Davis, CA – The ribbon was cut on Monday for the Grand Opening at G St. Mayor Bapu Vaitla noted that this was an effort that took the work from staff from all departments in order to do the outreach and planning to make this happen.
“We have to acknowledge that it’s been a long road to getting here through the Wild West environment of COVID and the pandemic to finally designating funds for this construction project to the creation,” the mayor said.
He explained, “The first phase of infrastructure is complete as you see behind me and it’s ready for the community to enjoy. But there is a second phase coming up. The city plans to implement more further enhancements to the space over time, including additional furniture groups needing art and family friendly activities, music and special events, signage and more.”
As important, city staff told the Vanguard on Monday that the furniture and settings that are laid out are not fixed in place. Restaurants coming as soon as February will be able to rent space and place their own seating out on the street where people can sit, eat and dine.
“We’re also excited to see how the new outdoor dining program will enhance the public space,” Vailta added. “Our grand hope for G Street is that it’s going to be a hub for community life here in Davis. A place where people can come and enjoy being together in this open air environment year round, while supporting the many small businesses that make our city greater.”
Mayor Vaitla was joined by Congressman Mike Thompson.
“I’m glad that the ARP [American Rescue Plan] funds that we appropriated in Washington DC to help get us through those tough times of COVID… are really doing good work,” Congressman Thompson said.
“I’ve seen it throughout Yolo County,” he said. “A month or so ago, we did a bus tour of all the different ARP projects from one end of the county to the other. And they’ve really delivered some good things for the people of Yolo County and for our district, for our state and across the country. This is one of them.”
He added, “This is one of those great projects and to see what’s happened, the transformation is pretty outstanding. This is going to be a very, very nice area.”
He concluded, “This is going to be a wonderful area for the community to enjoy, to be able to come together and to meet and to socialize. And I look forward to the next round of improvements.”
Former Mayor Brett Lee and current director of the DDBA spoke as well.
“This is a process,” Lee said. “The question isn’t, is it perfect? The question is, are we moving forward? And you’ve heard that this is phase one, there’ll be a phase two and I guarantee there’ll be a phase three. And the question we should ask ourselves, do we feel like we’re moving forward?”
He continued, “Personally, I feel like we are and this is a very tangible example.”
But he added, “I just want people to understand that this isn’t the final version. You’re going to see all throughout the downtown evidence of how we’re moving forward.”
Hopefully in Phase III or IV they’ll start replacing the ash trees, and adding more shade trees.
So who was the guy with the funny looking glasses and the funky looking hat?
I wonder if he comments here?
Yeah, where are the pictures of him????
RMcC say: “Yeah, where are the pictures of him????”
According to DG, on his personal Facebook page, where my tie dye shorts are described as “underwear”.
Hopefully in Phase V there will be vehicles and parking restored.
I will greatly enjoy that space. We went there much more often after it was closed off. Looking forward to meeting more friends there again.
I know a lot of people complained about what the space looks like now, but this isn’t how it’s going to look in a few weeks. Jenny Tan told me on Monday that all the furniture is just there, but it’s movable and can be modified to accommodate places like Temple and Woodstocks and hopefully some others set up dining space. I hope the Artery and other vendors utilize the space and the Vanguard will likely rent space at various times as it becomes available for non profits (our office is on G St).
For a bake sale?
It seems like a big issue is that during the planning process, citizens were not allowed to test out various furniture types which might be used here, now or in the future…. bicycle parking, too.
Details:
* It’s not clear how the metal furniture will perform in the bright sun.
* During the speeches, a succession of three trucks parked illegally at the 3rd Street entrance. It’s not clear how this will be solved.
* At least some of the vertical poles used for holding up the decorative lights create a safety hazard. My understanding is that the treatment will be bright colors on them rather than actually moving these hazardous objects.
* In the evening and night time, every time a vehicle maneuvers on 2nd Street or turns left or right from southbound G onto 3rd its headlights will beat the eyeballs of anyone sitting there and looking.
* Curious what’s going to happen with the wire railing which I think is dangerous and was apparently already falling apart.
I fully agree with everything Todd is concerned about here – spot on.