ARTICLE
Remember the Past Building for the Future Downtown Santa Cruz On October 17, 1989 — thirty years ago today — the earth shook Santa Cruz County to our core. Over the last couple of weeks, we have seen and read about the historical display how that October day has forever changed our community. That one day in the last century was also the turning point for our community. During the last eight months, many of the Chamber’s weekly eNews articles have focused on the Chamber’s history from our humble beginnings as the Board of Trade in 1889 to present. You may recall the article about the Chamber in the 1980s: Click here! Tonight, as the Chamber celebrates its 130 years of service to Santa Cruz County — and on a date that is part of the fabric of our community — I thought we’d look back by reviewing the many stories that have been shared over the last couple weeks. In Saturday’s Santa Cruz Sentinel, longtime resident and real estate agent, Thomas Brezsny, reflected back on his memory of that warm October afternoon, thirty years ago. https://www.santacruzsentinel.com/2019/10/13/guest-commentary-downtown-shows-signs-of-life-after-earthquake/ The Silicon Valley Business Journal’s Alisha Green recently wrote a story about the downtown focusing on the Pacific Garden Mall, Bookshop Santa Cruz and the rebuilding by long time Chamber member Swenson. Their contributions to the downtown are stories about community and partnership. https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2019/10/15/loma-prieta-earthquake-santa-cruz.html These stories are a reminder of how a community recovers and rebuilds. How Bookshop Santa Cruz found a way to save much of its inventory in a building that was deemed unsafe by the City. Neal Coonerty, the owner of Bookshop Santa Cruz, was seeking a way to recover as much of the material as possible. The city eventually said it would allow two days for removing as much as possible from the shop. Coonerty shared the story on the local radio station, and more than 400 people showed up to help with the recovery. They all signed liability waivers acknowledging they could be injured or killed by entering the badly damaged building. As we say today — strength in numbers! The 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake hit at a precarious time for businesses to recover during the fall out of the saving and loan crisis earlier in that decade. Many banks at the time of the earthquake, and for several years after, weren’t offering loans for development without proof that there was a lease in place. Swenson got creative so they could get to work. “In at least one case, the Swenson team built what was essentially a box inside of a building so they could offer a proof of concept to get a lease signed and secure financing for the full building project,” Jessie Nickell said. Swenson has since been a key figure in the recovery, investing $152 million across 74 projects downtown, including the remaining parcel known as the “last hole in the ground.” The lasting power of a public-private collaboration that followed the earthquake is also visible on Pacific Avenue today. Downtown boasts wider sidewalks now and trees that leave the storefronts visible to potential customers and visitors to our downtown. Like many of us that lived through the earthquake, we share stories about our personal experience, our families, friends, business associates and most importantly about community. There are some in our community that wish the old Pacific Garden Mall was still here today — longing to bring back the Cooper House, the bluesy sounds of the local band, Warmth and the cast of characters that were all about of the downtown Santa Cruz scene in the 1980s. Given the challenges that had emerged downtown before the earthquake, the Santa Cruz community quickly pulled together to talk about how to make the hub an even better version of what it had been. Our local leaders rolled up their sleeves and started Vision Santa Cruz with private and public sector participants, it was a partnership. Many of those Vision Santa Cruz participants were Chamber members. The sense of ownership to rebuild our downtown and Santa Cruz County became a collaborative process. Vision Santa Cruz work led to a document known as the “First Principles,” which outlined a vision for downtown on topics such as building character, building height, the housing mix, accessibility, open spaces, pedestrian movement, and parking. It became the foundation for the Downtown Recovery Plan, adopted in 1991. Today, thirty years later, we are at another cross-road. As we move into a new phase through the recently updated downtown plan — the focus of an economic vibrant downtown linking to the San Lorenzo River Walkway and the Monterey Bay, the Wharf, the beach and the Boardwalk. What leads people to downtown today is access to services and a more walkable and pedestrian friendly environment where employees can live, work and recreate. The single most important part of this vibrancy is our people. The redevelopment of downtown is a history lesson in collaboration. We are being pressed in a new direction for the downtown by focusing on what I call environmental redevelopment — looking at outdated parking lots and visioning them as new modernized mixed use projects that can help marry the downtown employees and businesses to the open space of the river walkway and short access to the ocean and a recreation facilities like the Santa Cruz Warriors Kaiser Arena. We are now seeing projects like the Water Street affordable housing project as a model for the future. The Land Trust of Santa Cruz County calls it Conservation Housing: a lot of housing on a small amount of land (density), located in an urban core (reduces auto travel and greenhouse gases), and all the units are subsidized (affordable). Later this fall, the Santa Cruz City Council will have a second opportunity to approve a mixed use project utilizing the “First Principles” as fundamental — a vision for downtown for building character, building height, the housing mix, accessibility, open spaces, pedestrian movement, and parking. The Library Mixed Use Project proposed for Downtown Santa Cruz is another example of community collaboration and a public-private partnership between the library, the city for much need parking and affordable housing. Let’s take full advantage of our past history lesson from the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake and build a 21st Century Library for the next generation.
