Thursday, July 31, 2014

San Carlos downtown village struggles with success


San Mateo Times/Joh Horgan (opinion), 7/29/14.  "John Horgan:  "Midday congestion is catalyst for Holly Street changes."

San Carlos a popular restaurant destination
causing traffic. You know how we hate traffic.
"Be careful what you wish for. San Carlos officials and residents find themselves in that position today. Their downtown business district is so popular at lunchtime Monday through Friday that parking is typically at a premium.  Blame the downtown area's outstanding dining options and the ongoing high-tech boom for much of the problem. That combination is helping to cause traffic tie-ups and a lot of motorist frustration.

And, of course, Holly Street, which narrows to one lane in each direction, is a never-ending bottleneck. ...  It doesn't help that there is a popular In-N-Out hamburger outlet just off Holly near the freeway.   .... All of this, however, is a testament to the lure of excellent restaurant choices available in that attractive village."  Read article. 

Related - San Carlos Blog/Bob Bredel, 6/17/10, "Is downtown San Carlos becoming restaurant Row?"   ....  "Start with the premise that any additional dollars being spent in San Carlos is a good thing.  Out of town dollars being spent in San Carlos?  Even better.  Any negative issues stemming from the recent surge in activity are all secondary in nature.  Parking, congestion and infrastructure are all issues which will need attention.  The City of San Carlos has begun to put some preliminary plans in place as the once sleepy downtown transitions to a destination for those who live beyond the city limits.  The prospective redesign of Wheeler Plaza will play a huge role in the new downtown.  Wheeler Plaza is located behind the shops on the south half of San Carlos Avenue, between Laurel and Walnut.  The new plaza will have retail shops and additional parking.  The design will also make the plaza flow more easily to downtown." 

Note photograph from the related San Carlos Blog article above.

Posted by Kathy Meeh

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

Every other city can except Pacifica.

Good luck trying to get your pie in the sky Library.

Anonymous said...

Food is just about the only bright spot in Pacifica's economy. If you're going to eat, eat out!

Anonymous said...

1024 No luck needed because where there's a will, there's a way. And applause.

Dina said...

11:47 -- is there really a will or desire to help Pacifica evolve into a town that more closely resembles cute downtown San Carlos as opposed to Daly City? I would LOVE to see downtown San Carlos/San Mateo/Palo Alto - even HMB-- quality businesses and restaurants in Pacifica, but --again-- is there really any desire to attract them? With the exception of Rockaway, the strip malls that populate this town are embarrassing eyesores, with filthy pavements, ugly store fronts, and trash that just builds up and does not go away unti residents pick it up. (Dennys and Pedro Point shopping center, I am looking at YOU!) Then we have the issue of the non-destination nature of the vast majority of the current resident busnesses. Cute destination spots (I.e., the kind of businesses that draw non-residents to a town) don't want to open up shop in dirty strip malls, where they woud be squished in between thrift stores, dollar stores, check into cash stores, "sell your gold here" spots, and the like. We are blessed to accidently have destination restaurants like Puerto and Lovey's, but the plan to wide HWY 1 woud wipe out Lovey's, which is the opposite of what we should be striving for. From what i see, the evidence suggests the only real "will" in Pacifica is a desire to be more ike South SF or Daly City, meaning just another depressing home for more big- box stores and depressing strip malls populated by shops no one with money to spend woud be caught dead in -- much less go out of their way to visit. So what am I missing?

Anonymous said...

Dina, some of the businesses here may not be up to your standards, or mine for that matter, but they wouldn't be here if they didn't meet the needs of Pacificans. This town has an identity crisis. We want to be "that", but we're actually "this". To add to the confusion, we're strung out along a highway with no natural center and none of the cohesiveness or village-feel of those towns you admire. Agree with you about Rockaway. That's the star.

Anonymous said...

