Your article on the glib Mr. Gibbs (GT, 11/3) reminded me of a Downtown Association meeting I attended 10 (?) years ago when he made his first report. I was most impressed by the fact that he got $60,000 for cruising Pacific Avenue and writing a 10-page report that made the very astute observation that our traffic pattern was odd. I suggested that we might benefit from making the street a pedestrian mall, as had many other coastal towns—a benefit we see now. He demurred, noting that Santa Monica’s huge success was only because they had a department store at one end … the store was in the process of closing at the time, predictably. He also told the old guard of the DTA what they wanted to hear: that parking spaces in front of their stores was key to their survival. Clearly, it wasn’t.
Mr. Gibbs—like many of our city leaders, and the old real-estate families in charge of downtown—still thinks that parking will save us from Amazon and odd retail ideas and high rents and tax laws that allow buildings to sit empty. We plow ahead with covering our one central event space with more parking and the library, since the combination will be easier to finance and give our leaders a legacy building. This will be a five-minute walk from three existing parking structures that they can’t fill at $3.75 a day now, and after we spend a fair amount of money on plans to fix the current library, which is described by a prominent local architect as a 100-year building that has a lot next to it for expansion and transition.
As a frequent client of our best and one of our few downtown events, the Farmers Market, I would suggest that more events in a spruced-up event space would benefit us most. We used to have an Art and Wine festival and a First Night. I asked a former council member why no more, and was told they were too much trouble. I can’t think of a better use of our DTA and Economic Development department. I would also suggest visiting the website of my boyhood home—Wausau Wisconsin, thriving downtown with a population of only 40,000, middle of farmland, no tourism and beautiful central plaza with a bandstand shell and stage. Our large community of artists and musicians might like it.
Paul Cocking
Santa Cruz
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Dear Good Times,
Can I submit this as an editorial.? I normally stick religiously to the generous 150 word limit, but this subject demands more to properly make my point. This letter addresses a very important current issue all our beach cities and even North Beach in San Francisco are going through.
Here is my editorial:
While most of us have understanding about the effects of the Covid pandemic on American business and have empathy for the entertainment and restaurant industries, beach communities throughout California are using Covid as an excuse for a massive land grab of the public commons.
Communities throughout California are granting public sidewalk space to restaurants to enact outdoor dining whether they already have outdoor dining tables or not. These new spaces were previously in violation of public zoning laws. There seems to be no financial reasoning made public except for the restaurant owners claims of losses due to Covid. Consequently, local residents living in the area are expected to endure substantially more late night noise from local diners now on the street level nearer their residences.
These expanded spaces will limit an already small amount of parking spaces by the beach, impede the constant number of (usually large), delivery trucks for the restaurants and funnel pedestrians and bicyclists into smaller channels to get to the beaches as well as higher noise levels due to concentration of people on the limited sidewalk space. These restaurant extensions can be placed elsewhere besides areas of direct beach access.
The city of Capitola is going as far to make such changes as “permanent” even though no proof exists that the current Covid situation is perpetual. Essentially, that city is trying to change zoning laws that worked well for decades to gift city businesses with substantial square footage of what is the public’s land. Over ninety-eight local residents who count on zoning for protection are being adversely affected there by these “new” proposals.
The only way to combat this theft of public land is to first, become aware of this intention by city governments, secondly to let city officials know that these changes are not wanted as permanent and to install city officials who are not wanting to give away public property just for an increase in local dollars from restaurants.
Randy Zaucha
39505 Canyon Dr.
(long time resident of Soquel)
Forest Falls, ca 92339
415-902-5919