The consultants hired to ponder State Street, MIG Inc., presented three design scenarios to the State Street Advisory Committee yesterday. The goal is to get feedback from the committee, which will be used to refine the designs before they’re re-released for public review next month.
The full presentation is here; below are some highlights. I strongly suggest reading the overview of the thinking behind the designs before you jump into the renderings.
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Scenario 1: Flat and Flexible
“500-1200 blocks: Flexible curbless street that is generally closed to cars and maximizes activation and programming.” There’s also a sub-scenario with bikes moved to Chapala, but it’s labeled “not recommended” and there’s no way it’ll happen.
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Scenario 2: Multi-Modal
“500-1300 blocks: Curbed street that is generally open to cars to maximize transportation access. One-way vehicle lane throughout with ability for curb extensions in some areas.”
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Scenario 3: Mixed/Hybrid
“500-600 blocks: Multi-modal [as in scenario 2]; 700-900 blocks: Flat and flexible [as in scenario 1]; 1000-1300 blocks: Multi-modal [as in scenario 2].” Imagine a world where State Street is two-way, then one-way, then closed to cars, then one-way again, and then two-way again—all within 11 blocks.
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I mean… Scenario 1 by far, amirite comment section?
this looks to me like complete BS.
the car/bike/pedestrian option is ugly, unaesthetic, and looks hundreds of personal injury lawsuits waiting to happen. removing curbs is a lot of expense and to what point? does someone plan to get kickbacks from a contractor?
designate a lane for bikes, skateboards, ( no pedestrians or cars) and let the rest be.
OK, scenario 1 is a start. Design takes time and a vibrant downtown will need to evolve, not just pop-up- look at all the amazing spaces in cities throughout Europe. One thing for sure, NO CARS- the car has dictated the design of our human spaces for 80 years and it has made terrible use of our land, resources, time and even our health. It has been such a pleasure to stroll and eat in an area without the presence of vehicles.
The city has its role in revitalizing State by keep a clean, safe and business friendly environment. It is the private sector that will bring back the area with a quality shopping, dinning experience. With 40 vacant storefront out of 249 currently in this downtown section, how is this going to encourage tenant demand as we continue to see tenants vacate. We are too small of a town to have this much area closed to vehicle traffic and do not need endless outdoor paseos. I’m just not sure this gets the quality tenants that we been losing to open businesses that then create the downtown shopping experience we are lacking.
Totally agree. I’ve never seen any real effort to clean it up – to a degree that every one, tourists and locals alike, would want to go there.
think outside the box. Uncontrolled greed and free enterprise system have produced what we presently have. So change it up to build a community. Change the permits for Macy’s, Nordstrom’s and similar giant spaces (that are abandoned because their business model no longer work.) Require that they can only be developed by being converted into housing units at rates between $800 – $1400 per person. Tie qualifications to rent to tenants whose incomes limit them to these ranges. You will have created a community of local workers. People care about where they live, and you will see changes in the community begin. Yes, the stockholders of these big companies owning them will take a huge financial hit. but these companies are who caused most of the problems of over-evaluation of properties and disenfranchisement of human beings who used to frequent State as consumers. They have eliminated the middle class in Santa Barbara (and elsewhere) The greed of the real estate market was allowed to run wild with no concern for the effect on the City of SB, the Community of SB, the people of SB. So if the people of the city dont like what they allowed to grow hete, rip out the “weeds” and the City should step up and plan a functional community. Yes this is an extreme solution with many side effects, but changes on extreme levels are the only ones that will change this city in a resident and people- positive direction.
it has become such a toxic mess.
Leave State St. alone and open it back up, if anything put on street parking back and you will see State St. liven back up, I can’t believe we paid those so called consultants a bunch of money to come up with those three stupid options, what a big waste of our money !
Agree with Papa Jerry. Leave it alone. The plans look like a jumbled mess.
Yes… it worked…bring back the small interesting retail shops.Pedestrians on the sidewalks bikes in bike lane or on all the other streets . And cars permitted. It worked !!
Curbs are necessary if you ever have horse-drawn carriages again. Viva la Fiesta!
State Street is no longer a multi-generational destination. It is catering to the young, athletic, able bodied, and social (not necessarily spending $ either). Encourage pedestrian activity at Paseo Nuevo (an actual promenade) and focus more on retail business (they’ve been ignored). Think visibility of businesses. Don’t ignore the needs of all residents, senior citizens and less physically able people who can walk shorter distances, but not the entire length of the “promenade” (which is what I recently did to locate a hat store). How will consumers transport purchased goods to their cars? Currently, I prefer to shop elsewhere to avoid the multifaceted hassle of dealing with State St. Follow examples of successful historic downtown districts elsewhere. Clean up State Street. Really. (this has never been done in earnest). And open it up to cars.
