Has Walnut Creek's downtown construction mania killed Christmas?

Wow, I thought only the Grinch, Scrooge or Mr. Potter (above) could take the cheer out of the holiday season, but it turns out the massive reconstruction of Broadway Plaza is "so extensive" that Santa won't have a home in Walnut Creek this holiday season.

Elisabeth Nardi reports in the Contra Costa Times that the mall's multi-year, quarter-billion-dollar renovations means Santa won't have his usual storefront, and such holiday staples as the holiday lights parade will be canceled and the Hanukkah menorah lighting will be moved. Nothing will return to normal for another two years, the Times reports.

As usual, Broadway Plaza, downtown business association types and city leaders are trying to put a positive spin on all this. One day Walnut Creek will be even more fabulous than they like to imagine it already is. They say, there will be all those sales tax revenues from when Broadway Plaza adds those 230,000 square feet!

Meanwhile, these business and city leaders come off as tone deaf to the fact that a lot of people who actually live in Walnut Creek are getting a bit fed up with all the traffic and hassle and rightly question whether greed and crass commercialism have replaced any sense of true culture or community spirit in the civic ethos. Wow, has the greedy small-town mogul Mr. Potter of It's a Wonderful Life come to represent Walnut Creek's moral and cultural compass? Has he been the guiding spirit all along? One has to wonder when a spokesperson for Broadway Plaza described this shopping mall, with many of the same generic shops you find at shopping malls all around the country, as the "heart of Walnut Creek." 

Well, apparently there is more irksome news, according to the Times: there have been fewer spaces at the city’s garages and lots over the past year -- no kidding! -- apparently because of what apparently is the city’s not-so-well-timed decision – with all this Broadway Plaza and other downtown construction coming to fruition -- to raise meter rates and increase enforcement hours. Interesting planning choices among city leaders. For so long the city was urging us, nagging us, to give up parking on the street and park in city garages. There is parking there, they proclaimed and proclaimed. 

No, there isn't. There really isn't. 

Parking supply will be tight, and “anecdotally,” the Walnut Creek Downtown association has heard that business is down over the past year. 

Even more reason to shop on cyber Monday!

Broadway Plaza and other stores stores on the south side of downtown will also pay downtown improvement fees

The Walnut Creek City Council agreed to create a new southern business district for the 137 shops south of Mt. Diablo Boulevard, including Broadway Plaza.

This new southern district will join the northern district in paying annuals fees that bring in thousands of dollars each year. These fees, which could total more than $150,000 go to efforts to market downtown, carry out beautification and capital improvements and make it more appealing to visitors.

The city established the northern business improvement district in 2005, covering the more traditional downtown north of Mt. Diablo Boulevard. The fees range from $125 to $2,500 per business and have been bringing in about $95,000 a year. 

The new southern district extends from Mt. Diablo Boulevard to Newell Avenue on the south, California Boulevard to the west, and south Broadway to the east. In addition to Broadway Plaza, it brings in such stores as Trader Joe's, CVS Pharmacy, Safeway and Whole Foods. But it bypasses Plaza Escuela, including the Century Downtown 14 movie theater and Cheesecake Factory. CLARIFICATION: That's because, according to city officials, they are in the original northern district. 

The shops in the new business district would receive marketing and advocacy services from the Walnut Creek Downtown Business Association, including a presence on the  "I Love Downtown Walnut Creek" Facebook Fan page. 

"By working together, we can undertake new projects," says Emily Chang, executive director of the Walnut Creek Downtown Business Association, which administers the improvement districts. Bringing in the southern shops into the marketing effort will bring "synergy between the different areas of downtown."

City Council members would eventually like to combine the north and south districts, as well as increase the fees, in order to recoup the cost to the city of administering the improvement districts. 

Crowds hit the arts festival, downtown on a warm, sunny weekend

Did you catch the Pacific Fine Arts Festival this weekend? 


It was hard to avoid if you went anywhere near downtown Walnut Creek Saturday and Sunday. Artists lined the sidewalks of Cypress, Locst, and North Main streets between Mt. Diablo Boulevard and Civic Drive. 


I browsed, saw some things that were tempting. They included jewelry, ceramics and cool metal sculpture fashioned out of salvaged machinery. There were some items I could pass on.




I met a few interesting people--or rather observed them at work--such as Jaime Hipolito, whose family runs a three-acre farm out in Brentwood but who has also learned the art of Native weaving from his father, Zenon, a seventh-generation weaver.

