Who will pay to spruce up Downtown?

The Lodi Chamber of Commerce is pleased with the city's redevelopment of Downtown Lodi, but now the business organization wants more to make it more attractive.

In a recently released "white paper" on the city's General Plan update, the chamber suggests more sidewalk sweeping, more colorful flowers and playing recorded music from speakers in the trees or the second story of Downtown buildings.

Another "dream" of the chamber's is to convert Sacramento Street into an "artist's row" near the planned World of Wonders Science Museum near Pine Street.

The question is how the work would get done and who would pay for it.

"It's tricky, because it's a chicken-and-egg thing because of money," said Jon Bjork, a DLBP board member who also served on the chamber task force that developed the recommendations for the city's General Plan.

The General Plan, a land-use bible to cover how Lodi will look in the next 30 years, has yet to be adopted by the City Council.

The city of Lodi will conduct a community workshop on Tuesday to discuss possible design guidelines for development around Lodi Station. The purpose, according to a city flier, is to remodel Sacramento Street by adding residential and commercial development to coincide with nearby bus and train service.

Decisions on how to spruce up Downtown Lodi — and whether it's a spending priority — will most likely be deliberated next year as the City Council develops its new General Plan, said Community Development Director Randy Hatch.

"We're looking at a workshop with the council and Planning Commission in February or March," Hatch said.

Any decisions on Downtown will likely be incorporated with the General Plan for the entire city, he added.

A community workshop will be held Tuesday night at the LOEL Center to study ways to incorporate Downtown commercial and residential development with bus and train travel.

Bjork, who said he wasn't officially representing DLBP as a member of the chamber task force, also suggested that the city and Union Pacific Railroad work together to move Pine Street underneath the tracks so that the Downtown isn't separated from the Eastside. Another idea, he said, would be to construct a plaza above the underpass, with live entertainers performing there.

Kirsten, who also served on the chamber's General Plan task force, said the only way for the improvements to spruce up Downtown would be for property owners to form their own assessment district to pay for the improvements the chamber recommends.

Community workshop

When: Tuesday, 6 to 9 p.m.

Where: LOEL Center, 105 S. Washington St., Lodi.

Host: City of Lodi Community Development Department.

Topic: Possible new and remodeled construction on Sacramento Street to enhance Downtown Lodi to make it more transit — and pedestrian — friendly. Can include upgraded structures and residences upstairs while people use bus and passenger rail at Lodi Station. It can also include planning that will encourage out-of-towners to come to Lodi by bus or rail to shop Downtown.

Source: Lodi Community Development Department

Clay Sayler, a long-time barber on Sacramento Street and the DLBP's vice president, is quite skeptical all these ideas will happen.

"Sounds good; I'd like to see it go," Sayler said last week. "But how long has the parking garage been empty?"

The bottom floor of the garage has room for shops and offices, but nearly the entire block has been vacant for the seven years the multi-story garage has been on Sacramento Street, between Pine and Elm streets.

What has hurt Downtown merchants since the city's redevelopment is that employees park in front of their shops, taking away space for customers, Sayler said. Additionally, the city took 40 percent of the on-street parking to put in tree wells.

"If you don't have parking, you don't have a customer," Sayler said.

As for installing speakers in trees, Sayler says the ambiance will be destroyed when people steal the speakers.

Chuck Easterling, who owns several Downtown buildings, said that it takes volunteer effort to make Downtown more attractive. He points to the fact that most merchants sweep the sidewalks in front of their business, and to a group from Temple Baptist Church that planted flowers several times.

"That's the only way we seem to get a lot of it done," Easterling said.

Money seems to get in the way of recorded music adding to Downtown's ambiance. No one seems to want to pay for the music, Easterling said.

Bjork, the DLBP treasurer, said he thinks areas of Downtown besides School Street will take off once the World of Wonders Museum opens at Sacramento and Pine streets.

"It's not really that far off," Bjork said. "It just needs a little more excitement, a little more energy to make it more attractive."

Contact reporter Ross Farrow at rossf@lodinews.com.

Reader Feedback

Chuck wrote on Nov 19, 2007 7:57 PM:

" I say, if you want "downtown" to live... first knock down all of the crap buildings.., everything built before 1970, has got to go... it is all crap.. Cover it all over with concrete and steel then you will have a downtown to be proud of "

Archives

Story Tools

Indexes