So, while very pretty… this isn’t a plan for the citizens of Santa Barbara. And, I think this city plan is flawed because it requires even more imported spending (through tourism) with no accommodation for the additional low-to-medium income workers needed to support that additional influx of tourism.
It seriously makes me wonder:
1) What else would have to change to allow your general population the discretionary income (and discretionary time) to utilize such a place and linger here?
2) Otherwise, visiting State Street will continue to be an occasional meetup with friends at a restaurant or a quick pop-in to a specific store, or a Saturday visit to the Farmer’s Market vendors — JUST LIKE NOW — How does this street not appear empty with failed retail and full of homelessness without increasing the demand for bridal showers and weekend birthdays from LA, frugal cruise shippers, and out-of-town spenders to accommodate all of the retail and hotel space?
3) So clearly not State Street, the real question is: Where is the city’s ‘main’ street for its citizens?
Where do the additional restaurant servers, cooks, hotel staff, bartenders and retail shop workers AND small business owners live? (Upper State? Goleta? Ventura?) Or will there be economic incentives for ‘boroughs’ like De La Vina, Milpas, Mesa, etc., to better accommodate the actual citizens of the city to live, shop and linger? Because otherwise, it’ll all be much of the same for the people who are not super wealth and not super broke — we buy groceries in Goleta, we sometimes linger hang out on Coast Village Road or even Summerland, and quite honestly, sometimes driving from spot to spot is a hassle, so we just stay in or BBQ in our backyard or in our apartment building’s shared space.
It’s sad, but I think this is being built for visitors not the citizens or true culture of Santa Barbara.
Wow! Anybody with vision?! You have an opportunity to make this a feature-like Main Street at disneyland! 0r Olivera Street! Or a charming Boardwalk! Something people will want to go to not just a solution for sidewalk eating. Where’s the charm? Please put in a trolley! It’s a way for us to get around and it is charming! Where’s the greenery?! It’s either these renderings or you’ve confused the project with a prison play yard! We need Walt or Curuso to design this! Thinking caps guys and for Gods sake some creativity! Yes I feel strongly. I see what you’re approving in developments and am concerned. If the town doesn’t remain quaint we have lost the main thing our review boards before have fought so hard to keep.
What a mess State Street has become. Bring it back to what it once was…..yep, cars driving up and down, people on the sidewalks. Even parking on the street. Who cares of the tourists like it. Locals might even enjoy their town again.
As this post appeared the day after the presentation and the opportunity to give public comment – how does one comment to the city/MIG at this point?
There are so many issues with State Street but being closed to traffic does not appear to be one of them. I ride my bike or walk everyday on State Street and think about it’s issues daily. I hear young entrepreneurs in the Farmers Market talk about how high the rent is. Big box stores with little inventory are one problem- Lack of local businesses another. When Abbott Kinney in Venice was falling apart one saw a lot of local pop up stores- which brought in more businesses- but of course now it’s very unaffordable and useless to residents. How do we make renting storefronts to local businesses mutually beneficial?
There has to be an out-of-the-box economic plan to accompany these scenarios-to house workers (which I believe is in the overall plan amd in the pipeline), to serve all abilities, ages, cultures and incomes of the local community. It’s wonderful to see how many people use it daily as opposed to before the streets were closed but I think we need to see how different abled people access stores, how people park or where, and how local entrepreneurship can be fostered.
I see an opportunity for Santa Barbara to break boundaries and create a new model for downtowns but we need full inclusion.
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Thank you, Erik.
All of these comments are spot on. I believe the property owners along State street are the only ones that can reinvent it. Not a committee, not consultants and certainly not city hall.
In Europe the cities are full of plazas and car free streets. Both tourist and locals enjoy the pedestrian friendly spaces. I fully support reinventing state street. i welcome either option one or two. State street isn’t the same place from a decade ago. Retail isn’t the same anywhere in the US and bringing back cars isn’t going to bring back the old retail. Let’s think bigger. Add housing to upstairs spaces and make it a livable neighborhood.
Exactly. Let’s create blocks and neighborhoods that are livable. Maybe even for the workers and business owners who choose to live in these neighborhoods — and have a quality of life that is an appealing draw to linger in these spaces.
this looks to me like complete BS.
the car/bike/pedestrian option is ugly, unaesthetic, and looks hundreds of personal injury lawsuits waiting to happen. removing curbs is a lot of expense and to what point? does someone plan to get kickbacks from a contractor?
designate a lane for bikes, skateboards, ( no pedestrians or cars) and let the rest be.