Some business owners who operate within the project’s scope are glad it’s been approved, but say it’s too little too late.
“Downtown Santa Monica is always about the Promenade,” said Ali Attar, owner of M&A’s tobacco shop near the corner of Fourth Street and Broadway. “For years, this area’s been neglected.”
Attar said there are visible cracks in the pavement along Second and Fourth streets, which aren’t as prevalent along the Promenade.
Attar said business has improved on the street, regardless of what’s going on at City Hall. Buildings and storefronts long abandoned are beginning to fill up with new businesses, and there are more people taking detours to visit his cigar and tobacco shop.
However, Attar’s bigger issue with the downtown business situation is its current layout, not the sidewalks.
Attar said motorists who plan to shop or visit downtown often enter parking garages along Second and Fourth streets. From there, they step out of their cars and head to the Promenade. Stepping out of the parking garages, the visitors’ first pedestrian experiences in Santa Monica are the sights and smells of alleys filled with trash and human waste.
As far as an assessment is concerned, Attar said he’d prefer any money from his pocket goes toward cleaning up the alleys and attracting more pedestrian traffic along downtown’s side streets.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 15, 2005. Read the original PDF.