Anonymous
Local rally taking place at De La Guerra Plaza (file photo by Robert Bernstein)
By an edhat reader
The City of Santa Barbara is hosting a public workshop on March 9th to hear ideas on how to revitalize De La Guerra Plaza.
One idea is to move the Saturday Farmer’s Market from the Cota parking lot to the plaza. What do edhat readers think, good idea or no?
The workshop will also discuss the plaza’s history and ask for ideas to make the space better, such as more parking, lighting, concrete or lawn additions. It’ll take place from 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. on March 9th at the Casa de La Guerra courtyard and is open to all. Learn more here.
I strongly disagree purely because it will be a much longer walk for me. Why was I not consulted?
Who cares where the market is held? It’s not the location that makes a farmer’s market successful but the vendours and their produce. And it’s not like the location is being moved to a dump or anything. As always ask a hoard of folks their opinion on a matter and you’ll get a hoard of opinions. Consensus?? Fugetaboutit!
Just put it on state like Tuesday’s!!
Louise Lowry Center parking lot is the better choice – more city parking lots close by and three street access points.
De la Guerra Plaza sounds like a good place for a Farmers Market but I don’t think it’s big enough to hold all the vendors that are at the Saturday market at the old Lincoln School grounds where it has been for years.
kinda late to ask this question.
Great idea
There’s plenty of parking nearby on street & in City lots, stores will also benefit from more foot traffic passing by than they do now (practically zero due to current location) thanks to being closer to the downtown businesses & in the heart of the State Street businesses. This sounds like a win-win for all.
Terrible Idea until the city decides its important to clean up state street.
How about Pershing Park?
Not really, there’s a lot more city parking lots closer to De La Guerra, Ortega structure as well as Paseo Nuevo is only a block away. Lots 4 and 5, closest to Louise Lowry, are chronically full at any time of day. I agree that street access (for vendors especially) will be hairy, but they make it work for Fiesta, I don’t see why it couldn’t work for Farmers’ Market.
No good for vendor access, they need to be able to unload close to their stands.
I think it could work because of the street perimeter. If you look at Google Maps satellite view of the Cota lot, it’s actually taken on a Farmer’s Market day and you can see how the vendor vehicles actually stay parked next to/behind their stands, which takes up a lot of space. If the street surrounding De La Guerra Plaza is reserved for vendors, I think it could all fit easily.
A) I live 2 blocks from State and the heart of the farmers market and have never seen a large increase of traffic on my street nor on De la vina/ chapala due to the Tuesday night market.
B) WHO would want to take the lovely walk with scenic freeway views and sounds and smells to buy their fresh, organic produce? That is the last lot anyone wants to spend a Saturday morning in. (Also, right next to a freeway entrance/exit meaning high traffic and more dangerous for pedestrians.)
Put it on State St, like Tuesdays because there is very very little traffic on Saturday mornings. De La Guerra is NOT setup for that. Grass with strollers/wheel chairs/other wheeled carts. Very little parking / loading-unloading for vendors, a lot less area than Cota. – DLG Plaza – Nope, it is a baaaad idea – State St, much better…
This is far the biggest “duh” in the whole thread. Move it to State St! The whole idea that State St should remain a showcase for people in their cars to see retail, is so outdated. Shut down traffic from DLG to Haley, open up the street to small kiosk vendors and open air cafe’s and make a permanent farmer’s market (with stands). People will return to the street when there is something to do, buy and see. They do not care about 99c stores or crappy tee-shirt shops. Give the residents something to do and they’ll do it… I really cant think of anything more SB than the decade of public discussion, dozens of consultants, $100’s of thousands of dollars wasted on trying to figure out what to do with the declining downtown. Its so obvious and so easy. But our leaders continue to prove they’re incapable of making decisions or pushing any change. Absolutely inept…
Why not simply put the Farmers’ Market in the OTHER city commuter lot at Castillo & W. Carrillo? For heaven’s sake, DO NOT relocate it to State Street. People lose sight that State is the city’s main thoroughfare and that its purpose is to move traffic. I go nowhere near downtown on Farmers’ Market Tuesday because of the totally screwed up traffic.
State street isn’t a thoroughfare, it is a very slow, stop every half block, “cruising” the town, type of street that people are FORCED onto by the traffic flow of neighboring streets. The entire premise that State St needs to be a traffic thoroughfare is based on 1960’s life. People do not live, shop, move like they did in the past. Its time for this city to put the nostalgia in the can and create a city that actually works for the way people live today. In 20 years I cannot name a single time I’ve driven on lower State to save time. In fact, its a real pain of a street to deal with and so I avoid it as much as possible.
If you’re using State St as a thoroughfare, you’re doing it wrong
This discussion offers incredible proof that even the most benign idea is beyond consensus on these sites.