Project Downtown: Ideas for reinvigorating Walnut Creek’s “heart”

The Walnut Creek City council will consider Tuesday night whether to once again levy the annual assessments on downtown businesses that go into a fund to help make downtown improvements. This discussion takes place against the backdrop of larger questions of how Walnut Creek can bolster its economy as the region, the state, and nation try to dig themselves out of the Great Recession.

The downtown is, yes, an important part of the city's economic engine. So, how is the city going to increase the numbers of people who want to do business here, shop here, eat here, have fun here? How is the city going to make its downtown a place that people want to be?

The group charged with the task of devising these strategies is the Downtown Business Association. The association administers the funds that come from those assessments on salons, restaurants, and shops that lie within the Downtown Business Improvement District. In existence for five years, the district levies assessments of anywhere from $125 a year for a small second-floor business to $1,000 a year for a ground floor business of more than 10,000 square feet.

The association also receives money for downtown improvement projects from the Downtown Parking and Enhancement Fund, which consists of revenues generated from downtown parking meters. The fund has provided $650,000 to the business assocation for over three years.

With that money, the association has made some visual improvements to downtown--banners, energy-efficient lights on Locust Street trees. It has also instituted some programs that may be desirable or not, depending on your point of view, such as the valet parking program.

Finally, it has also helped sponsor some popular events, such as Walnut Creek on Ice, the Wine Walk in September to raise money for Walnut Creek schools, and the November 2009 Semi-Annual Sidewalk Sale that included 29 participating merchants.

Earlier this year, the business association spent around $7,000 to hire a so-called "destination guru" to help come up with a brand and logo to promote Walnut Creek. At a February 10 meeting with the Downtown Business Association, Roger Brooks of Destination Development International made some interesting comments and suggestions about how he sees Walnut Creek's future.

He came up with the idea that Mt. Diablo Boulevard is our town's "Mason-Dixon Line." He also threw out the suggestion that we call the area north of this Mason-Dixon Line our "International District" because of all the "ethnic" restaurants operating there.

OK, the business association says Brooks' firm has made a total of 23 recommendations for improving downtown, which range from improving signage in private parking lots to large capital projects, such as building gateways and plazas. A written report is due in several weeks. Let's hope that some of those recommendations are not as interesting as the "Mason-Dixon," "International District" ideas.

Brooks idea about the "gateway" to Walnut Creek? The business association agrees, as it says in its report to the city council: "Whether coming off Mt. Diablo Boulevard from Highway 24 [seen here] or Main Street off Highway 680, there is no indication of where downtown begins. Not only does a gateway help identify to visitors that ‘there is a there there,’ gateways h elpproduce a ‘mall’ or collective mentality among the businesses residing behind the gateway."

In its report, the business association also says it "believes a larger, holistic strategy is needed and that questions remain, such as how should these recommended improvements be prioritized."

Other events on the association's radar? 

--A signature culinary event scheduled for August.

--Creating a special program called "Cruising the Creek "

--A cultural festival, such as a film festival or something like Concord's Japanese Festival.

Walnut Creek’s “Mason-Dixon” line

Hmm, I found curious the idea that Walnut Creek has a geographical boundary between north and south, likened by a branding expert to the symbolic boundary associated with America’s North versus South struggle over slavery.


This branding expert, Roger Brooks, calls Mt. Diablo Boulevard our Mason-Dixon line, according to a report in the Contra Costa Times. Brooks was hired by Downtown Business Association to help the city come up with a brand name for its downtown, and he offered his interesting suggestions to a group a city and business leaders this past week.

He spent three days in Walnut Creek, talked to lots of people, and noticed the split between downtown’s updated Broadway Plaza and other shops to the south of our “Mason-Dixon” line, and “the hodgepodge of older businesses and ‘ethnic’ restaurants to the north.”

In Brooks’ mind, “a fractured downtown can’t thrive, much less bill itself a regional retail destination,” the Times reports.

I don’t know that Walnut Creek can’t bill itself as a regional retail destination. Isn’t it already? (Whether some of us like that or not) It is llisted No. 11 on a summer 2009 Grubb and Ellis survey of premier urban space, behind New York City’s Fifth Avenue, San Francisco’s Union Square, Los Angeles’ Rodeo Drive, Miami’s South Beach, and San Jose’s Westfield Mall. It’s been on the top of this survey for a few years now. Of course, that survey is based on rental rates per square foot, and we hear about how high rental rates might be driving out smaller locally owned businesses, leading to the number of empty store fronts we’re seeing on both sides of our Mason-Dixon line.

I agree with Brooks that the business association should ditch its “Escape the Ordinary” slogan. We all know that there is quite a bit about our downtown that, with our Starbucks and other chain coffee and retail stores, is, frankly, ordinary.

