Dear Mayor Combs and City Council members,
I urge you to vote to keep the 600 block on Santa Cruz Avenue as it is: closed to through traffic heading east.
Ali Elsafy, owner of Bistro Vida, has done more to enhance Santa Cruz Avenue than anyone else, and has exciting plans to do even more for the downtown if he can continue to use the space the street closure provides.
If you’ll recall, Ali created the Bon Marche Market that had a great run especially during summer, and he has come up with new creative ideas to draw people to the downtown and encourage community gathering.
Council members, I notice you use the word “vibrancy” frequently, and have made it a goal for the downtown, but Im wondering if you recognize it when you see it, so I’m attaching some photos of what Ali has brought to our city on our main shopping district street: Vibrancy!
Vibrancy is not the same as crowding. It is an atmosphere charged with fun and excitement where people are having a great time interacting with one another and making purchases that make them happy.
By the way, though some people are hoping to blame that one small block closure on only one side of the street for our empty storefronts, that argument doesn’t hold water. There are many factors involved in those closed businesses, including the major hit small businesses suffered for two years during the Covid shutdowns, and now, the fact that all eight of our shopping district parking lots are in the Housing Element, with three of them under threat of being replaced by housing in the near future. That’s not conducive to a good downtown business climate. That’s exactly why some have left and why others are reluctant to come.
In talking with Ali, I learned he has envisioned a wonderful way to enliven our downtown by using the space the closure provides to bring in a stage and host concerts once or twice a week all summer long, and he’s ready to start as early as next week once he gets the green light from the city that the closure will remain in place.
He’s also planning to bring back a new version of the Bon Marche, and to create a community gathering place that is bound to be a draw for residents and visitors alike.
Please support this vision of vibrancy for our downtown by keeping just this one block closed to traffic on just one side.
Any minor inconvenience will be more than compensated by all the enjoyment, camaraderie and fun Ali’s plan will provide for our community.
Sincerely,
Cherie Zaslawsky
