Good for Rori's.
Oooh, I know this one. I saw it on one of my walks downtown, but didn't grab a photo. It's at 1532 State St., in the driveway to the buildings parking garage.
Let's label any proposal to make Chapala and Anacapa two way streets what it would be - a really dumb idea. The current setup allows the traffic lights to be timed to facilitate traffic flow. Eliminating that will increase the time necessary to traverse those streets, thereby increasing congestion and pollution downtow, without an equivalent benefit.
I agree completely. This was never a "Promenade". I was for it as well during Covid, but now it is time to try anything to revive State Street. In the current configuration it is not working. We don't need wider sidewalks because no one is coming to State Street anymore.
As pretty as they are-
Asian Pear Trees SMELL REAL BAD!!! Look it up.
It’s funny they forgot to mention, ask any nurseryman,
they stinky!
They said they have nothing to report yet.
The Cliff May house reminded me of the Stonehouse Restaurant at S.Y.R, back in the late 1980's. The exterior was white, thick white paint covered every surface. The interior was mostly white too. . I thought the building would look better with no paint. And, it looks beautiful now.
I think this house has some beautiful surfaces under all that white paint.
Any chance you could get an update for us on when Rudy's will reopen in Carp? Thank you!
Everybody has an idea of how State street should work. But nothing is going to be changed because there is no money. From the city.
I'll use the Saturday Farmers Market for an example. I like to get lunch at West Coast Deli on East Carrillo. I have a truck so I feel okay parking in the yellow commercial zones. So does everyone else. In fact people parking in the red zones for a few minutes is also common, I don't have a problem with it. There is a need for a lot of parking from 11am to 1pm, Monday thru Friday. Quick in and out.
Then on Saturday the street is blocked for most of the day and it's a great Farmers Market.
That's how State street could be. Open most of the time to bikes, busses, cars, trucks, bike commuters, tourists on bikes,. . . and those awful e-bikes. Then, a few times a week, or less, it's closed for events.
So happy to hear that they are still open! We tried going a few times since December and it was always closed. I was worried they had closed for good. The food is great and the owner is lovely and often stops by tables to visit with clients.
Bingo, this is typical cart before the horse. We simply don't have the population to support such a long promenade. Build another 1-2,000 housing units downtown, then it starts to become feasible.
I agree with most except that bicycle traffic is not good for business on State street.
We spend more on State when riding as its so easy to stop for a drink or lunch. Driving is a commitment to finding parking and time limits. We used to ride on Bath and Castillo to avoid State st traffic but now enjoy cruising State to get to the beach.
I am in my 60's and enjoy the energy of the bikes and kids down there. If only we had electric bikes back in tge day. The freedom these kids have is fantastic.
I agree with you that it isn’t terribly inviting. It just looks like a street. Numerous case studies show people won’t use pedestrian thoroughfares that look like streets. NYC spent money in Times Square leveling the street to curb height and then people naturally gravitated toward using the open space. Also agree parklets were frankly gross and had shanty vibes.
All of that said, this feels like an exceptional instance of putting the cart before the horse. State Street is not struggling because of the street. It is a combination of the macro economy, high rents, consumers shopping online, storefronts that are too large so as to be appealing to many retailers, low population density downtown, and realistically a size of city that can only support so much retail and that retail having shifted to other locations.
The best fix for State Street is to increase population density downtown. We can always turn the street into a pedestrian thoroughfare later if we want. But this is an inane obsession with something that ultimately is just a random distraction at this point.
Serious suggestion ... if State Street isn't working as a "street," change it into something else. Add a water feature? Make it a High Line-esque park? How exciting is blacktop? (Answer: not very. I for one never thought Covid "parklets" on blacktop were that appealing. Why would I want to eat a meal on blacktop? But I digress.) Get creative. No one is going there to shop, nor will they. Get rid of the "street" aspect all together and you may be onto something. And ... don't knock it till you try it!
Fox News says what?
Agreed. Not one mention from the city how they would pay for all this (they are in a budget deficit as it is) or made any comment about what the economic benefit to downtown would be. We already have wide sidewalks more the adequate to handle pedestrian traffic on all but the busiest of parade days (which we don't have on State anymore), pre-covid we already were able to shut down portions of the street for events and markets, and like or not vehicles slow down e-bikes and are necessary for out of towners to explore our downtown. I just don't get why SB is spending millions of dollars to develop a plan they have not idea how to fund and execute. Before noon State Street is very sleepy, no need for a closure, and if you watch who does ride their bikes downtown, it's commuters and kids, not people going downtown looking to shop and dine - which is what we need to be encouraging in our economic core. All this money and effort would have been, and will continue to be, better spent on adding more housing units downtown.
It doesn’t seem that complicated? The opening at night is for deliveries, maintenance, and service, similar to how it’s opened for that at night today.
For crying out loud—no new taxes! Trim the programs, trim the services.
*Meant to write “passed on the RIGHT.”
These draft plans are ridiculous. At this point, just revert things to what they were.
I was a promenade proponent pre-COVID. Attended the town halls and city council meetings where the topic was broached well in advance of 2020. Even in 2020 when it was first closed, it wasn’t that bad. I am a cyclist and used it regularly until 2022, by which point e-bike traffic had taken over and after being passed on the left too many times, I no longer felt safe riding.
I had dinner on State Street twice this week. Last Saturday at Joe’s we watched two teen boys circles the block at high speed, ignore red lights, and almost run over a chihuahua on a leash. I had dinner two nights ago at Sama Sama and it was quiet. In both instances though I had my 2 year old with me and she’s a runner so I never really feel that safe having her down there.
They should drop any mention of a promenade and call a spade a spade. It’s an e-bike highway.
Have you seen the transformation taking place at the log Mackenzie market building? Wow
Thanks Sierra! Is Lucca /the bank project moving forward?
Christine,
I just want to clarify your post above: Ed St. George is a client of Radius, not a part of Radius. I am his leasing agent and have our Radius LEASING signs in the windows at Founders Market. Feel free to reach out to me if you would like deeper insight on his projects.
Find my contact info at: https://www.radiusgroup.com/team/sierra-falso/
DRE Lic #: 01276646
Agreed, why this town always sells out to the tourist trade is sad. This should be a town built for residents, not visitors.
The best part of this "anti men" is- the Grandmother of one of the investors is Aleene Jackson- who has a long history being a strong female, operating a self started business- Aleene's Creative Living/Tacky Glue. She made Industrial Way famous long before Industrial Eats/Figueroa Brewing came in
