Grand Unveiling of State Street’s Future Gets Off to Bumpy Start
Meeting About Proposed Major Redesign of Downtown Santa Barbara’s Main Drag Gets Sidetracked by Concerns over Cyclists on Pedestrian Promenade
The grand public unveiling of the long-term future of State Street — or at least three proposed options thereof — got off to a bumpy start last Wednesday afternoon’s gathering of the State Street Advisory Committee and stayed that way for the better part of three hours.
Given the scope, reach, and complexity of the project — a major redesign of street and sidewalks running from the 400 through the 1300 blocks of State Street — some confusion and turbulence was inevitable. But before the consultants hired by City Hall could even attempt to paint a clear picture of their State Street future-scapes, the discussion got sidetracked by the intense consternation over what’s happening there right now. Many speakers — some members of the public and others members of the 17-person State Street Advisory Committee appointed by the City Council — expressed heated concern that cyclists and e-bike riders had made State Street’s pedestrian promenade unsafe.
Some wanted bikes off State Street entirely and redirected to Anacapa and Chapala streets instead. When city staff stated this was infeasible from a traffic management perspective, some committee members expressed frustration they’d never been informed of this before, after eight months of meetings.
