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A Downtown Plan to Support Local Business
We should look at some ideas that can make our downtown more attractive to resident and visitor alike, while supporting our small businesses.
Marketing
Our Chamber of Commerce previously placed flyers promoting visits to SJC in racks in various locations, such as around Anaheim and Disneyland. Yet there was no way to track whether these flyers had any impact or generated any business. One suggestion is to add a coupon for a dollar off the Mission or Zoomar’s petting zoo entrance fee, or a small discount at local restaurants. In this way, we could track the number of flyers that are used and see the value and locations that generate the most interest. We should also look at placing them in the hotels in Dana Point and at the harbor, where many tourists visit. The City might even subsidize the brochures as the City would gain additional sales tax revenue.
There is also a low-cost marketing opportunity that seems overlooked. How about using inserts in the monthly water bill to promote local businesses? The City should use this method to reach out to residents on behalf of our local stores.
We can contact all the local tour operators that bring thousands of visitors to the Mission regularly. I continually hear the complaint that tourists come to the Mission and upon completing the Mission tour, immediately leave on buses for lunch or shopping elsewhere. Perhaps we should offer discounts to the tour operators in conjunction with some of our restaurants and shops. Have we set up convenient bus parking that promotes visitors to walk by some shops on the way back to the buses?
Pedestrian-Friendly
We should also pursue a more pedestrian-friendly downtown. Maybe we should use some of that money allocated by the City for façade improvements to adding a few benches along Camino Capistrano so that visitors are encouraged to walk around downtown. Right now, many avoid walking since they see no place to rest if they venture beyond the Mission. Other improvements include an easier crossing of Ortega and Camino Capistrano with coordinated traffic/walk signals, making a pedestrian mall by closing a street (such as Yorba Street), and encouraging shops to use sidewalk windows to their fullest.
We should convert the City-owned land between Ciao Pasta and Pedro’s across from the Mission into a small park and Visitor’s Center. It could house the Chamber of Commerce, include public restrooms open during business hours, and have picnic tables and tables for people to play chess, cards or just talk. A path could be made down to the parking lot by Sarducci’s and Rendezvous, so that visitors could easily get to the Los Rios District from the Mission. The Visitor’s Center would be clearly evident to Mission visitors, and could serve as a focal point to direct visitors to the many sights and businesses within our town, keeping them here longer than the brief stay most have today.
With the great number of artists who use the Mission and the Los Rios area as the setting for their paintings, plus the artists who reside here, we could easily add a small art fair/exhibition to the Farmer’s Market a couple times a year, having the artists display works on the sidewalks throughout downtown. This would give people a reason to walk around the downtown and visit the stores while they look at the art.
Coordinate with Trains
We are unique in South County by having a train station in the middle of our downtown. Why not coordinate a deal with Metrolink and Amtrak to promote day trips to San Juan or dinner specials that encourage you to leave the car at home and visit the Mission, Los Rios, shops and restaurants of historic San Juan? Just as Metrolink does an annual free ride day (with which the City has not previously maximized coordination), perhaps we can get a monthly or quarterly “special ride” ticket that allows someone to make a round trip to San Juan at a discounted price.
Night Hours
For residents and visitors, the store hours are a constant topic of discussion. It is very difficult for small businesses to extend their hours when the owner is often the only person that staffs the store. However, I remember as a kid in Chicago, we had a couple blocks of retail stores in our neighborhood that were always open late one day a week. On that day, the stores opened later than usual to allow the later hours coverage by the small business owner.
While it takes a while to get the word out, a similar approach might be worthwhile here. Especially if we can tie it into something like a 5 or 10% discount for diners that night in our local restaurants. Maybe a weekly late night is too much to start, but we could start with the something like the last Wednesday of every month. Tying the night into the day of the Farmer’s market could also be beneficial.
While I recognize that some of these ideas require more effort, cost and logistics than others; none of them are out of reach for a city of our size. We have the advantage of a true city center that is both historic and very limited in size. We have easy transportation with a train station in the heart of downtown and freeway access two blocks from the downtown. And we really don’t need to make each event a big deal with crowds. We merely need to give our residents and visitors a reason to spend a couple hours walking around downtown and supporting our shops.
Eventually, we may again have movies as a reason to be there, but even without a movie house, we can make our downtown a destination and gathering place. Most of the pieces are already there. We just need to tie the pieces together. Start with a couple ideas that have little cost. Find a business or group that will spearhead one idea. And have a City Council that takes the lead in pushing a vision to reality. While past practice in the City has been to spend a bunch of time developing plans, maybe we should follow Nike’s lead and “Just Do It!”
If you agree with this approach to improving our Downtown, Please vote for Mark Nielsen for City Council |
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