Dear City Council and Staff,
I urge you to re-open Santa Cuz Ave. between Curtis and Doyle. As a merchant with a business on Santa Cruz Avenue for over thirty years, I can attest to how detrimental the road closure has been for the majority of businesses downtown. When you close the main artery of town and create such a confusing situation for motorists to navigate, the result is that many people will avoid the town and opt to go elsewhere to do their business.
It’s long past time for the street to be opened. With the transfer of the recently closed Pharmaca’s pharmacy customers to Walgreens there is no excuse to continue to barricade the front of Walgreens. We have worked with parklets, but the continued closure of the street affects the majority of the business community adversely. The other restaurants are also negatively affected for the benefit of two restaurants. One merchant, Harvest, suffered such a decline that they have been forced to close their location. That space is to be taken over by one of the two restaurants benefitting from the street closure.
Please don’t ignore the wishes of those of us who have struggled for the past few years to survive in this increasingly difficult retail environment. Your decision whether or not to open up the street is important. It will send a huge signal as to what is intended for the rest of us.
Sincerely,
Stephen Miller
Stephen Miller
Stephen Miller Gallery
stephen@stephenmillergallery.com
650-327-5040
