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A better downtown through increased population? |
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Friday, 04 July 2008 |
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 The Morgan Hill City Council has growth on its mind. For a long while now, they have been trying to spur on a revitalized downtown. We have discussed a number of these efforts in the past, but this latest move takes a different approach.
What the city council wants to do is allow the downtown area to be
exempt from current growth control limits, in order to spur development.
This seems like a good plan for getting more folks living in the
downtown area. But it should be part of a bigger plan - or at least a
smarter one.
What has always been the problem for downtown is that it has no
destination shopping. There are no places downtown that are compelling
enough to make going there worth the effort. Now don't get me wrong. I
love our downtown.
My guess with this latest move is that if we can increase the
population downtown, since more people are there, more attractive
retailers can be drawn in. At least, I hope that is the thinking (I
have not heard anyone in city government put it that way). If the real
truth is that they just hope by bringing in more downtown residents the
lack of a destination retailer will not be a problem - then they need
to re-think.
What is worse is that appropriate retailers have shown up in Morgan
Hill. Lets take the example of Trader Joes. That store would have been
PERFECT for downtown. At the time Trader Joes was shopping around, the
space currently occupied by El Toro Brew Pub was available. Even if it
was not, the city council should have made the idea of putting the
Trader Joes downtown very attractive to them. Now what we have is a
continuing to wither downtown and a Trader Joes hidden behind a gas
station. I regularly meet Morgan Hill residents who are not even aware
that the Trader Joes is there! A downtown location would have been
better for both the city and Trader Joes.
Are there any folks in city government going out and evangelizing what
Morgan Hill has to offer to some of these destination retailers? There
are a number of stores that folks leave Morgan Hill for. Why not
approach any one of those and give incentives to open a store in
downtown? All we would ask is that they adapt to the aesthetic of
downtown. Is it possible to do this? Of course, look at places like Los
Gatos where a vibrant downtown is defined by the fact that it has many
destination retailers.
It is time that Morgan Hill stop taking its growing up advice from
places like Gilroy and start working intelligently toward emulating
towns like Los Gatos. The idea of allowing downtown to increase the
number of residents is not a bad one. It just needs to be part of a
bigger plan in order for it to give downtown the boost it needs.
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