Davis, CA – The city of Davis announced on Friday that the long awaited opening of G St will take place on Monday, January 27 from 12 to 1 pm, at the corner of G and 3rd Streets.
The free event will include speakers, music, some refreshments and a ribbon cutting for all to enjoy.
The city said, it “warmly encourages attendees to explore and visit the businesses on G Street and throughout downtown Davis. The City of Davis is dedicated to supporting businesses, fostering positive and productive partnerships and enhancing our thriving communities.”
The announcement comes as the Enterprise this week published an article criticizing the city for lack of progress on the project.
Meanwhile, the city expressed its gratitude to “especially businesses on G Street, who have been patiently waiting for the opening of G Street while construction has been completed and cleaning and maintenance have been finalized, as mentioned in a previous update on the G Street webpage. ”
But the major businesses were not exactly patient. Some loudly complained about not being able to meet their rent, while others noted they were told the opening would be the first week of January, but the project has dragged on to late January.
Jenny Tan, director of community engagement in the City Manager’s Office, told the Enterprise this week, “A few things still need to happen,” and, “We all want G Street to open so that the community can use it.
“We are aware of the maintenance needs of G Street but we appreciate that you and businesses also see this and so will understand our need to complete these preparations before opening.”
The city said, “While the finishing touches were being completed on the construction, the City has put measures in place to ensure that key operational and maintenance responsibilities, that are essential to long-term success of the space, are ready to implement starting day one. ”
It added, “The City will be maintaining the furniture and platforms on G Street, that are not leased by businesses, with pressure washing, leaf blowing, surface cleaning when needed, trash pickup, lighting upkeep and other maintenance tasks. While the first phase of infrastructure is complete and ready for community enjoyment, the City plans to implement a second phase to make further enhancements to the space over time, including additional furniture/group seating, art and family-friendly activities, music/special events, signage and more. ”
The city in their release did not address concerns about the homeless.
“We are very excited that the platforms are completed and the space will soon reopen to the community,” said City of Davis Mayor Bapu Vaitla. “There is much more to come from the City to revitalize this area, including offering space to be rented for events, larger group seating and pavement improvements. We’re confident that G Street will be a hub of community life, a place where people can come and enjoy being together in the open-air environment while supporting the small businesses that make our downtown great.”
This project was made possible by a Davis City Council allocation of $1 million from American Rescue Plan Act funds. With the $1 million, the City was able to construct the platforms and purchase furniture and lighting to initially set up the space and have seating ready for the community to use.
Businesses that front G Street will be able to annually rent space on the platforms to have exclusive outdoor dining as an extension of their businesses through the Downtown Outdoor Dining Program. Businesses that rent platform space will be able to utilize their own furnishings, including group seating, heaters, planters, umbrellas, swamp coolers and more, pursuant to the City’s furnishing requirements and design standards.
“The announcement comes as the Enterprise this week published an article criticizing the city for lack of progress on the project.”
“The city in their release did not address concerns about the homeless.”
I just read that article. Good article, business owners and employees telling it like it is without the usual sugarcoating.
“All of our propane tanks got stolen last week,” Luke said, saying that the locks were cut off. He hasn’t replaced them yet because he feels that “lately…the homeless situation has gotten worse … people have been coming in and stealing our tip jars.”
““I have to be careful with my life … it’s not like G street used to be when I had my old shop, now it’s one of the worse streets in Davis.”
“Like other business owners, Shakya is frustrated about the homeless encampment. “The city has to move that thing … people say they don’t want to walk down G Street.” He, too, has suffered thefts. “Every week I lose bags, I lose shawls…” and when asked whether he called police, he said, “They don’t come.”
“Thirty-two years in business,” he said, “I’ve never seen Davis like this…it’s so sad.”
“Business after business expressed the same disillusionment with Davis PD. When they call for help, they’re asked if they feel threatened, and if there’s no immediate threat or the item stolen isn’t of enough value, they don’t come at all.”
So the progressive narrative is crime is down. Crime isn’t down, people just don’t bother reporting it like they used to. They’ve come to the conclusion what’s the use, nothing will get done, why report it if the police don’t come at all.
https://www.davisenterprise.com/news/street-beat-g-street-businesses-fret-as-project-drags-on/article_cf8872d2-d45b-11ef-a580-136c92bfe3d0.html
“So the progressive narrative is crime is down. Crime isn’t down, people just don’t bother reporting it like they used to. ”
This gets us way off topic, but this point is completely wrong. Non-reporting has always been a problem for certain kinds of crimes (for example both rape and domestic violence have always been way underreported and would not be useful for determining whether crime is going up or down), but the way analysts get around that problem is they look at certain classes of crimes – usually murder and vehicle theft – as a basis for analyzing crime rates. Then they use those to estimate broader classes of crime. It’s not that difficult to do.