hot ticket in the 1970s. Ninety percent of those configurations have failed across the country and reverted back to normal streets. It’s not about affection for the automobile; it’s about circulation, vibrancy, and activity. It’s about successful storefront retail viability and entertainment accessibility, not to mention optimized public safety response. The revenue to support civic activities and public safety is generated by business. We need to support those who have taken risks to own properties and open businesses. They are the key to fiscal sustainability for our city.
In the meantime, there are a number of positive things happening on State Street that should really help inject life back into our downtown business corridor. The Santa Barbara Film Festival’s new headquarters in the old Fiesta Five Theater, The Music Academy of the West, UCSB’s investment and commitment to downtown, and, finally, the conversion of the Paseo Nuevo Mall into housing and the International Headquarters of the Yardi Company, bringing 600 employees to our civic center.
These promising occurrences are happening in spite of council’s insistence on maintaining the current conditions on lower State Street, not because of it. Santa Barbara still represents value and opportunity, but only if we do our part.
It’s time to move forward, not back to the 1970s heyday of the next urban mall.
