To Santa Barbara City Administrator Kelly McAdoo, State Street master planner Tess Harris and the City Council:

Just wondering when City of Santa Barbara staff intends to complete the “Circulation Study” related to the State Street Master Plan promised to us in the early days of the State Street Advisory Committee?

Or, if it is completed, when you plan to share it with the public?

We know some work on this issue had been discussed under Rebecca Bjork, the previous city administrator, because those findings led to the opening of the 1300 block of State Street for “public safety” reasons.

We also know that McAdoo has on several occasions promised to present the council with a detailed Circulation Study but has pulled the item each time from the agenda.

Questions:

• Has a thorough study of emergency egress from the waterfront area been done?
• Does the City believe that a possible emergency evacuation of the low-lying areas between Cabrillo Boulevard and Highway 101 could be safely accomplished without access to State Street?

Think carefully before you answer.

Now Moule & Polyzoides, the newest of serial consultants, the City Council and staff are proposing a complete restructuring of the entire downtown grid without a single real Circulation Study ever being presented.

Among the changes? Longtime one-way streets to become two-way streets without any real thought.

What would be a massive alteration to the downtown traffic grid is being presented without any supporting background information, evidence or study. The City Council voted to advance this “plan” without any questions or any study of the issue.

Why?

Regarding the downtown farmers markets, has anyone at the city given any thought to the obvious results of narrowing State Street to 20 feet as detailed in the new State Street Master Plan?

• Currently, State Street’s width is 34 feet to around 36 feet, depending on the block or section.
• Farmers market stands require 10 feet to around 12 feet, depending on their setup, parked vehicles, etc.
• Currently on State Street, with stands on both sides, this leaves approximately 10 to 12 feet of pedestrian space in the middle. On Saturdays, this space can be crowded and difficult to negotiate.

If the city narrows State Street to the suggested 20 feet, there will only be room for farmers market stands on one side of the street, with the remaining 8 to 10 feet for pedestrian shoppers.

This will create several problematic conditions.

• 8 to 10 feet of pedestrian shopper space will be extremely cramped. It won’t work.
• The 8 to 10 feet of open space will preclude ANY pretense of “emergency vehicle” access.
• Stands on only one side will mean the State Street section will need to be at least twice as long, probably involving another block or two of length. If this is necessary, it will mean that emergency vehicles from Santa Barbara Fire Station 1, at 121 W. Carrillo St., will be forced to travel even farther up or down Chapala Street to cross over to the Eastside, increasing response time on Saturdays.

The current Carrillo Street farmers market section avoids these issues because the street is more than 60 feet wide, leaving about a 20-foot lane for pedestrian shoppers and a nominal potential emergency vehicle access.

The proposed “bollards” at each intersection will need to be in the “up” or deployed positions at all times to protect the State Street market section and patrons from potential vehicle entry. This will mean that farmers market vehicles will be “locked in” until the bollards are lowered.

Given the long history of street market accidents and attacks, public safety should be a major consideration.

Has any thought been given to these issues? If so, why hasn’t the city administrator and staff communicated it with the City Council and the public?

Is another farmers market relocation in the works?

Regarding both the above farmers market conflict and the lack of transparency on a Circulation Study, how, after six years, can the City Council and city staff possibly expect us to trust them?

It cannot be overstated: Proceeding with a closed State Street for six years, and now proposing a permanent narrowing and permanent closure of the primary access from downtown to the waterfront — without a thorough and transparent study of the circulation, access and safety issues — is a gross civic malpractice.