Council Members:
This is a post from Nextdoor. Please re-open Santa Cruz Ave!Thank you, Pat Marriott
BOMBSHELL NEWS FROM MERCHANTS:DOWNTOWN SAN CARLOS IS DYINGDuring Monday night’s San Carlos City Council meeting, 10 representatives from Laurel Street businesses marched into the council chambers to deliver shocking comments: The six-year closure of the 700 block of Laurel Street is threatening the near future of multiple merchants if it isn’t reopened to vehicle traffic and curbside street parking soon.Speaking during Public Comments, Greg St. Claire, the owner of Town restaurant – our most famous dining attraction -- had this message for a bleary-eyed city council: “I’ve been a 31-year resident and 31-year downtown business and property owner. I’ve been designing restaurants and operating and consulting in virtually every Peninsula city.I was asked to represent the newly formed downtown business owners who care deeply about our downtown. Never in my career as a restaurant owner or operator have I seen a more depressed downtown than I am witnessing right now. I have never seen restaurants and stores as empty when my wife and I arrived in 1995. What brought us to San Carlos wasn’t grand plazas or elaborate streetscapes. It was a small town charm, independent shops, neighborhood restaurants and easy access for elderly. I look at these business owners. They have invested their lives, their savings, decades of hard work into making our downtown successful.A beautiful downtown means little if the businesses that give it character cannot survive. Simply put, I have been studying this for a while. Closed streets are not working anywhere. And it is particularly devastating to traditional retail. It is just incredibly hard when they are battling closed streets and things like Amazon and getting stuff delivered.So, after more than 6 years of the 700 block closure, what we would like to ask of the city is to just think about engaging us and possibly look at a trial of reopening the 700 block and just see what happens. Maybe a hybrid design that restores vehicle access, preserves outdoor dining, parklets and friendly spaces. Let’s measure what happens from the businesses and customer access and parking, and community feedback. I think that after six years of trying this it is worth considering something like this. A lot of other cities around the Bay Area are reversing course in this.”In fact, to his point, the city council of Menlo Park voted on Oct. 13 – the same day that the San Carlos council was discussing creating an “entertainment zone” with outdoor liquor downtown – to re-open a 600 block closure of the eastbound lane of Santa Cruz Avenue, which is the main business district of Menlo Park. The reason: After that block was closed for 6 years (just like the 700 block of Laurel) and replaced with a plaza and outdoor dining tables and chairs – the merchants have told the city that the closure isn’t working to drive business.In fact, one restaurant owner says that the city has failed to provide cleaning and upkeep for the plaza and tables, and that trash and sticky seats have deterred, not inspired, potential diners. Several residents also mentioned that situation along with the removal of critical curbside parking. So the Menlo Park City Council reversed course, with the mayor saying she was “doing a 180” and is now supporting the reopening of the block along with the majority of her fellow council members. So, with so many cities in the Bay Area following the same course – a post-CoVID reopening of closed sections of main downtown arteries – why does our council not get the message?And here was another point made by the Town owner: During the entire planning process by the city to create a Centennial Plaza with a fountain and stage and widening sidewalks on the 700 Block of Laurel – a process that involved consultants and so-called citizen feedback for years – the downtown merchants were never asked as a group for feedback.Said St. Claire: “We just would really love a genuine partnership as downtown business and property owners where we actually have a seat at the table. For whatever reasons happened, we were kind of left out of the process and we were not at the table. We are definitely not opposed to progress . We want an incredibly beautiful and vibrant downtown that is successful for everyone. I am just hoping we can come together and work on this and help the really struggling businesses. I see a lot of failures coming in and it kind of breaks my heart. I know what these people have been through with their businesses.”So who is at fault for ignoring our downtown businesses? Start with the Community Development Department of the city, along with the former city manager who retired at the end of last year. The city failed to issue a proper scope of work for consulting. The missing element was a Feasibility Study that would have prioritized businesses on Laurel as the key stakeholders requiring initial feedback on the grand streetscape plan. That never happened. Unlike other cities that don’t ignore their merchants when doing similar planning. Just check out Burlingame for example.So our city council – despite a warning from the city manager not to proceed with chopping up the plan into two phases – voted earlier this year to approve a $7.2 million contract for the refurbishing of Harrington Park to create a concrete bunker style toilet building. And remove several heritage trees. A Change.org petition asking the city NOT to do that had more than 600 signatures but was ignored by the council majority. And most people believe that a toilet project, at least at that cost, was not needed downtown.So after spending $2 million on consultants and $7.2 million on the Harrington renovation called Phase 1A, the latest estimate is that Phase 1B could cost upwards of $20 million for the remainder of the streetscape plan.Seriously, does this make sense? Bottom line is that downtown was not broken and didn’t require a $30 million fix. It just needed a common sense approach to reopen the block.But the key proponents on the council – Adam Rak, Sarah McDowell and Pranita Venkatesh – have repeatedly pushed for this fantasy plan.And here is another shocker. When new City Manager Kathy Kleinbaum scheduled a first-of-its kind meeting with the downtown merchants for a breakfast discussion on Oct. 8 – which drew 35 business representatives – not a single council member attended. That prompted another public comment at last Monday’s council meeting by Becky Cook, owner of Letter by Letter Studio. Here is her statement: “I am a long-time San Carlos resident and brand new business owner.I want to thank the city staff who held the downtown business meeting on Oct. 8. We need to have more.As an organization that represents the people who live and work in San Carlos, the city council has a responsibility to listen and respond to local perspectives, thoughts and concerns.With that in mind, I would like to encourage the city council to designate a representative to attend future downtown business meetings. Having a city council representative present would provide an opportunity to hear firsthand from local businesses that are working tirelessly to build a vibrant and thriving downtown, provide valuable goods and services to San Carlos residents and visitors and contribute to the city’s financial success through local sales tax revenue.”So it is legitimate to ask this question: Do any of our council members spend any time downtown? Or talking to business owners? According to the comments at the Oct. 8 meeting, rarely have the merchants seen or spoken with them.And, honestly, if at least one council member can’t attend a crucial first-time meeting with merchants that should have happened years ago, then why are they serving on the council? Why have they ignored constituents who provide revenue to the city?Council members are not urban planners. And apparently they don’t spend any time examining best practices in other cities in the Bay Area. And they don’t ask questions about a $7.2 million contract that they voted to award for Harrington Park in February even though there was only one bid submitted, which would normally be rejected for a rebid by other local government agencies. The vote was done under the Consent Calendar – with no discussion – even though a member of the public asked for one. And breaking news: The city Public Works Director, Steven Machida, who oversaw the internal “negotiations” with the lone bidder, just announced his retirement at the same council meeting. Honestly, in my 18 years of residency in San Carlos, I have never seen such a poor decision by any previous council involving millions of dollars of taxpayer money that frankly is a total waste and was never needed.Rather than being caretakers for our business district, this council is acting more like graveyard diggers in destroying our downtown vibrancy and merchant investments.It doesn’t take a genius to look at the 700 block and see that it is literally going to the dogs – that is, the dog walkers who love an empty street. And in case you didn’t see a note in yesterday’s edition of the Daily Post, the Police Blog had this entry from the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office which oversees law enforcement in San Carlos involving an incident last Friday at 11:25 p.m. “Battery leaves a man with serious injuries and he is taken to a hospital, 700 block of Laurel St.” Indeed, what could possibly go wrong with closing the heart of our downtown?I have posted a Change.org request to the city council to reopen the 700 block to vehicles and street parking. Please click on the link and join more than 400 other community members who have signed this: https://c.org/JP6mn89G8N
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