Anonymous
State Street Promenade (Photo: John Palminteri)
Source: AIA Santa Barbara
The Santa Barbara Chapter of the American Institute of Architects is conducting a 2020 Design Charrette to Reinvigorate, Reinvent, Reimagine, and Repurpose our Downtown with housing, energy, and life. The Charrette will consist of design teams of volunteer architects, landscape architects, planners, engineers, and other experts who will apply their talent and expertise to envision a future Downtown Santa Barbara.
According to Architect Detlev Peikert, AIA, “This charrette could be a vision to inform the community for the next 100 years.”
Input is essential and the broader community is invited to participate. Complete the online survey and share your thoughts on the current Downtown experience. These ideas will help inform the designers as they work to solve problems and illustrate new ideas and visions for Santa Barbara now and into the future.
The design teams will focus on ideas for housing via adaptive reuse of existing buildings, new structures for “opportunity” sites, and development of our public open spaces. A few teams will review the entire promenade area in terms of flow, entry points, and supporting local businesses.
Please respond to the survey by August 2. Help us get the word out! Share the survey with your friends on social media so more voices are considered. The survey and more information on the design charrette is available at AIAsb.com.
CLICK HERE TO TAKE THE SURVEY: Community Survey
HAGA CLIC AQUÍ PARA REALIZAR LA ENCUESTA: Encuesta comunitaria
“New vision” is code for: we are giving public property rent free to the adjacent property owners. Businesses might benefit in the short term, but in the long term the property owners receive a huge gift, the beauty of State St is destroyed with ugly patio furniture and vital services like fire, ambulance and police services are blocked by structures in the middle of the street. This “Charrette to Reinvigorate, Reinvent, Reimagine, and Repurpose our Downtown” has only ONE purpose and that is to gift public land and the streets to property owners and ensure that State St. is closed. We are beating a dead horse if we think the way forward it sot continue to chase after tourist dollars and low wage jobs that are offered for retail and restaurants jobs.
Hmmm. Is Paul Casey behind this? Wasn’t this his idea after he was running around in a panic for tourist dollars and free lunches downtown? (see Noozhawk) He seems to be hiding a bit now. We haven’t heard from him since George Buell took the fall for the ineptitude and (for lack of a better word) corruption in the Community Development department. What say ye, Paul? Is this really the time for this to go forward, as we are still enmeshed in the Covid 19 situation, lack of enforcement of simple mask wearing on State street and increasing community/tourist spread? Our children aren’t even back to school yet. And how about hiring a new architect for the “new vision? Not that Detlev is not a nice guy, but he is basically a fixture in the CD department. How about some new, but locally aware and sensitive ideas, in conjunction with Detlev? P.S. Did Paul ever take his pay cut?
If you’re not in favor of the new outdoor dining areas, how do you propose to activate the street?
What is the solution? I have no idea. But I do like the raging optimism shown in the remark “This charrette could be a vision to inform the community for the next 100 years.” Really? 100 years? At the rate things are going, and I mean The World Population Growth Rate and all that that portends, won’t State St. in 30 years (as long as we’re just throwing out numbers) be more like a scene out of Blade Runner than the alliterative “Reinvigorate, Reinvent, Reimagine, and Repurpose ” proposed? (Re, re, re. Kinda troweling it on thick, there.) Okay, maybe I’m being the male equivalent of a Debbie Downer, but 100 years from now? 2120? Will the future a mere 20 years from now bear even the faintest resemblance to life as we now know it? I wonder . . .
Sensibly common: How to ‘activate” State Street? How about letting the property owners eat it for awhile until they decide they are not entitled to such ridiculous rental fees? They need to back down and place a new fair value on their ownership. Then they need to price rent based on what the occupants might earn from that space. This means a reality check for hedge funds and speculators. When rents are appropriate to the income potential of the property merchants, restaurants, other businesses will come back and make the place a vibrant community (which it has not been for 30 years or more.
In response to the question “How do we activate State Street” here is a thought: How about letting the property owners eat it for awhile until they decide they are not entitled to such ridiculous rental fees? They need to back down and place a new fair value on their ownership. Then they need to price rent based on what the occupants might earn from that space. This means a reality check for hedge funds and speculators. When rents are appropriate to the income potential of the property merchants, restaurants, other businesses will come back and make the place a vibrant community (which it has not been for 30 years or more.
I’d like to require the city council to jointly own and operate a restaurant on State St. With enlightenment I am hopeful they will understand what the city should do to revitalize State Street .