The Plaza Street closure will not be revisited again until the end of January, when it is slated to expire — unless the Healdsburg City Council decide to formally revisit it before then — despite concerns from a few Plaza businesses who have voiced that they’d like council to reconsider the extension of the closure, claiming it has negatively affected their business.
The closure, dubbed “Open Streets,” was first introduced in July when the city council voted to close Plaza between Healdsburg Avenue and Center Street and between Center Street and Plaza Street up toward the Healdsburg Center for the Arts for a five-week trial run.
The aim of the program is to allow for expanded outdoor service for restaurants and retail businesses.
Following the trial run, city staff brought a recommendation to the council on Sept. 8 to end the closure between Healdsburg Avenue and Center Street.
Interim City Manager David Kiff said the staff recommendation to end Open Streets stemmed from a concern from local retailers about the impact the closure may have on local business.
Kiff said during the meeting that the consensus from local retailers was mixed and that generally the consensus was that the closure of Plaza between Center and East streets where the Healdsburg Center for the Arts is functioning well.
After garnering feedback from Plaza Street businesses, Kiff said retailers and galleries tend to oppose the extension.
At the time, Councilmember Joe Naujokas asked if there was any evidence that the closure negatively impacted businesses and while Kiff said there was no hard data collected, anecdotally, Kiff was told that one business had its first zero dollar day.
Despite staff’s recommendation to end the pilot run, councilmembers felt that a five-week trial period of the program interrupted by record heat, fires and smoke wasn’t enough time for businesses, locals and visitors to try out the program.
Several residents supported the idea but only a few businesses agreed that the project had not been given enough time.
“I think we should try it longer to see if it works,” Bradford Brenner, the owner of Bradford Brenner Gallery, said at the meeting.
The council then decided in a unanimous vote that they would extend the closure until Jan. 31, 2021.
A few weeks following the council’s vote, Ronnie Kemper, the owner of Rainsong Shoes on Plaza Street, spoke during public comment at the Sept. 21 city council meeting and asked council to reconsider the extension. A few other residents, such as Skylaer Palacios, made this request as well.
“I’ve been operating there for 27 years and I am requesting to be added to the agenda to revisit the Plaza Street closing. This project is having a very negative effect on the businesses on Plaza Street and the surrounding streets,” Kemper said.
She said after meeting with fellow merchants in early September, Kiff had recommended that the street be reopened.
“The council tasked him to do this research and then the council ignored his recommendation … Business has been very good up until this point to the street closure,” Kemper said.
Kemper said one of the things that draws loyal customers to her store is the easy parking on Plaza that is typically open but is now closed due to the street closure. She added that many of her clients who are older do not have the luxury of parking a few blocks away and walking to the store. They rely on the easy parking in front of her shop.
“During an eight-hour retail day over 100 parking spaces are now sacrificed so a few can have a coffee in the street. And yes, there is a parking problem,” she said.
The few stores on Plaza in support of the closure are Duke’s and Seasons. Kiff previously cited that Duke’s seemed to be doing well with the closure.
Kemper said while she wants Duke’s and Seasons to succeed, she thinks they could create their own parklet space with tables in front of their own stores just as other restaurants have done with the special MarketSpace outdoor use permit program.
“It is such a fraught time and with so many variables, pandemic, fires, smoke, political unrest, and now you do not need to throw in another unknown obstacle for us to face. You have no right or reason to experiment with our livelihoods,” Kemper said.
Kemper said she felt the council is not listening to customers and retailer’s “strong objections” to the closure.
Chris Bryant is another Plaza Street business owner that shares Kemper’s concerns. Bryant is the proprietor of the Outlander clothing store and an additional smaller clothing store. Parking for customers was also a concern of Bryant’s, but she also doesn’t like the whole idea or the aesthetic of the OpenStreets program.
“I do not think that this is a good idea on any level,” Bryant said. “I like the Plaza the way it is, the traffic moving around the square and I like all of the parking spaces.”
She said several of her customers have written to the city council expressing frustration that they cannot park near Bryant’s store.
“I have a couple of handicap customers and they can park close to my store and I know that people are upset about that and dispute what city council says, losing the at least 30 parking spaces on Plaza Street in our downtown area is detrimental to all of our businesses,” Bryant said.
Bryant said one of her other concerns is that they’ll want to make the closure permanent. She suggested that the city put a few tables in the Plaza Park for folks to eat and picnic as an alternative to the street closure.
When asked if people are utilizing the closure and are using the tables and chairs, Bryant said she does see people at Duke’s at certain times of the day. She said she notices more empty tables versus people using them and even though the smoke and heat has improved for now, she still doesn’t see too many people using the area.
The street closure runs the city about $4,650 per week for staffing, supplies, cleaning, tents, tables and chairs.
“I do see people using the tables but that doesn’t make it work for me,” she said. “Even when there are people at the tables it still looks empty. It looks like a flea market that didn’t happen.”
At the Sept. 8 meeting, councilmembers suggested that businesses get creative with utilizing the outdoor space and while some places have moved parts of their gear outside, like the Healdsburg Running Company, Bryant said she can’t keep clothes outside on racks due to the sun and the smoke and the risk of items being stolen.
In an interview, Kiff said the city council will not revisit the closure topic until it is set to end in January 2021, however, the council could bring it back for discussion earlier than that if they so choose.
Tallia Hart, the CEO of the Healdsburg Chamber of Commerce, said since this was a city decision, the chamber will continue to help support local businesses.
Hart said in a statement, "This was a city decision and as a chamber we are doing everything we can to support these and all businesses in these hard times. We have added online information and forums as well as been part of the recovery task force.”
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