City To Tourists: Right This Way

Peter Koht, the city’s economic development coordinator, has lived in Santa Cruz since 1996. He jokes that he didn’t find out which way was west until about 2003. “For all of its natural beauty, there isn’t an intuitive way to get around,” says Koht of this south-facing coastal town. With a never-ending supply of rolling hills, parks like Neary Lagoon and a variety of districts and destinations, Santa Cruz is about as grid-like as a plate of spaghetti. And officials have determined that too many people are missing the tasty, tax-rich meatball that is downtown. The Santa Cruz Redevelopment Agency and an independent team have completed analysis for the Wayfinding project, which will update bicycle, pedestrian, highway and street signage along the lines of the purple-and-green “trailblazer” signs that point visitors from one district to another. Crystal Birns, the city’s arts and programs coordinator (who is, coincidentally, married to Koht), says many tourists come through Santa Cruz down Ocean Street, pointed toward the beach and bypassing downtown. It’s a missed opportunity for local business. Second priority items, like a shuttle system and tourist-friendly smart phone app, have been shelved by the agency for now but are still being studied by city and county leaders. Birns hopes to award contracts for the Wayfinding sign design later this summer. Signs could be up in a year. Wayfinding projects have proven successful in Miami Beach, San Diego and the state of New Jersey. The $1.4 million project, along with the a host of other redevelopment projects like the Tannery Arts Center and the National Marine Sanctuary Visitor Center, will most likely bring in California redevelopment funds, says Koht, unless the legislature axes them in the upcoming budget, due to take effect July 1. As a back-up, the Santa Cruz Redevelopment Agency could look to bonds to fund the projects instead. The future of California’s redevelopment funds, which helped Santa Cruz recover from the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, is anything but certain. Anticipating big cuts, the county has signaled it will probably close its own redevelopment agency in August, although Supervisor John Leopold says he’s “somewhat hopeful” the funds will survive. So far, the city sounds more optimistic. “We’re assuming that redevelopment funds will be OK,” says Koht. “Obviously we don’t know the inner workings of the state legislature.”

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