Construction schedule snafu frustrates businesses
City officials may have gone back on their word in keeping construction light downtown this winter, but scheduling two projects at once saved the city $395,000.
Assistant City Attorney Gordon Anderson said while he may have told downtown business owners that no other municipal construction projects would be started while the transit mall was being built, officials realized it was more cost efficient and less impactive in the long run to repave Fourth Street now rather than later.
Where the city failed, however, was telling business owners that.
“We were told there would be no concurrent city projects and then Fourth Street came out of left field,” said Bayside District Corp. board member John Warfel. “In the midst of this well planned and well done transit mall, Fourth Street just popped up.”
Downtown Santa Monica is under siege with backhoes and bulldozers which has angered business owners who say the construction has put a strain on their sales. Not only is the transit mall along Broadway Avenue being built, but Fourth Street is torn up, making it difficult to get around.
The Bayside District Corp., which represents downtown business owners, wrote a letter to the city asking for an explanation on why construction has become so heavy in the past few months.
Gordon said because the city hired the same contractor to do Fourth Street as it did the transit mall, it made economical sense to have the company do both projects simultaneously. Fourth Street will cost the city $1 million, but it will save close to $400,000 on “mobilization, yard office rental, increased operational efficiency and productivity.”
Fourth Street originally was scheduled to be ripped up later this year, but city officials decided to get both projects done in one fell swoop so this summer would be free of construction headaches for businesses and visitors.
“That change wasn’t made clear,” Anderson said. “I had been telling them that Fourth Street would be after the transit mall but we have been able to escalate the work with one company.
“That was not communicated to the business community,” he added. “It’s unfortunate because we are trying to build trust and credibility for the city with this project.”
The parking structure located at Second Street and Colorado Avenue will be retrofitted this summer, so repaving Fourth Street now seemed like a better option to city officials.
In 1997, the city developed a plan, now known as the transit mall, to make downtown Santa Monica more pedestrian friendly, while attempting to streamline traffic and create separate bus lanes on certain streets. The mutli-million project started last April and will end by this summer.
Bayside officials say they wouldn’t have given their blessing on the construction schedule for the transit mall if they knew Fourth Street was going to be ripped up at the same time.
Anderson said while the city is concerned about downtown businesses, it is not up to the Bayside District to approve when municipal projects will be done.
“There was no other time to do this,” he said. “We could have done it better but let’s not beat our head against the wall. This was a hiccup and the city has done the best that it can.”
Bayside officials disagree. They argue the city has done an inadequate job making it clear to motorists how to drive in the disfigured downtown area and how to get there from the Santa Monica Freeway.
Anderson said he is drafting a response letter to Bayside and the city plans to install more signs that make it clear how to get around downtown.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 13, 2002. Read the original PDF.