SANTA BARBARA, Calif.— Santa Barbara is looking to revitalize State Street, but the issue of safety and speeding e-bikes continues to be a major concern. “I was just walking up State Street and I had to make sure not to walk in this little area in the middle because I might get run over,” said Myron Aguilar, who lives in Santa Barbara. “having maybe designated areas where people can go on e-bikes would be better to kind of because they're kind of zigzagging between all the different bike bike lanes down State Street now,” said Downtown Ambassador Nellie Hard.
The State Street Master Plan has been a work in progress for quite some time. Tuesday, city council members addressed short term plans to spruce up Downtown.
“Looking at the space as a community space and finding amenities, things like play spaces, but also seating and we showed a slide in the presentation on a stormwater demonstration component. So looking at different types of landscaping and really educating the public about lots of lots of exciting opportunities,” said State Street Master Planner Tess Harris.
Many people say they want to see more foot traffic, especially at struggling businesses. “It would be nice to have, you know, new shops and, like, restaurants that are, like, brimming with people, but like, I don't know exactly what it is that can be done to do that,” said Quintin Vomocil, who lives on Santa Barbara’s Mesa. Another solution to liven things up is to bring more entertainment to State Street— anything from live music to arts and culture events. “Some sort of community driven or Santa Barbara driven things where it's like, hey, we're showcasing certain restaurants this week or this segment of the State Street is going to get some attention,” said Vomocil. Entertainment and accessibility collide in the city’s partnership with cycling without age and the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. “Shuttling people during the film festival from the 900 up to the 1300 blocks where a lot of our where a lot of the theaters are and being able to to bring people up and down and have a different type of experience on State Street. So stay tuned for that,” said Tess Harris. Santa Barbara residents say that there is no viable downtown without viable transit. “One of the things that we're really excited about with the short term action plan working with cycling, with our age and looking at pedicab opportunities to go up and down State Street,” said Tess Harris. The city is also exploring bringing back the full shuttle and looking into small transit options. Another proposal includes so-called "pedlets,” which would extend sidewalks along a portion of downtown State Street. Making state street more accessible includes repairing uneven brickwork. “Continuing to add to the beauty of the infrastructure, really just continuing to upgrade that so that our community feels that welcoming presence of a clean, safe, enjoyable space,” said Downtown Santa Barbara Executive Director Robin Elander.
As for the long term State Street Master Plan, a document will be released to the public in the summer to get feedback on what they want to see long term.
Santa Barbara City Council discusses new short term changes to revitalize State Street News Channel 3-12.
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