PALO ALTO — Mistie Boulton of Oren’s Hummus on University Avenue downtown spent over $30,000 building a temporary parklet, buying new chairs, tables and heaters to make her customers comfortable as they dined on the street closed to vehicles.
But now Boulton faces putting it all in storage, selling it or outright losing her money tearing it all down after the city council voted in an almost unanimous decision Monday to reopen the avenue on Oct. 15, ending the popular closed streets program which has garnered the support of so many Palo Altans.
“I’m absolutely beyond disappointed and feel this is a step backward,” Boulton said. “Palo Alto just feels like a dying town. Other areas are doing a lot to bring life back to town, but Palo Alto is moving in the opposite direction.”
Despite the disappointment, the decision doesn’t come as a surprise for many business owners. Palo Alto Council had initially intended to reopen its three closed streets at the end of September based on a plan they agreed on in the summer. Now University Avenue is set to reopen in about a month, much to the chagrin of business owners like Boulton who have invested thousands to attract customers and recuperate some of the revenue lost during the pandemic.
In an effort to keep some outdoor spaces due to their popularity and amid a rise in coronavirus cases, the council agreed that restaurant parklets will be allowed to remain and California Avenue and Ramona Street will stay closed. California Avenue will remain car-free until June of next year, and the council is considering keeping Ramona Street closed permanently.
That compromise, however, is not sitting well with a large swath of Palo Alto residents and business owners, many of whom fervently opposed reopening the streets to car traffic in public comments, letters and even a petition which has garnered over 5,000 signatures. Council members on Monday weighed the conflicting interests of business owners who feel they have not benefited from the closures with the enthusiasm of residents who have filled up makeshift dining spaces all summer for al fresco dining.
Keeping University Avenue closed and dealing with returning commuter traffic at the same time would not have been practical, said Mayor Tom DuBois. Since the summer, DuBois has been advocating for retailers reporting difficult financial positions who blame the street closures for their bad luck. Retailers with multiple stores in the Bay Area, DuBois said, have recovered faster than Palo Alto.
Unlike Palo Alto, cities like Mountain View, Menlo Park and Los Gatos have all doubled down on their closed streets in recent months, with many of them also setting up promotional events and encouraging people to patronize restaurants, retailers and others in an effort to bring money to struggling businesses.
But for DuBois, those examples just don’t work for Palo Alto.
“It depends on the street,” DuBois said. “University is much more of a major almost residential arterial road than some of the other streets you’re pointing out. One of the main differences is the volume of traffic that University typically handles. The closures were impacting a lot of businesses, some of which have been there 20 or 30 years. It was a question of fairness and I think the council tried to accommodate everyone with some streets staying closed.”
Nancy Coupal, owner of the coffee shop chain Coupa Cafe which has a location on Ramona Street, said the city is missing an opportunity “to work toward the future of Palo Alto.” During an interview Thursday, she said she was happy to see her street will remain closed but was outraged for her friends, many of whom are restaurant and business owners on University Avenue who have formed the Downtown Businesses for Walkable Streets group.
That group has been lobbying and advocating for months to keep the closed streets for pedestrians only, and given the news of University Avenue’s impending reopening, some of them are considering leaving town.
Anu Bhambri, owner of the Indian restaurant ROOH with locations in San Francisco and in Palo Alto, said she opened the mid-Peninsula location just two months before the start of the pandemic. Up until now, they hadn’t even considered leaving Palo Alto with such a new restaurant.
“But if things go like this and the public is not heard and people make these random decisions then in the future we don’t know if we’ll stay in Palo Alto,” Bhambri said.
Bhambri, who is also a member of the downtown businesses group, said she will continue to advocate for keeping University Avenue closed through the Oct. 15 reopening date. She doesn’t want the thousands of dollars she has invested on the open space in front of her restaurant to go to waste.
“We’re still hopeful they’ll someday listen to us and the public and see how other downtowns are still thriving and how Palo Alto will be impacted because of this decision,” Bhambri said. “The city council is always thinking we’re in good shape because we have a lot of business. But we still had to pay rent, we still pay rent now and they’re going up and there’s no help from anywhere. If University closed, people will go to different places, so it will be hard to maintain the business.”
