A group of business owners along Bristol Street have banded together to see if together they can find a way to remain on their portion of the corridor, which the city plans to widen from four to six lanes,’ according to the O.C. Register.
If you at all drive through Santa Ana you know the area in question. It is a strip of businesses on the East side of Bristol, just south of 17th. These include a martial arts dojo; a McDonald’s and an optometrist.
What makes this case interesting is that the Washington Square Neighborhood Association has gotten involved and there has been a bit of a ruckus as the neighbors want to see these businesses torn down so they can get a promised green strip.
Former Santa Ana Councilman Tom Lutz is the President of the WSNA. He has been asking questions about the effort to save these businesses, such as who is going to pay to remodel them to the new dimensions demanded by the street widening?
Former WSNA President Lynette Verino, who is also on the Santa Ana Community Redevelopment and Housing Commission, is involved in the effort to save these businesses.
Reportedly the plans for a green strip have been in place for awhile. They city has already knocked down a dental business that was on the corner of 17th and Bristol, as you can see in the picture above. You can also see in that picture what the green strip notion is all about.
The city envisions widening the street from four lanes to six, with a raised median in the center, a 15-foot-wide parkway and a 10-foot-wide sidewalk to accommodate increasing pedestrian traffic. City staff is recommending a 150-foot-wide project, according to the O.C. Register.
I don’t know who exactly Verino is involved with but I hear that SAUSD Trustee John Palacio, who tells me that he is a political consultant, has reportedly shown up with this group to at least one meeting. The business owners include real estate broker Jeronimo Chavez, acupuncturist Yong Lee, tax agent Catalina Phan, Dave Shah, representing Genbu-Kai Karate School, optometrist Robert Gonzales, Jim Turner, representing Genbu-Kai Karate School, dentist Kent Ochiai, dentist Veronica Rosales and McDonald’s restaurant owner Larry Kaplan.
The business operators are recommending a 120-foot-wide plan that they say would result in the same width of sidewalk, along with uniform, drought-resistant landscaping, façade improvements and shared parking that could serve as a model for re-use of older buildings, and likely save money, rding to the O.C. Register.
So should the WSNA get their green strip or should the City of Santa Ana find a way to keep these businesses open?
I would not consider the green strip to be “Their (WS) green strip.” I would prefer a green strip, but also understand that these businesses would prefer to stay in business.
I would not trust John Palacio as far as I could throw him.
You have to wonder if this group hired Palacio.
As for the strip, I agree. I’m not sure that this neighborhood association sees it that way.
Those businesses have looked like crap for over 20+ years. Ran down, weeds, junk, taggers hit them up, a total eyesore. NOW?! All of a sudden the businesses want the neighborhood’s support so the eyesore, Sanford and Son looking cluster of businesses can remain? No way! The neighborhood wants the plan in place of the green space/sidewalk.
The green park space is beautiful on Bristol by Wilshire Square. The whole city will look better as more of Bristol adopts this look. The businesses there are eyesores. The park area looks awesome! I say, stick to awesome.
Where are the kids going to eat if the close McDonalds?
Maybe they can recruit Michele ” I have a BMI of 39″ Martinez lead a charge to close Mc D’s (tax generating business) in favor of “green space”!
I personally do feel that this is a situation where community has to chose if they are going to live with the consequences of their actions. As a college student studying urban and regional planning, green ways are a great way to bring community together and to beautify the city. But… (this is a big BUT) by doing this, you take away tax-producing entities for the city. These businesses either stop by force or are forced somewhere else. Some other neighborhood will have to take these businesses. As a result, taxes will have to increase in other sectors of the city economy. By not having these businesses at a walking distance for the community, there will be an increase in auto dependency. As a result, the city will have to add additional lanes to move traffic. And then increase taxes to build the roads and maintain them. And so on and so on….
What I suggest is the community live with certain problems in order for other things to fall in place. Beautify what is there presently and become a community where walking is favored more than driving.
The Bristol Street Corridor Specific Plan adopted in 1991 clearly indicates the area between Washington and 17th to be zoned commercial and shows a strip center in their site development plan. It was never intended to be green space. Please do not delude yourselves into believing that this was ever intended to be anything other than a tax producing, commercial complex erected by a lucky developer.
Well, you are incorrect. Washington Square will get what they want. You don’t live there so don’t worry about it.