On Wednesday evening our newly elected youthful city council passed a resolution to turn the promenade into an “entertainment zone.” What you ask is an Entertainment Zone? As far as I can tell it’s just a place you can drink alcohol on the streets. I’m sure they intend more than that, but at this point that’s all I can glean, and it is still just a plan to make a plan, so the details will have to wait.
There is something so earnestly desperate about this idea. After years of the promenade’s slow death-spiral, after ignoring all kinds of flashing red lights; the loss of REI and the mall’s implosion just to name a few, the city council is (finally) really and truly trying something new.
Let us imagine the wonders that await in our newly minted entertainment zone. Young hip 30-somethings sipping limited edition IPAs as they meander amongst the suddenly attractive cobble stoned Promenade. Beautiful people enjoying their beautiful lives, all thanks to alcohol. That seems to be the vision, as far as I can tell. And it’s a wonderful vision. I’m excited. No really, I am.
I just have a few concerns and there is a lot to consider here.
Council Member Torosis, I think rightly kept asking for end goals and a sense of the return on investment involved? City staff answers were somewhat vague, and I’m still not sure who or how this is being paid for.
These are very important questions, as we know the devil is in the details and we’re talking about a city that keeps telling us it’s broke. A city that couldn’t afford to host the Olympic beach volleyball or Olympic marathon. So how are we going to pay for the police and other staff necessary to operate something like this? What about branding and marketing?
Will the newly collected taxes from liquor sales be enough to cover these new and somewhat unprecedented expenses?
How will we ensure that inviting hundreds if not thousands of people to come drink on the street won’t end in mayhem? How will they keep them from taking their hip city approved cups down to the pier etc?
Council member Zwick referenced 6th street in Austin and Beale Street in Memphis as examples and that was where mind went too. I’ve been to 6th street in Austin, a place that locals affectionately refer to as “dirty 6th”, and I can tell you it does not fit the magazine advertisement laid out above. It is, as it is known, dirty. And it is almost never frequented by those locals.
Mayor Negrete suggested that activating the space made it safer. To some extent I think this is true, but not for Austin’s 6th street, or Bourbon street or Nashville’s Lower Broadway, all of which require a heavy police presence and where there is ample and regular unsavory events.
This I believe is why city staff suggested it as a pilot program on one block, and only doing it a few times. So, they could explore the quantitative and qualitatively costs to determine the scale and viability for the city.
But our young and vibrant city council said nope! We want this seven days a week, 8am-2am, and we want it to not require the continuing resolution a pilot would need to continue. They want to bring it into being and work out the kinks along the way. Let the good times roll!
I think the intention is so great, but I think alcohol should not be the anchoring element here. It risks creating a mayhem zone, not a magnetic vibrant cultural space, the latter of which I think is the intention.
Just as the pier music series of the 90’s brought thousands to Santa Monica, live music and entertainment on the streets should be the magnet that attracts the city and the kind of attention we want to be known for.
One or two days a week might also make it have a festival like feeling. The danger I think in seven days a week is it becoming culturally just a place to party. I can’t help wondering if the city Council is underestimating the dangers in an alcohol anchored project? There seems to be a ‘it’ll all just be fine’ vibe. Fingers crossed. Drunk people are not known for their good choices.
Maybe the arts and music will come after? Maybe DTSM will find local bands to play Saturday nights or local artists will be given space to display their work? Maybe the vision includes something more interesting and compelling than taking a beer out into the sunshine or moonlight? I hope so, but so far if it’s there, I haven’t heard it.
But importantly—wonderfully—magically, there is the glimmer of a new generation of city leaders taking their vision into a city that has lacked vision for too many years and that’s honestly extremely exciting.
Whatever comes from this, whatever we learn, we are evolving. The boomers who have sanctimoniously controlled Santa Monica since the late 70’s are finally losing their grip on our lives and I’m all here for it!
