Homeless top the list of merchant concerns
DOWNTOWN — Despite frustrations with foul weather and homelessness, retailers on the Third Street Promenade report that sales were up compared to last holiday season.
The board of the Bayside District Corp., which manages downtown Santa Monica along with City Hall, presented survey results this week, showing that 18 of 27 merchants (or 66 percent) reported sales revenues from the 2004 holiday season that were higher than 2003. Twenty-two percent polled said figures were down, while 11 percent maintained business was the same.
Among the factors reported to have had a positive impact on business were new stores, holiday decorating and improved street lighting on the Promenade. Good-weather days, the availability of gift wrapping, increases in tourism and less competition from Santa Monica Placewerealso positive influences. The aging mall, located on the south end of the Promenade, has seen declining sales numbers in recent years.
While the majority of merchants polled said holiday sales were higher this year, the persistence of rain and homelessness were viewed by some to have had a negative impact on business. Other negative factors reported were the lack of public restrooms, no signage for Second and Fourth street stores, and street performers playing too loud.
The top three issues merchants said they would like Bayside to help address for the good of their businesses included homelessness, parking and street enhancements.
Jeff Decker, who is opening a new wine bar on the Promenade called the Vin Yard, said he is concerned about homelessness in downtown Santa Monica.
“I have some concerns about homelessness and how it relates to the image of my business,” he said at the Bayside board's Thursday meeting. “Nighttime business owners have different concerns than daytime business owners.
“As we all know, Santa Monica becomes a different place when the sun goes down.”
Six of the survey’s respondents (or 22 percent) said homelessness was the No. 1 issue facing the Promenade, followed by parking for employees and customers, and street enhancements.
Bayside board member Patricia Hoffman said the survey showed that only a small number of merchants polled believed homelessness was the most serious problem affecting their business, continuing a debate about the issue which has been stirring within the district for years.
“What it (the survey) shows is that most business owners do not believe homelessness is the problem,” she said.
Board members said the survey was done on such a small scale that the results could not be taken too seriously. Some board members said a City Hall survey conducted of Santa Monica residents in January may be a better reflection of what the community thinks.
In that survey, conducted by Goodwin Simon Strategic Research, 45 percent of 400 residents polled over the telephone named homelessness as the city’s top issue, as opposed to just 33 percent in 2002. Homelessness has been residents' No. 1 concern for at least five years, according to City Hall surveys.
A quarter of the residents polled named clogged roadways one of the two most important issues facing Santa Monica. That number was up over 18 percent in 2002.
The lack of parking remained a top concern, with 16 percent of residents listing it as one of the top two issues this year, or double the number of residents who said the same when the poll was conducted three years ago.
Also listed by residents as critical issues facing Santa Monica were excessive growth and overcrowding, which together accounted for 16 percent of votes for the most important issue; education, at 12 percent; lack of affordable housing; and crime, gangs and drugs, according to the survey results.
The survey covered each major neighborhood in Santa Monica, with 24 percent of those polled living in the Mid- City area, 25 percent in Ocean Park or Sunset Park, 12 percent north of Montana Avenue, 30 percent in the Wilshire-Montana area and 7 percent living downtown.
In order to determine the issues most important to Santa Monica residents, pollsters asked what residents’ top concerns were, but didn’t offer multiple choice answers.
City Hall paid Goodwin Simon Strategic Research $28,700 to conduct the survey. The cost of the survey also covered polling an extra 150 residents in the Pico neighborhood. Officials hope to use the results from those interviews in a forum on gang violence, to be held today from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at John Adams Middle School, 2425 16th St.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 26, 2005. Read the original PDF.