Improving historic Downtown, local economy top special Council meeting
May 25, 2016
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
Ways to improve the historic Downtown and the local economy were at the top of the public comment list at the May 18 special City Council meeting.
Councilmembers reviewed goals and priorities and heard input from a handful of speakers; only about a dozen people attended the meeting that was announced just the week before.
Finance Director Sandy Easley told the council that the list has been altered as goals have been met or are now in progress, and “We now have a sheet that is the continuation of your very short-term goals for last year.”
Increasing staff salaries “across the board,” replacing City Hall carpeting at $100,000, eliminating the use of a financial consultant to free up funds to upgrade the director’s position, upgrade the Public Works Director position with an engineer licensing and Caltrans experience and commercial code enforcement with a special focus on the Downtown were among the priorities, the latter addressed by Connie Tushla during public comment.
“I want to say I’m impressed to see,” added maintenance to the Downtown, said Tushla.
“We have to keep Main Street in pristine condition…the first thing investors see is our Downtown, it is the face of Santa Paula, the symbol of who we are and probably the first place they visit.”
Tushla noted, “The street portrays or does not portray pride of ownership, sadly” in Santa Paula’s case the latter as demonstrated by photos of overflowing trash cans, a “beat up Keep Our City Clean sign,” and other signs of blight.
“Having sold real estate in my past life I know if you are trying to get someone to invest in Santa Paula you can talk yourself blue but they are extremely,” hard to convince if Main Street is dirty.
Tushla, the chair of the city’s Economic Development Advisory Board, said the city must hire more public works staff and budget funds for cleanup efforts, enforce business licensing, hire fewer consultants and spend the funding in-house and regularly publish a list of streets and railroad crossings scheduled to be fixed followed by updates and completion notices.
The city must hire “A very active economic advisory person, right now we’re not in the game we’re on the sidelines,” with various merchants and the Downtown Merchants Association doing their best to revitalize the economy and attract new businesses.
“Don’t give up on Adams Canyon,” as the Ojai Valley Inn brings $1 million to Ojai each year in bed tax.
Said Tushla, “They don’t have the five museums we have,” as well as other attractions. “Could you imagine if we had a boutique hotel?” to attract visitors such as a resort in Adams Canyon.
Tushla said the General Plan should include a Downtown business and design ordinance governing the types of businesses as well as proper paint palettes to highlight the historic buildings.
Santa Paula Firefighter Nick Bacigalupo, said the “share of the pie” for the SPFD remains the smallest cut and noted that other departments have much higher training and equipment allocations.
“We already have a shoestring budget,” and he asked that the council find more funding.
Planning Director Janna Minsk said a part-time planner could help with Downtown code enforcement; Fire Chief Rick Araiza has been meeting with the Downtown Merchants Association on issues.
Incorporating a Downtown plan into the General Plan presently being updated would add about $15,000 to the cost for charrettes and other work related to an enforceable design component.
The council agreed to receive and file the report; Councilman Jim Tovias was unable to attend the meeting.
