Is Closing Laurel Street Still a Good Idea?

Over the course of our history, there have been countless ideas that looked great on paper, but for variety of reasons, were utter flops when they were realized. Here are just a few notable examples:

• The Ford Edsel
• Coke's New Recipe
• The Apple Newton
• Segway Scooter
• Colgate Kitchen Entrees (would you buy frozen meals from the people that make your toothpaste?)

For very different reasons, these products, which at the time seemed like great ideas, turned out to be complete failures.

The City of San Carlos' plan to permanently close the 700 block of Laurel Street seems like it may belong on this list, too. And unfortunately, it's probably too late to save it.

The Background

For those of you not familiar with the history of the street closure, the initial decision to temporarily close the 700 block of Laurel Street came in June of 2020, in order to assist businesses with outdoor seating options during the COVID pandemic restrictions. But an amazing revelation came out of this unfortunate situation — we discovered that people ABSOLUTELY LOVED eating outdoors in San Carlos, pandemic or not. This is key, as we'll discuss later.

Sensing this suddenly popular use of the downtown, the City of San Carlos undertook studies and public outreach on how to make this change permanent. Here's the timeline of that, according to the city's website:

“During its study session on April 24, 2023, to discuss the Downtown Specific Plan + Streetscape Master Plan project, the Council directed city staff to move forward with a bold vision to transform the 700 block of Laurel Street into a public plaza, thereby paving the way for a more vibrant and pedestrian-friendly downtown.

Four months later, at its regular meeting on August 28, the Council adopted Resolution 2023-108 declaring its intention to permanently close the 700 block of Laurel Street. On November 17, 2023, the Council held a public hearing and determined the permanent closure of the 700 block of Laurel Street would be established by adoption of an Ordinance. Approximately one month later, on December 11, Ordinance No. 1605, permanently closing the 700 block of Laurel Street, was adopted by the City Council.”

To be fair to the City, they did conduct a variety of public outreach sessions to solicit input on what should be done with Laurel, including leasing the open space next to the now-defunct Paxti's restaurant to showcase various ideas and to garner feedback.

But when I think about why good ideas end up as bad outcomes, there are (at least) three major mistakes that decision-makers tend to trip over:

1. Not listening to the right stakeholders (Coke).
2. Trying to please too many and not prioritizing the feedback (Edsel)
3. Not realizing that the goalposts have moved (Newton).

It's just my opinion, but I think the grand plan for Laurel Street suffers from a little bit of all three. Let's talk about those.

Key Stakeholder Input?

It's important to recognize that while the public's input is important in a decision like this, it seems that the opinion of the key stakeholders — the actual business owners on the 700 Block of Laurel– was largely ignored, or at least severely discounted. There's not a single business owner that I'm aware of that is in favor of permanently closing the street to vehicular traffic. And they are even LESS enthused about the City's renderings for what the block will look like when it's done, let alone how much it will cost.

Business owners along this stretch, especially those that are not restaurants, have experienced a significant drop in foot traffic since the block was closed in 2020, and they have made that very clear to the City Council. There are already casualties, as you'll see below.

Jack of All Trades, Master of None.

Whether it's the result of trying to please too many people, or just not prioritizing their ideas and feedback properly, the City made some peculiar decisions in the redesign of the 700 block of Laurel, some of which are being implemented right now:

• Harrington Park: $6M in taxpayer money is being spent to renovate Harrington Park. Don't feel bad if you don't have a clue where Harrington Park is – it's the space between Faith & Spirits and Mama Coco Cocina Mexicana that was named in honor of Frank Harrington, the best crossing guard San Carlos has ever had, and an all-around great human. Construction is already underway, which included removing two beautiful, mature shade trees. It's not a highly utilized park, and a simple refresh for a fraction of the $6M tab would have easily sufficed.
• Bandstand: From the renderings that I viewed, there are plans to construct a concrete, Romanesque-style bandstand smack in the middle of the street, presumably to host live music. I have been told that the price tag for this bandstand is $1M. The problem is that we already have a bandstand at Burton Park that gets used maybe a dozen times over the entire year. Unless there is an intentional plan to schedule live music at the new bandstand, it runs the risk of becoming an excellent place to practice skateboard tricks.
• Removal of Dining Parklets: This one is a doozy, and will drastically change the physical and possibly the financial landscape of Laurel Street. The renderings that I was shown call for the removal of all of the current restaurant “parklets” where people dine outside in order to expand the walking plaza concept all the way to the sidewalk. The only remaining outdoor dining will be at a select few tables on the sidewalk. I totally agree that the current configuration of disparate parklets makes the downtown look more like a shanty town, but the solution is not to just remove them all. The design that Town implemented is very appealing, and if it were to become the standard design for all parklets, the visual appeal would be dramatically better. There's also the argument that not every restaurant on Laurel is doing enough business to justify a parklet in the first place — especially with parking being at such a premium.
• Parallel Parking: As part of the “beautification” of Laurel Street, some of the existing diagonal parking on the adjacent blocks will be replaced with parallel spaces, further reducing the number of parking spots in an area that's already difficult to find parking.

The Goalposts Have Moved.

When we were all locked down at home during the pandemic, the idea of a safe, public gathering place downtown was very appealing in principle. An outdoor “walking plaza” would provide residents with a much-needed outdoor space to gather. But we're not in the same situation now, and the needs of the downtown have changed — especially for those businesses that are impacted by these plans.

What are those goalposts now? Well, it's abundantly clear that outdoor dining in San Carlos is still a huge hit, especially during the balmy fall months when the wind from Belmont is not howling down the street. (What post would be complete without a shot at Belmont??) But restaurants only make up a portion of the shopping district in San Carlos, and the boutique, family-owned businesses that provide the charm of downtown San Carlos are suffering. The casual shopper is not going to walk three or four blocks to patronize a store that they are not a loyal customer of.

Even though the construction is only starting, the effects of the street being closed for 6 years and the proposed changes are already having a negative impact.

The Casualties.

As I mentioned above, many of the family-owned businesses that comprise Laurel Street have been suffering ever since the street was closed, and some are only hanging on by a thread. Dona's Hallmark, a landmark of downtown San Carlos for nearly 50 years, is closing its doors, citing a downturn in their business.

Even more daunting is the future of Town Restaurant, arguably the anchor of the 700 block of Laurel Street, if not all of downtown. They certainly rank in the top five of sales tax revenue generators for the city. The proposed removal of Town's parklets will cost Town $2,000,000 annually in dining revenue, according to their owners. At a minimum, this will result in significant layoffs in staffing. But more likely, Town will simply pull up stakes in San Carlos and relocate their extremely successful concept in another city. That's not me hypothesizing — that's straight from the mouth of the owner.

The bottom line is this — people will not be drawn to downtown Laurel Street because it's a pedestrian plaza. They'll be drawn there, as they always have, because of our unique and valued businesses. And if those start to fail, the fun zone is going to become a dead zone.

The Solution?

You can't complain about a problem without at least offering a solution. The facts clearly show that blocking off business areas entirely to business traffic does not work. Palo Alto tried it and has since reopened most of their streets. Menlo Park has one block still closed on Santa Cruz Avenue, and its biggest restaurant, Left Bank, just closed its doors. Downtown Mountain View has a long stretch along Castro Street that is fully closed, and according to sources that I spoke with, businesses are hurting along that stretch as well.

If a city is trying to create a unique urban feel where there's more outdoor activity, the Santana Row concept seems to be thriving. Encouraging outdoor dining and shopping, and carefully integrating it with one-way traffic that offers at least some level of parking seems to be the magic mix.

Unfortunately, San Carlos seems to be headed down another path entirely, and only time will tell if it's a successful one.

What are your thoughts? Let's start a discussion in the comments below. I'd especially love to hear from business owners along Laurel Street.