Instead, he says, Walnut Creek should focus on the unique experience that it can offer.

Any thoughts on what that could be?

Brooks also said that with our Mason-Dixon line we accept the idea that we have two distinct downtown districts. His working title for the South, "Plaza District," makes sense to me.

But, as with the Mason-Dixon label, is Brooks pushing things a bit with his working title for the North? He threw out the idea of calling it our “International District” because it is home to many restaurants.

According to the Times, Brooks said: “Banners and maps should illustrate to visitors how all of downtown is Walnut Creek, but that one district is a culinary hot spot and the other highlighted by glitzy shopping."

More info and crime prevention advice in the wake of those three armed robberies this month in Walnut Creek

Sgt. Tom Cashion kindly filled me in on some more details about a cluster of armed robberies of businesses this past month that prompted police to send out a special advisory. In an e-mail exchange, he also offers some good crime prevention advice to local residents, community groups, and even schools. And he reminds us of how to sign up for a new e-mail alert system that can help them stay informed on crimes and other serious incidents happening in town.

Regarding the robberies: two occurred at banks, and one involved a North Main Street pharmacy.

The bank robberies took place last week. The first happened Tuesday, the 19th, at about 10:52 a.m. at the Chase Bank in the Palos Verde Mall, located at the corner of Pleasant Hill Road and Geary Boulevard. The next morning, a man (pictured here) robbed the Bank of the West at 2050 North California Blvd.

The third armed robbery took place the previous weekend on Saturday, January 16. Two men, one armed with a revolver, robbed an employee of Walgreen's on North Main Street.

After receiving the advisory, I e-mailed Walnut Creek police with some follow-up questions, and Sgt. Cashion replied.  Here's our e-mail Q&A:

SM: Any indication that any of these are related?
TC: There is no indication that they are related at this time.
SM: Any concern that this January spate marks any rise in violent crimes?
TC: No, its just odd for Walnut Creek to have three armed robberies within days of each other. ... Our [January 2010] stats are not done yet, but for for the 2008 year we had approximately 57 robberies; in 2009 we had 41 robberies.
SM: Are certain businesses more at risk? Those near major thoroughfares, free entrances, exits?
TC: Yes, this is true.
SM: How can businesses, or people living near businesses at risk, protect themselves?
TC: The best prevention is to be alert and report any suspicious activity. We often hear from witnesses and victims, after a crime is committed, "I knew there was something just not right, I should have called earlier." We encourage the community to call us when they see any suspicious activity. We are here to serve them and we need to continue our partnership with them to keep our community safe and prosperous.
SM: In the department's advisory, it said that police were proactively working with businesses and residents to educate them and help them protect themselves. Any more specifics on how your officers are doing that?
TC: We are using a multifaceted approach which contains e-mail alerts and Critical Reach flyers sent by our Community Policing Team to the Downtown Business Association (DBA) and Broadway Plaza. Our detective bureau is sending the same to our bank network (which consists of quarterly meetings at the police department with detectives and our local banks. We have also sent our Volunteers in Police Service (VIPS) and Cadets reaching out to the banks that do not currently attend the meetings and request that they do. They are also obtaining a manager's name and e-mail so we can update them more expeditiously. ... In addition, we have suggested all of the businesses and schools as well as the community as a whole to sign up for Nixle alerts by going to http://www.nixle.com/. Hopefully, some of your readers will sign up for this free service. Our Community Policing Team will be sending out more crime prevention information in the next In the Nutshell. 

Thanks again, Sgt. Cashion, for this information.

You’ll be able to ice skate in downtown for another month

The Downtown Walnut Creek on Ice rink, due to close next week, will stay open another month. 

The Walnut Creek Chamber of Commerce and Downtown Business Association have decided that the rink will stay open until February 15, instead of closing on January 18, Martin Luther King Day. 

Walnut Creek Chamber president Jay Hoyer explained that the Winter Olympics will likely raise interest in ice skating, and that the rink, which is a huge attraction, will benefit downtown merchants. “Perhaps a future Olympian will get their start at Walnut Creek on Ice,” Hoyer said.

Each of the rink’s past five seasons has attracted around 45,000 people. For more information call 925-935-7669 (SNOW) or go to www.IceSkateWalnutCreek.com.

Speaking of downtown parking, how has your holiday parking experience been in Walnut Creek?

Has it been a hassle? What about the garage behind Nordstrom and Macy's? Have you been doing endless loops around that garage, trying to find a free space?

Or, have you made use of the valet parking program offered by Walnut Creek's Downtown Business Association?

