To close or not to close? Ventura mulls future of Main Street

The closure of downtown Ventura’s Main Street to vehicles is set to end in June. Council members, business owners and the public have different visions for what comes next.

If the City Council does nothing, it could mean the area would reopen to traffic.

The pedestrian-friendly program, dubbed Main Street Moves, stretches from San Buenaventura Mission to Fir Street. One block of South California Street, between Main and Santa Clara streets, is also closed to vehicles. The effort started during the pandemic to make the downtown core pedestrian-friendly.

The program was extended through June 30 in April 2022, when the council directed staff to study future options.

On Monday, some business owners told the council the city should keep Main Street Moves.

Bryan-Michael Miller, owner of American Flags and Cutlery at 305 E. Main St., attributes his strong sales in the past year to the fact that Main Street has been good for foot traffic. This has allowed him to add products and look for more staff, he said.

“We’ve had customers come in that said they’ve lived here in Ventura for over 20 years and never knew we were here,” Miller said.

Others were less enthusiastic.

Michelle Ramirez of Passport Habits at 542 E. Main St. said she was grateful for the program in the beginning. But it has gone on too long, she said, and she has not seen an uptick in customers.

“Things that are built for tourists will survive and they’ll thrive here,” Ramirez said.

She said many of her customers are local and they have stopped coming downtown because of a lack of parking. Ramirez recently signed a new lease but had considered against it because of concerns about the future.

With Main Street Moves, many restaurants and bars built parklets, or small outdoor seating areas, for al fresco dining. Council members discussed making design guidelines uniform across the different parklets and directed staff to finalize guidelines for a future meeting.

The council also asked staff to look at short-term parking options for food pickup.

In the end, the panel made no final decisions Monday but asked for more information.

During the meeting, council members discussed a flexible model in which Main Street is open to vehicle traffic on weekends or certain seasons of the year.

Other options included reducing the size of the program, making Main Street one way for westbound vehicle traffic or reopening the entire area to vehicle traffic.

Council member Liz Campos, who uses an electric wheelchair, said she has no problem traversing Main Street, but people who use manual wheelchairs, walkers or canes have stopped coming to the area because they can’t easily get around. Campos suggested disabled parking, a small, airport-like shuttle to carry people from the parking lot or a rickshaw service.

Resident Wendell Liljedahl said there are unintended consequences to closing the street to vehicles.

“I’m concerned about ceding public roadways to store owners resulting in significant losses to the community,” he said. “We’ve lost a critical city thoroughfare. The closure of Main Street has caused increased traffic on surrounding residential streets creating dangerous conditions at certain parts of the day.”

Liljedahl is also concerned about the city’s loss of parking meter revenue.

Meredith Hart, the city’s economic development manager, said with more than 150 parking spaces not used, the city is losing out on $30,000 to $35,000 a month.

Downtown Ventura has shown positive growth with the closure, a staff report said. In 2021, sales tax revenue was $770,251, or 44% higher than the previous year. In 2022, revenue was $828,667, or 8% higher than in 2021.

Wes Woods II covers West County for the Ventura County Star. Reach him at wesley.woodsii@vcstar.com, 805-437-0262 or @JournoWes.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Ventura mulls reopening Main Street to vehicle traffic