I went to Hot Harvest Nights, on a Thurs,San Carlos.Laurel closed off,with impressive looking farmer's market,music in small park,and restaurants packed with diners.We picked Restaurante Italiano,excellent,but pricey,$90.00 for two.San Carlos is not a poor town,but they voted down a sales tax and had to contract police services with county.Did not see a library as the activity center.

Anonymous said...

They probably weren't in hock up to their armpits with pension obligation bonds so outsourcing was a smart, city-saving option for them. Our stellar council just extended the term on our bonds til 2020--I refer to the year, not council's eyesight.

Anonymous said...

It doesn't help business in Pedro Point Shopping Center that the deadbeat stoned surfers take up 80% of the parking lot on weekends. The owners only care about collecting the rents.

Linda Mar Shopping Center hired security that walks around trying to stop deadbeats parking in the center and walking to the beach.

Anonymous said...

Hey jerkwad, not all surfers are stoned or deadbeats.
I agree however that Pedro Point commercial tenants/landlords should get their act together and clean up and stripe the lot and then Pacifica police should ticket any improperly parked cars.
If the proprietors want to extend free parking to their customers that's their prerogative (good business promotion).

Anonymous said...

How's that experiment with paid beach parking going? No one's bragging. Are we at least going to cover the ranger salaries?

Anonymous said...

Yes. It would be nice to see whether the Beach Paid Parking Program is actually bringing in the revenue. All I've seen posted here are the projected costs and revenue.

Perhaps it's too early to publish the figures, but it would be nice if somebody in the city would inform the public whether the revenue from the program is on track or not.

Anonymous said...

Counting's not their thing, but I suspect if it were ahead of projection it'd be Breaking News on CNN.

Anonymous said...

Can you believe what city council says? They can not even balance the checkbook.

$4,000,000. Maybe we can send some 101 Accounting kids from Skyline down to City Hall to look around were all this money went.

Anonymous said...

9:59 If you park in a business parking space taking away the potential customer going into the business, you are a deadbeat!

Anonymous said...

324 The biz/landlord don't seem to care, why should you? You seem to really dislike surfers.

Anonymous said...

Deadbeats get ticketed or towed in Linda Mar shopping center.
The same could happen in Pedro Point but you have to put up signage first.

Kathy Meeh said...

Dina 636, a better business location for Lovey's Tea Shoppe might have been at the 2006 Peebles quarry development, had that concept been built. Disadvantages of the current location include limited parking, scary highway access, and a less than charming building.

Fortunately we have these centrally located shopping centers you disparage. Retail shopping, such as it is, is convenient. What are you missing? This city needs a balanced city economy, and fighting such progress drives some of the deteriorating consequences you've mentioned.

Anonymous said...

instead of being next to a busy highway where it gets standing room only business, lovey's should have moved to an imaginary quarry development

that's F. Pacifica logic for you

Kathy Meeh said...

721, "Standing room only", huh? Guess Lovey's Tea Shoppe is hiding all those customer cars under Tea Cozies.

Anonymous said...

Kathy, are you saying that Lovey's doesn't get standing room only business? Every time I've tried to eat there, there's never been an open table and I've had to wait. Sometimes I can't stay long enough and I have to leave. Lovey's is so successful and popular that it has to turn away business.

Kathy Meeh said...

814, I'm saying when driving by Lovey's Tea Shoppe, generally I'm not seeing cars parked out front-- possibly some cars are parked on side streets, and some people hike in, maybe. Further, the on-the-highway parking location might exclude some customers for safety reasons.

As mentioned prior, its likely a town square (such as the development which was proposed by Peebles 2006) would be a better location. In any event, that quarry development concept built in this city would have been a classy improvement over the the disparaging comments Dina 636 made with regard to our shopping centers.

Anonymous said...

lovey's needs to think out a permanent location

Anonymous said...

Lovey's does good business despite a
marginal location. Many, if not most, customers park in the various areas behind it instead of along the highway. Bet the rent reflected the crap location. The place has fans, lots of tea parties. Hope she finds a good location if the highway goes through.