Remember the Past Building for the Future Downtown Santa Cruz
On October 17, 1989 — thirty years ago today — the earth shook Santa Cruz County to our core. Over the last couple of weeks, we have seen and read about the historical display how that October day has forever changed our community. That one day in the last century was also the turning point for our community.
During the last eight months, many of the Chamber’s weekly eNews articles have focused on the Chamber’s history from our humble beginnings as the Board of Trade in 1889 to present. You may recall the article about the Chamber in the 1980s: Click here!
Tonight, as the Chamber celebrates its 130 years of service to Santa Cruz County — and on a date that is part of the fabric of our community — I thought we’d look back by reviewing the many stories that have been shared over the last couple weeks.
In Saturday’s Santa Cruz Sentinel, longtime resident and real estate agent, Thomas Brezsny, reflected back on his memory of that warm October afternoon, thirty years ago.
https://www.santacruzsentinel.com/2019/10/13/guest-commentary-downtown-shows-signs-of-life-after-earthquake/
The Silicon Valley Business Journal’s Alisha Green recently wrote a story about the downtown focusing on the Pacific Garden Mall, Bookshop Santa Cruz and the rebuilding by long time Chamber member Swenson. Their contributions to the downtown are stories about community and partnership.
https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2019/10/15/loma-prieta-earthquake-santa-cruz.html
These stories are a reminder of how a community recovers and rebuilds. How Bookshop Santa Cruz found a way to save much of its inventory in a building that was deemed unsafe by the City. Neal Coonerty, the owner of Bookshop Santa Cruz, was seeking a way to recover as much of the material as possible. The city eventually said it would allow two days for removing as much as possible from the shop. Coonerty shared the story on the local radio station, and more than 400 people showed up to help with the recovery. They all signed liability waivers acknowledging they could be injured or killed by entering the badly damaged building. As we say today — strength in numbers!
The 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake hit at a precarious time for businesses to recover during the fall out of the saving and loan crisis earlier in that decade. Many banks at the time of the earthquake, and for several years after, weren’t offering loans for development without proof that there was a lease in place. Swenson got creative so they could get to work.
“In at least one case, the Swenson team built what was essentially a box inside of a building so they could offer a proof of concept to get a lease signed and secure financing for the full building project,” Jessie Nickell said. Swenson has since been a key figure in the recovery, investing $152 million across 74 projects downtown, including the remaining parcel known as the “last hole in the ground.”
The lasting power of a public-private collaboration that followed the earthquake is also visible on Pacific Avenue today. Downtown boasts wider sidewalks now and trees that leave the storefronts visible to potential customers and visitors to our downtown.
Like many of us that lived through the earthquake, we share stories about our personal experience, our families, friends, business associates and most importantly about community.
There are some in our community that wish the old Pacific Garden Mall was still here today — longing to bring back the Cooper House, the bluesy sounds of the local band, Warmth and the cast of characters that were all about of the downtown Santa Cruz scene in the 1980s.
Given the challenges that had emerged downtown before the earthquake, the Santa Cruz community quickly pulled together to talk about how to make the hub an even better version of what it had been.
Our local leaders rolled up their sleeves and started Vision Santa Cruz with private and public sector participants, it was a partnership. Many of those Vision Santa Cruz participants were Chamber members. The sense of ownership to rebuild our downtown and Santa Cruz County became a collaborative process.
Vision Santa Cruz work led to a document known as the “First Principles,” which outlined a vision for downtown on topics such as building character, building height, the housing mix, accessibility, open spaces, pedestrian movement, and parking. It became the foundation for the Downtown Recovery Plan, adopted in 1991.
Today, thirty years later, we are at another cross-road. As we move into a new phase through the recently updated downtown plan — the focus of an economic vibrant downtown linking to the San Lorenzo River Walkway and the Monterey Bay, the Wharf, the beach and the Boardwalk. What leads people to downtown today is access to services and a more walkable and pedestrian friendly environment where employees can live, work and recreate. The single most important part of this vibrancy is our people.
The redevelopment of downtown is a history lesson in collaboration. We are being pressed in a new direction for the downtown by focusing on what I call environmental redevelopment — looking at outdated parking lots and visioning them as new modernized mixed use projects that can help marry the downtown employees and businesses to the open space of the river walkway and short access to the ocean and a recreation facilities like the Santa Cruz Warriors Kaiser Arena. We are now seeing projects like the Water Street affordable housing project as a model for the future. The Land Trust of Santa Cruz County calls it Conservation Housing: a lot of housing on a small amount of land (density), located in an urban core (reduces auto travel and greenhouse gases), and all the units are subsidized (affordable).
Later this fall, the Santa Cruz City Council will have a second opportunity to approve a mixed use project utilizing the “First Principles” as fundamental — a vision for downtown for building character, building height, the housing mix, accessibility, open spaces, pedestrian movement, and parking. The Library Mixed Use Project proposed for Downtown Santa Cruz is another example of community collaboration and a public-private partnership between the library, the city for much need parking and affordable housing.
Let’s take full advantage of our past history lesson from the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake and build a 21st Century Library for the next generation.