According to Signature Parking's blog, the holiday program incorporates several of their existing curbside locations at Il Fornaio and Ruth's Chris Steakhouse alongside a new location at 1250 Locust Street right across from Century Theater. The fee for valet parking at the new Locust Street location will be $5 and all other locations throughout town will charge $7.

"It is our goal to make valet parking a convenient and easily accesible parking option for all visitors of downtown Walnut Creek," Signature Parking says. "As an added convenience, customer of the service will be able to drop off accumulated shopping purchases at the valet station for delivery to their vehicles, making extended shopping and dining outings easier."

Or what about the trolley? Have you taken advantage of this free service? The cable-car styled green trolley loops daily around Walnut Creek, with a stop at BART. It runs every 15 minutes, and gets you to Broadway Plaza. And through December 31, it was to have extended hours to 10 p.m.

Do you like valet parking?

Valet parking is becoming more common in Walnut Creek, especially now during the holidays with the Downtown Business Association offering valet parking for $5 to $7. But prior to the start of this program on November 20, there had already been valet parking for the Cheesecake Factory in the parking garage at Plaza Escuela and in the parking garage for Nordstrom.

We dodged a very massive valet parking bullet with the original proposal for a new Neiman Marcus in Broadway Plaza. The original project plans would have necessitated transforming the entire South Main Street garage into valet parking during peak shopping times. That proposal faced legal challenges, which forced changes to the project--including the elimination of
the valet parking scheme. The rest, I guess, is history, with Walnut Creek voters saying "yes" on November 3 to a more modest new department store project, sans valet parking, in Broadway Plaza.

I call the original proposal, with is massive valet parking scheme, “annoying” because I am so not a fan of valet parking. But by making this statement, I am not objecting to the holiday valet parking program, coordinated by the city, the Downtown Business Association, and Signature Parking. This program may provide an elegant solution to holiday shopping and parking hassles.

My aversion to valet parking is strictly personal, and perhaps neurotic.

I’m just wondering if anyone else out there shares this aversion as well.

In my job, I have had the opportunity to eat at very nice restaurants or stay in very nice hotels—the kind where you have to drive up and valet park. First of all, I drive a 10-year-old Toyota, with its fair share of scratches, bangs, and rust forming on the rim of my driver’s side door. I always feel self-conscious pulling up to a hotel behind a shiny new BMW or Porsche.

The only benefit of having a crappy older car (which runs very well, by the way) and turning it over to a valet is that I’m not going to get all that bummed if it gets bumped.

But my biggest problem with valet parking is that I feel like I’m giving up control and access to easy mobility. Maybe this is an American thing, with our love of our wheels. I don't know. Or it's more evidence of my own neurosis. This sense of giving up control becomes more of an issue if you go to a hotel, where your car gets parked somewhere--maybe blocks away--and then you have to call the front desk and wait for someone to bring your car around if you want to leave the property. If I'm visiting a beautiful place with lots to sight-seeing opportunities, I just want to be able to leave my room, hop into my car, and go.

Valet parking would never be my first, second, or even third choice in Walnut Creek. I gave in to local valet parking when I attended a family dinner at Scott’s. When dinner was done and we said our good-byes, it irked my neurotic, impatient self that I couldn’t just walk out of that restaurant, find my car in the underground garage that serves that restaurant, and go. I had to wait! The night we went, there was one guy on duty, and he was a bit overworked, so it took me, like 10 minutes, to get my car.

But maybe you like valet parking. I have a co-worker who very much likes it, and was even excited about the original Neiman Marcus/Broadway Plaza valet parking proposal. He's the kind of guy who drives a cool-looking car, dresses well, and probably thinks valet parking makes things easier for him. He probably also likes that VIP feeling that a valet parking service can provide. (By the way, doesn't the guy in this silhouetted image remind you of Mad Men's Don Draper?)

To me, valet parking just feels so restrictive.

But again, I'm not voicing any general disapproval of this holiday valet parking program. I'm just stating my personal valet parking "issue." Think I should talk to my therapist about it?

If using this downtown valet parking service makes sense to you, helps to ease your holiday parking and shopping stress, go for it! Here are more details from Signature Parking's blog:

The program will incorporate several of our existing curbside locations at Il Fornaio and Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse alongside a new location at 1250 Locust Street, (The Old Veterans Building Lot) located directly across from Century Theaters. The Fee for valet parking at the new Locust Street location will be $5 and all other participating locations throughout town will charge $7.

The Public Valet Locations can be easily identified by valet podiums with large signs indicating “Public Valet Parking”, with valet attendants in Red Polo Shirts.

