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HomeMy WebLinkAbout5/8/2024 Item PC, Sundra Carrie Sundra < To:Advisory Bodies Cc:Kristin Horowitz; Maggie Przybylski Subject:PCC meeting May 8: feedback on "LoBro" neighborhood name This message is from an External Source. Use caution when deciding to open attachments, click links, or respond. These comments are for the Promotional Coordinating Committee (PCC) Meeting May 8, 2024, on agenda item 5b "Neighborhood Campaign Recap & Update". Hello, I'm Carrie Sundra and I own a small business called Alpenglow Industries at 3485 Sacramento Dr Ste F, on the corner of Sacramento and Capitolio. We manufacture a variety of products including electronics kits for beginners, and we recently hosted a series of Learn to Solder and Basic Electronics workshops as recipients of a City of SLO Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion grant. I've only recently become aware of the PCC's project to promote different parts of San Luis Obispo outside of downtown, which includes delineating neighborhoods and naming these areas. Through word-of-mouth, I was invited to participate in a meeting of a few other businesses in my general vicinity along Broad Street, and that was the first time I've heard anyone refer to the neighborhood as "LoBro". This was immediately distasteful to me because I am not a "bro". During this meeting on Monday, April 29, I heard about the history of the name which was a group of friends making a joking reference to the neighborhood being "low brow" and also being on a part of Broad Street where it goes down a hill, hence "Lower Broad." I have no issues with a few people giving themselves a self-deprecating half-joking name, but this is now being backed by the City of San Luis Obispo to describe a large area from Santa Barbara Street to Tank Farm, maps are being published on websites run by the City of SLO with this name (visitslo.com), and the City is starting to market this as the "LoBro" neighborhood. Here is the neighborhood map image on the visitslo website and some links for reference: 1 https://visitslo.com/neighborhoods/ https://visitslo.com/neighborhoods/meet-us-in-the-lobro/ This has all been done with no public outreach or active solicitation of feedback from the individuals and businesses that reside in the area. It might be different if "Bro" was actually an abbreviation for the word "Broad", but it's not. No one says that their business "is just off of Bro Street." What "bro" does mean is a group of men. Using it to describe an entire neighborhood associates the neighborhood with one gender, moreover, it associates the neighborhood with "bro culture". If you're unfamiliar with this term, here is a definition from BreatheHR.com (a human relations website): " ‘Bro culture’ describes a culture that prioritises young macho men with obnoxious and toxic behaviour above all else. The average ‘bro’ tends to be a hustling guy who places winning and success above respect for others. ‘Bros’ operate in an environment of excessive partying and bullying. Harassment of colleagues is the everyday norm." The mission of my business is to teach electronics without gatekeeping, and provide welcoming and inclusive spaces where people can learn without judgement. More specifically, I provide an alternative to the almost ubiquitous "bro culture" that exists in tech spaces everywhere. There is no way I would have or could have put the name "LoBro" on the flyers and postcards I used to advertise our DEI grant-funded workshops. There are many of us in the neighborhood that don't think a weirdly classist joke about being "low-brow" is all that cool, and that don't want to be associated with "bros" or "bro culture". We just had no idea that this project was happening because there was no outreach. It's also a project that's much bigger in scope, with much broader (or bro-er?) implications than the usual projects undertaken by the PCC, like the cool utility box painting and beautification projects. For us, this came out of the blue, and most people still don't know that it's happening. I want to emphasize that I, and I think everyone in the neighborhood, heartily appreciate the efforts of the PCC and office of Economic Development & Tourism to promote neighborhoods outside of downtown. That's awesome, SLO has a ton to offer! I love the idea of forming more active neighborhood associations, and working with other businesses to host events, promote ourselves, and build a unique neighborhood identity. A name is a huge part of identity, you can't 2 separate the two, and we need one that doesn't exclude roughly 50% of the people in the neighborhood, and one that doesn't actively make associations with bro culture. I'd like to urge the PCC to drop the "LoBro" nickname, and use the full "Lower Broad" name instead. There's been a suggestion by Economic Development & Tourism staff that both could be used, but that doesn't erase the "bro" association or the problems that come with it. Businesses that want to use that name can totally use it on their own, but it shouldn't be the image that the City of San Luis Obispo puts out in the world, which reflects poorly on our efforts to build diverse and inclusive communities that everyone can be proud of. Thank you for your time and consideration. -Carrie Sundra --- Carrie Sundra Founder and Managing Member Alpenglow Industries, LLC 3485 Sacramento Dr Ste F San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 www.alpenglowindustries.com 3