It’s been a few weeks of good news for State Street and Santa Barbara. President/CEO Kathy Janega-Dykes of Visit Santa Barbara said hotel occupancy was up 10% from February to April over last year and those of us with businesses on State Street have noticed. May started strong and Memorial Day was record breaking in profits for many businesses. This could not have come soon enough and we are looking forward to a record summer season!
This past week, the Santa Barbara City Council overwhelmingly supported the proposal by Yardi Systems to buy the former Macy’s building at Paseo Nuevo to house 600 workers and also supported the plan by Shopoff Realty to build 80-112 apartments in the former Nordstrom building. The repurposing of the retail space is exactly what downtown needs. This is an opportunity to kickstart State Street and the city council should formally approve the contracts at their June 16, 2006 meeting. Along with the State Street Master Plan approval, the steps are in place for the revitalization of State Street and downtown Santa Barbara. With more employees and apartments downtown, businesses will see new growth and the city will have more sales tax revenue to support continued revitalization.
In addition, the Fiesta Dog Parade on May 16, 2006 brought a festive kickoff for Old Spanish Days. Yes, we should have parades on State Street, canine or human! Along with the Farmer’s Market and line dancing on Wednesday’s, the opportunities are endless. A pedestrian only State Street is exactly why we can transform our unique and beautiful signature downtown street to suit different events and celebrations.
Let’s continue to say YES to projects and proposals that move us forward. There should be no pining for the old days; we want to be transformational and forward thinking, and I for one am grateful that the City Council and the community is using innovative approaches to make that happen.
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