It is our goal to make valet parking a convenient and easily accesible parking option for all visitors of downtown Walnut Creek. As an added convenience, customer of the service will be able to drop off accumulated shopping purchases at the valet station for delivery to their vehicles, making extended shopping and dining outings easier.

Walnut Creek schools send out their condolences to the family of the man killed in Friday's Half Moon Bay boating accident

A note went out yesterday from the principals of Walnut Creek Intermediate and Walnut Heights Elementary schools to the Runte family of Walnut Creek. Matthew Runte, 49, of Walnut Creek was identified as the man whose boat capsized Friday evening in rough waters off Half Moon Bay.

Bay City News Service reports that Runte was one of two men on a 34-foot sailboat that overturned at about 4:25 p.m. The Coast Guard immediately responded to the accident and rescued Runte's shipmate. A Coast Guard helicopter spotted Runte in the water about 5:37 p.m. He was pulled from the water by a harbor patrol, administered CPR, and taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The Walnut Heights and Walnut Creek Intermediate communities would like to extend our deepest sympathy and condolences to the Runte family in the loss of their beloved husband and father last week in a boating accident off of the San Mateo coast. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Runte family and friends.

When we receive the specifics about the service, we will pass this information on to our school communities.

Sincerely,
Susan Drews, Principal, Walnut Heights
Kevin Collins, Principal, Walnut Creek Intermediate

Walnut Creek braces for holiday crowds, parking, traffic while questions percolate over the health of this year's retail season

Even before the Halloween decorations and other tchotchkes came down in local stores, the Christmas stuff went up.

So, forget Black Friday, the Christmas shopping season is already in full swing. As a matter of fact, some retailers are getting a jump on Black Friday. According to the Wall Street Journal, retailers are turning it into "monthlong parade of promotions" by offering high-profile discounts. So in a post-Great Recession world, Black Friday might be going by the wayside. And, by the way, if you know of any major deals you want to share with readers, chime in.

A few weeks ago, predictions were grim about this coming holiday shopping season. More recently though, some retailers have posted unexpected third-quarter profits, including Wal-Mart stores, Inc., Kohl's Corp., and Nordstrom Inc. Still, the Chicago Tribune says, "although the results beat company expectations, executives at all three chains conceded that they faced a tough selling period ahead." So even though retailers' profits are up, consumers may still be wary, especially with national unemployment at 10.2 percent.

What will this mean for the East Bay's retail Mecca, downtown Walnut Creek? Who knows.? I'm guessing that the crowds will still descend, as they always have; the question is whether they will spend like it's 2006, or spend more time browsing, looking for those deep discounts, and ultimately spending like it's 2008.

There may be more empty store fronts than the same time last year. However, new shops and restaurants have been going in. And, a couple major chain retailers that, some analysts said, were not expected to make it into 2010 have hung in: Cost Plus World Market and Williams-Sonoma.

City staff are making an effort to "tame the holiday traffic Grinch."

The city, the Downtown Business Association, Chamber of Commerce, and property managers for the major retial and private parking garages have "teamed up to create stress-free parking for the season."

According to the city's November/December edition of its In a Nutshell, "the goal is to get cars off downtown streets as quickly as possible by making parking easy to find and encouraging shoppers to 'park once' and walk or use other means of getting around." The powers that be hope to accomplish this by posting new signs leading motorists to parking facilities; police staff directing traffic; and extended hours for the free downtown trolley. Between November 27 and December 12, the trolley will run until 10 p.m., and until 11 p.m., between December 14 and December 23.

Councilman Kish Rajan said this new emphasis on easing the parking and traffic crunch was not prompted by concerns about Recession retail struggles.

"I am not aware of any specific anaylsis/ projection of the crowds we expect," he e-mailed me. "Of course we are hopeful for a good shopping season. The intent here was to take some of the longer term ideas we considered and to put them in place right away -- both to try improve customer experience this season and to test what works best for the long term. "

Stroll and taste wine in downtown Walnut Creek Wednesday to benefit local schools

The Walnut Creek Downtown Business Association, and nearly three dozen local companies, are inviting people who live and work in and around Walnut Creek to the Second Annual Fall Wine Walk, Wednesday, from 6 to 9 p.m.

Proceeds benefit the Walnut Creek Education Foundation WCEF K-12 and the Northgate Community Pride Foundation. Local retailers are matched with Bay Area and Napa Valley wines to serve some of Northern California's best wines.

Pre-ticket sales are available online for $25 per per person, $30 on the day of the event. And, yes, you must be 21 years or older to participate. The starting location for this event is in front of Pro Home Systems at 1561Civic Drive. All participants must begin at the starting location in order to receive a wine glass, wrist band and map.

For more information, visit the Downtown Business Association's website.