Close downtown SLO’s Higuera Street to cars? It’s not as crazy as it sounds

We know what you’re thinking.

Traffic and parking in downtown San Luis Obispo already are bad enough, and closing Higuera Street — one of downtown’s major thoroughfares — would only make it worse.

Besides, most merchants say it’s a bad idea, as Tribune writer Nick Wilson reported in his recent series on the future of downtown.

The city’s top administrator, City Manager Derek Johnson, isn’t keen on it either.

We get it. This would be a huge change, and change is hard. But we aren’t saying do it tomorrow, or even five years from now.

We’re just asking anyone interested in the future of the downtown to keep an open mind when it comes to long-term planning. And if we take permanent street closures off the table, that’s a limiting factor.

Think of where we would be today if the Mission Plaza naysayers had their way. And back in the day, there were plenty of those folks around, as local historian Joe Carotenuti wrote in an article for Central Coast Journal:

“The City fathers dominated by downtown merchants were tepid in their response as the goal was to increase parking spaces, not to reduce them. Eliminating curb parking was not considered a worthy objective.”

Does that sound familiar?

COVID street closures

Plenty of cities have closed downtown streets on account of COVID: Santa Barbara, Ventura, Palo Alto, San Francisco, to name a few. It created space for restaurants to move tables outdoors, keeping many businesses alive.

Parklets served that same purpose in local cities, including SLO, with less of an impact on traffic and parking.

That’s good, and we should make many of those parklets permanent.

At the same time, we should pay attention to trends in urban design, which include rethinking how streets should be used.

“There’s a big debate in urban planning these days about what streets are for,” writes William Fulton, the author of “Guide to California Planning” and former planning directors for San Diego. “Are they simply to move cars, which is how most people travel, as fast as possible? Or are they meant to serve a variety of purposes: Moving pedestrians, bicyclists and people on public transit and acting as a kind of backdrop for life?”

Some cities that completely closed downtown streets already have decided or are considering making the change permanent, including San Mateo, Novato and San Jose.

And even before the pandemic, some communities had closed downtown streets to traffic to make them more pedestrian-friendly and to lure shoppers back from suburban malls.

Santa Monica’s 3rd Street Promenade, created in 1965, is a great example. There’s plenty of space for street performers, public art, dining, pedestrian meandering. Even ordinary days seem like outdoor festivals.

Would it play in SLO?

We know that what works in Santa Monica, San Jose or Santa Barbara may not translate to downtown San Luis Obispo.

Still, in reimagining downtown SLO, it helps to spend time thinking about your favorite downtowns, and what makes them special.

To a certain degree, it’s an exercise in wishful thinking; as the city points out, it has no power to force a particular business to open up shop. But it can support programs and policies that make downtown more attractive, more business-friendly, and more livable.

Here, then, are a few ideas gleaned from other cities:

Temporary closure: If a permanent street closure is too mind-blowing for car-centric SLO, it could start slowly by borrowing a program from San Francisco called Sunday Streets, started back when Gov. Gavin Newsom was mayor. As the name implies, select streets are temporarily closed to vehicles from noon to 5 p.m. for special events, street performances, bike riding, casual strolling, exercise, block parties — you name it. Think of it as a Farmers Market without the market.

New uses for vacant buildings: Dividing large, empty buildings into smaller spaces — something the city is exploring — is an excellent idea. Retail is the most obvious fit, but in other areas downtown buildings have been repurposed for innovative uses. In the Arroyo Grande Village, for example, Harvest Church is repurposing the old Bank of America building. In Paso Robles, an old auto parts store became the Studios on the Park art collective. Why not do the same thing in the old Beverly’s space in SLO?

More pop-ups: While we’re waiting around for permanent tenants to fill vacancies, how about more temporary shops? SLOcally Made, the holiday pop-up featuring an array of handcrafted local products, is a great example. (If you’re wondering, it will be back this year at 881 Higuera, from Dec. 11-24.)

More wine: SLO could take a page from Paso Robles and encourage a few more wineries to open tasting rooms downtown. We don’t want to turn into another Napa or Los Olivos (not that there’s anything wrong with Napa or Los Olivos), but we live in region known for winemaking, and we should showcase that.

A signature event: Santa Maria has the Elks Rodeo. Santa Barbara has La Fiesta. Carpinteria has the Avocado Festival. SLO used to have La Fiesta de Las Flores, but it fizzled out in 1995. There was an annual Mardi Gras celebration, but that ended after an infamous 2004 riot. Even the First Night New Year’s Even event disappeared after a few tries. There are several smaller festivals in Mission Plaza, but nothing has quite risen to the level of a major happening, a downtown takeover. How about a Dickens-style Christmas fair that expands from the plaza throughout downtown? Or maybe bring back La Fiesta?

More outdoor performances: Concerts in the Plaza are hugely successful, but they’re limited to summer months. Our weather is basically good year-round, except for those dozen-or-so days when it rains. More music, please, and maybe some theatrical performances?

Something for night owls: Sure, bars stay open late, but folks who just want a quiet place to read, study or converse over a snack and a latte don’t have many options, since most coffee houses shut down between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. We know it’s a big ask right now with businesses struggling to stay fully staffed, but it’s something to keep in mind for the future.

Challenges ahead

There’s been some snark on social media about the number of unhoused people in downtown SLO — implying that efforts to improve downtown are useless as long as homeless people are around.

As a community, we need to do more — much more — to provide housing and services for people living on the streets. But we don’t abandon downtown because there are homeless people there. We face the issue and do something about it. In the meantime, if shoppers don’t want to come to downtown SLO because they might encounter some panhandlers, with all due respect, they need to buck up and show some empathy.

Here’s the bottom line: Downtown San Luis Obispo was hit hard by COVID, and the business community deserves to be recognized and supported for its perseverance and willingness to adapt to ever-changing rules aimed at slowing the spread of the pandemic.

Now the downtown is in recovery mode, and that’s something to celebrate. There are fewer empty store fronts, tourism is picking up and there are more folks out on the streets.

Yet it’s going to be a continuing challenge to keep downtown San Luis Obispo on the map as a thriving place to shop, dine, take in a movie or a concert, maybe spend a couple of nights.

Remember, even before COVID hit, there was a spate of business closures blamed in part on high rents and competition from online shopping sites. Those factors aren’t going away.

To stay relevant, downtown must evolve without losing its soul.

The city has done it before — again, the creation of Mission Plaza is a prime example — and can do it again, but we can’t be timid.

For now, let’s not rule out any possibility as we contemplate downtown San Luis Obispo in 2030 and beyond — even if that means closing streets to cars and rerouting traffic.