Below is a recent letter, shared with the Davisite, to our council members to provide input on the upcoming January 17th meeting, addressing Item 4: G Street Closure Update.
Sent by email on January 14, 2023
Good day to you council members,
It has been two years and six months since we closed G Street between 2nd and 3rd Streets to vehicular traffic. I helped plan for this closure, as I was staff at the Davis Downtown Business Association (DDBA) at the time. The DDBA worked closely with City staff Ash Feeney and Sarah Worley. I talked to business owners, created infographics (such as the one attached), and monitored this pedestrian-only area frequently when it was considered a part of the City and DDBA's Open Air Davis initiative.
We were all very satisfied with our efforts to support downtown businesses, especially restaurants, and keep them open during COVID-19 shutdowns.
Ever since we converted a portion G Street to a pedestrian-only area, there have been pleas from the business community for one of two things to happen:
1) Open this area of G Street again for parking, or
2) Beautify and activate this area of G Street and take advantage of a rare pedestrian-only conversion
I personally have always been a strong advocate for the latter option; however, I do understand the point of view of those who prefer the former option. In the following sections, I will expand upon these two options; describe the mounting pressure for action; and explain how we can make Davisites happier.
FIRST CONCERN—PARKING: Some business owners have gone on record stating their belief that if certain customers cannot park right outside of their business, or at least drive by and have a view of their business, then those customers may not patronize their business. Some business owners also claim that their own customers have said that they aren't coming downtown as often to patronize the business because of the lost parking spaces.
Additionally, some business owners have explained that getting goods to and from their business is harder without a parking space directly outside of their establishment, because they must carry their goods to and from vehicles parked farther away.
SECOND CONCERN—AESTHETICS/LACK OF ACTIVITY: Another major complaint has come up at several public meetings as well as in private conversations: a lack of aesthetics as well as a lack of customer activity in the pedestrian only space. In fact, this complaint has been voiced by both people who prefer the space for vehicles and those who prefer the space for pedestrians. There is a general consensus that this area of G street can be unwelcoming due to messes, bad aesthetics and the occasional ghost town feeling. Among both groups of people, there is a justified feeling of neglect at what is historically our downtown’s main street.
THE PRESSURE: Although I favor a pedestrian only space, I’m grateful for the loud voices and the growing number of voices that are crying for the street to be opened back up to vehicles and for parking. At least they are being active by attending public meetings, writing letters, and gathering signatures. And I'm certain we'll hear from a number of upset voices at the upcoming council meeting. Some are so angry that they are hurling accusations at the City, even to the degree of claiming there may be a hint of racism in keeping the street closed to vehicles. Their justification surrounding that last notion is a claim that minority owned businesses are hurting in this area of downtown and the street conversion is exacerbating the harm. I know that last claim is a stretch of the imagination, and I do not buy into it, but point it out to show that we are getting to a boiling point.
I do agree with the distress regarding bad aesthetics as well as the lack of patronage many businesses are experiencing. Some businesses in this area have indeed closed from lack of patronage since the street conversion. However, the street conversion is at most just one factor; there are many things needed for our main street to flourish once again.
THE VOID: I am impressed with the fact that the people in favor of opening G Street to vehicles have been taking political actions. Even though there are many people in favor of keeping the pedestrian-only G Street section (e.g., for beautification, activation, and otherwise taking advantage of the opportunities in this area), they do not seem to be speaking up.
Where are the open-space advocates? Where are all our bicycling-friendly organizations? Where are the people who want more tree canopy downtown? What about our CAAP friends? Or our Downtown Specific Plan planners? A plethora of commissions could have taken this opportunity to start conversations. If just one trusted organization would create a committee, then liaisons from the other groups will undoubtedly join.
If our community loses this amazing pedestrian-only area on our downtown’s main street, it will have been because no group took advantage of this rare opportunity—an opportunity that was an unexpected by-product of the COVID-19 shutdowns and the resulting local efforts to support downtown restaurants and businesses. It will be our own fault if parking spaces are deemed more important than an open space for beautification and activation of downtown Davis.
WIN-WIN: I have already stated the need for an organization—or even a City commission—to create a sub-committee that could develop and implement a plan for maintaining G Street between 2nd and 3rd Streets as a pedestrian-only area.
Therefore, I suggest that a City Commission, such as the Bicycling Transportation and Street Safety Commission, should create a subcommittee to take on this effort; in this way, the effort will already be under the umbrella of the City. Next, I suggest that the Davis Downtown Business Association, Bike Davis, Cool Davis, Chamber of Commerce, The Bike Campaign, and Tree Davis (and any commission who wants to weight in) should all send a liaison for this subcommittee.
We need to clean up our main street and then activate it for the public with amenities and events. In fact, we are already taking steps in that direction. For example, the Portland loo, the bench dedicated to Bob Bowen, and the planters and plants have all been recent improvements in the right direction. Perhaps we will even see apartments with downtown residents built in place of the current Ace Hardware building. If we continue the positive development, the small businesses of G Street could experience significant benefits. Upon seeing additional improvements, more G Street business owners may let go of the thought that reclaiming 38 parking spaces is the best solution to increasing patronage downtown.
Our City is taking strides in combating climate change, expanding our urban forest, developing our downtown to reduce car trips, and maintaining our prestige as a platinum-rated bicycle-friendly community. This project for G Street could tie together so many of our community's concerns, hopes, and aspirations.
I am writing this now to bring back a spark of life for the people in our community that prefer to keep this pedestrian-only area of G Street as an exemplification of our deepest values.
A pedestrian-only area would be neat…let's reactivate G Street!
Sincerely,
Aaron Wedra, Davis resident and downtown advocate
Davisite 
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