Retail and shopping is an important service and often a fun activity for both tourists and locals.
To be profitable, businesses need to be easily accessed and with high visibility to attract customers. An important way that this is achieved is by people driving by in their automobiles. We see this on Coast Village Road, in Summerland, in Carpinteria, in the Funk Zone.
The most simple, practical, and wise move that Santa Barbara can do right now is to reopen State Street to restore the access and visibility to Businesses on State Street and in the Central Business District. This can happen quickly and for relatively low cost that would help restore State Street as the economic engine it once was by providing this essential access and exposure that businesses need to be successful and to generate more revenue that, in turn, generates revenue to the City.
The City Administrator has estimated the cost to reopen the street to be around $700K for clean-up, slurry, and restriping. This is money well spent to revive the flow and vitality to the businesses and Santa Barbara! As a note — the city has spent at least that much in experimental pilot projects on State Street including Big Plastic Pots and Plantings, Green Painted Bike Lanes, Pedlets, etc.
Let’s do this before Fiesta and celebrate as a community with the biggest, most famous, horse parade in the nation back on State Street!
