They ended cars on Market Street on San Fran. Now many of the businesses are closed, the street are filled with illegal aliens, feces and homeless—no shoppers. Now the nutsy crowd in Santa Barbara want to end small business on the main street in town, State Street.
Do you think senior citizens will ride their bikes to shop on State Street. Think families with kids will ride their bikes several miles to shop on State Street? This is about the elite, rich young people wanting to segregate themselves from society. Think they will ride their bikes in the rain to shop on State Street?
This is a great way to kill the Santa Barbara economy. How many tourists are going to ride their bikes a few miles to shop on State Street? Do not look at foreign countries, look at the DOOM LOOP of San Fran, that is what Santa Barbara will look like if this plan is implemented.
Strong Towns SB Makes Case to Permanently Close State Street to Cars
Event speakers explain how keeping part of downtown vehicle-free can benefit everyone in the community
by Joshua Molina, Noozhawk , 9/4/24 https://www.noozhawk.com/strong-towns-sb-makes-a-case-to-permanently-close-state-street-to-vehicles/
Closing Santa Barbara’s State Street to vehicles can boost the economy, make the community safer and attract housing development, according to members of the Strong Towns Santa Barbara community organization.
“In the short term, we want it remain car-free,” Sullivan Israel, executive director of Strong Towns SB, said at a public event the group hosted Tuesday night. “In the long term, it needs to be transit-friendly, the center of a neighborhood, not just a commercial district.”
The event was attended by about 50 people and featured three speakers: Israel, who talked about making the street bike-friendly; Peter Smith, who shared how closing the street to vehicles helps boost business and the economy; and architect Thomas Sekula.
A panel discussion including the three speakers, environmental activist Dennis Allen and MOVE Executive Director Heather Deutsch followed the speeches.
In essence, they explained that a State Street free of vehicles benefits everyone. Israel, who grew up in Santa Barbara, showed videos and photos of places around the world where main streets are closed to vehicles, and people use the spaces for bicycles, transit and walking.
He showed videos of Jerusalem and how transit flows in the middle, and people walk on sidewalks and paseos around it. No matter the design of a place, or a plaza, he said, people have a tendency to stick to the edge of it.
“Some evolutionary biologists say it’s because we are still rats and lizards in our brains and we don’t want to be out in the open,” he said.
He said everyone learns how to use the space and understands where to be.
“Cyclists on State Street, it’s not just, ‘Oh, it’s safe,’” Israel said. “It’s not just that people want to bike here. It’s also that these people are good for the economy. They are parking their bikes right in front of businesses, far closer than you can get with a car. They are walking in and buying stuff.”
Smith said there are fewer vacant storefronts today than before the COVID-19 pandemic, when the street was still open to vehicles. Using data from Hayes Commercial Group, he said the blocks on State Street with the most vacancies are the 400 and 1300 blocks, which allow vehicles.
“This local vacancy rate is not a fluke, and it’s not a surprise and it is not just chance,” Smith said. “It’s a predictable economic response to the removal of cars.”
He said urban spaces that are easily walkable and pedestrian-safe foster economic growth.
“Instead of zipping by in cars, we have people who are forced to meander by shops, look in windows and notice restaurants they have never tried,” Smith said.
He said more vehicles on a street lead to more smell, noise and danger.
Smith asserted that businesses also want State Street closed. In a survey of more than 40 businesses on State Street in the downtown area, Strong Towns SB found that 75% of them don’t want vehicles back on State Street.
Tuesday’s event comes at a time when Santa Barbara is wrestling with what to do about State Street.
The city closed nine blocks during the COVID-19 pandemic. It formed a State Street Master Plan Committee to figure out a long-term plan for the street. Recommendations are headed to the City Council later this year.
The closure has sparked a battle between people who want vehicles returned to State Street and those who want to see them permanently removed from the downtown area. The most vocal supporter of reopening the street to vehicles, from the 500 to 1200 blocks, is Santa Barbara Mayor Randy Rowse.
The street right now is open to bicycles and pedestrians, and is pretty much a thoroughfare for people on bicycles, including electric bikes. Most pedestrians have returned to walking on the sidewalks.
While retail has suffered during the closure, it has bounced back recently, with vacant storefronts at 12.4%, according to Hayes. That’s 12.4% lower than last year.
Activists with Strong Towns SB, which is an affiliate of a national organization, want Santa Barbara to lean into the street closure and embrace a future without vehicles downtown.
A panel discussion featuring, from left, architect Thomas Sekula, environmental activist Dennis Allen, MOVE Executive Director Heather Deutsch, Peter Smith and Strong Towns SB Executive Director Sullivan Israel focuses on ways to make downtown Santa Barbara more vibrant. Joshua Molina / Noozhawk photo
Sekula talked about creating a “15-minute city,” a place where essential services are all within walking distance. The best opportunity to create that is where the Paseo Nuevo shopping center sits, he said. He showed photos of Pienza, Italy, “which I think is a perfect example of a walkable city.”
He said buildings are mixed-use and everything is walkable.
“Because of successful planning, cars are not needed, and you will see very few of them in the city,” Sekula said. “The city works this way. Around every corner is an urban moment.”
The event was held at the Community Environmental Council’s downtown hub, 1219 State St. Strong Towns SB intends to hold more community events on similar issues.
Ending cars on State Street will turn the business district of Santa Barbara into an environment pleasing walking shopping maul. Grass, trees, out door eating areas, ponds, children romping around the business district! What more can anyone ask for? Bike cabs will move shoppers and visitors around the maul. A lot of jobs for the college kids! Picturesque. A Hollywood movie scene.