Now is the time for bold action.

The ash heap of history is littered with unbuilt plans. Daniel Burham’s Plan for Chicago would have created grand boulevards, monuments, and parks throughout the city. Frederick Law Olmstead’s String of Pearls Plan for Los Angeles would have created a 50-mile linear park along the LA River. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Los Angeles Civic Center Plan would have created a district of tiered gardens and monumental Mayan-revival civic buildings, with transit lines underground.

Instead, many of those areas are either unremarkable, or downright depressing in the case of the LA River. 

However, other grand plans have gotten built and experienced great success. In the 18th century, L’Enfant’s plan for Washington D.C. created the boulevards, squares, National Mall, and civic buildings that are iconic today. In the 19th century, Olmstead’s Central Park preserved natural space in an ever-growing city which today serves as an oasis and perhaps the most iconic park on earth. In the 20th Century, San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle created waterfront plans, demolishing freeways to create grand and beautiful civic spaces like the Embarcadero and Tom McCall Waterfront Park.

Then there’s Santa Barbara’s El Pueblo Viejo Plan. It lives somewhere in the middle.

Thought up after the 1925 earthquake, the full vision would have created a Spanish-style, walkable urban environment in our downtown, replete with thoughtful civic spaces, paseos, and beautiful architecture. Some parts of the plan were realized; a pedestrian wandering through the courtyards of El Paseo or the San Marcos Building can’t help but feel like they’re in a Spanish village. But other parts of the plan were not; that same pedestrian might be disappointed upon exiting El Paseo or the San Marcos building to find themselves in an unshaded, asphalt parking lot. 

But that’s the beautiful thing about city planning. The process is never “done.” Public outreach is never “over.” As times change and the community’s needs shift, new ideas can be infused into plans, resulting in new designs and eventually new physical things. 

That brings us to State Street. As early as the 1964 General Plan, the community imagined the Street transforming into a pedestrian-focussed space that “allows the pedestrian to wander at will.” Today, with the popularity of bikes, our needs are somewhat different, but the core idea remains the same: in the age of the automobile, ever-present on every street, the community deserves a “living room,” a space to relax, enjoy, spend time and money, and celebrate. That space is State Street.

Yes, it will be expensive to build the designs laid out in the Master Plan. But all great civic projects are expensive. The new SB Police Station is expected to cost around $121 million. I point this out not to disparage that project; our police perform an essential service, and they definitely need a new building. But are we as a City comfortable spending that much money on a building that most of us will never see the inside of (well, hopefully, anyway), but not on a space expected to host millions of locals and visitors every year?

The truth is, both spaces deserve an investment. The SBPD building will create a better police department. The State Street Master Plan will create a better Santa Barbara. 

Between 2006 and 2014, the City of New York decided to spend around $150 million to transform a derelict elevated railway into a linear public park. Not unlike State Street, the project is 1.5 miles long. The project was funded 77% by public funds, with the rest from philanthropy. That investment has paid off. According to Fordham University, “The park has generated over $1.4 billion in total tax revenue for New York City. This averages out to roughly $65 million annually in fresh tax intake, vastly exceeding the city’s initial capital layout to build it.” Today, the High Line is one of the city’s must-see attractions.

State Street is our High Line. The Master Plan forecasts that sales tax revenue in the corridor is expected to increase 20 percent above 2019 by Year 8, and private investment and development fees are projected at $50 million or more. This is our moment to transform something in the heart of our city into a star-attraction, a 21st century marvel, a realization of the El Pueblo Viejo vision, a place for locals to live, work, and play and an economic powerhouse. 

City Council: let’s approve the State Street Master Plan. 

City Council will be meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 1 to discuss the future of State Street.