HomeMy WebLinkAbout11/10/2026 Item 7b, Lipper
From:Aurora <aurora@superchargedscience.com>
Sent:Wednesday,
To:aurora@destinysuccess.com; E-mail Council Website
Subject: and the 2027–2031 Strategic Plan
Dear Mayor and City Councilmembers,
I’ve lived in and around San Luis Obispo for a long time, and I’m writing because I’m really concerned
about what is happening to our downtown.
Thirty years ago, downtown SLO was a truly special, welcoming place for locals and families. You could
walk down Higuera or Monterey and find great independent delis, coffee shops, bakeries, and unique
local stores. Today, so many of those places have been pushed out and replaced by an endless string of
bars, late-night spots, chains and tattoo parlors.
On top of that, parts of the core feel darker, dirtier, and far less inviting than they used to. Downtown is
no longer a place I would take my children to during the day for our walks and certainly not at night.
I know the City can't control every commercial lease, but as you put together the 2027–2031 Strategic
Plan and the next budget, I hope you will take real steps to protect what’s left of downtown’s charm:
• Put a cap on new bars and late-night venues. We have reached a saturation point. Please look into
zoning limits or conditional use permit caps so Higuera and Monterey don't turn completely into a
nightlife strip.
• Keep ground-floor storefronts active during the day. When blocks are full of businesses that stay dark
until evening, the whole street feels dead and unsafe. Please require or incentivize ground-floor
businesses in the core to keep regular daytime hours and well-lit windows.
• Make room for everyday local businesses. Focus economic development on bringing back practical,
daytime spots like delis, cafes, and small food shops and look at ways to encourage smaller, more
affordable retail spaces that independent owners can actually afford.
• Fix the lighting and step up the cleaning. Put budget money toward brighter, warmer pedestrian street
lighting and more frequent sidewalk steam-cleaning so downtown feels clean and comfortable again.
Other cities have proven this doesn't have to be permanent, which means you don't have to reinvent the
wheel! For example, Boulder, Colorado faced the exact same pressure from college nightlife and soaring
rents on Pearl Street, so the city stepped in with strict zoning caps on bars and protected ground-floor
spaces for independent cafes, bookstores, and delis. Ogden, Utah took a similar approach on its Historic
25th Street, transforming a rough, bar-heavy corridor by enforcing liquor-license spacing rules, improving
pedestrian lighting, and actively recruiting daytime bakeries and coffee shops. Both towns show that
when a city sets clear boundaries on nightlife and prioritizes daytime retail and clean, well-lit streets, a
downtown can win back its local charm.
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It seems that while some issues are being addressed, such as rolling back the metered parking to create
less friction for folks to visit downtown and street cleaning, one of the primary issues that is not being
addressed is the limit to liquor licenses per city block. It feels like the city is focused more on the minor
issues rather than the major efforts that would make the biggest difference. I've outlined several others
that I do hope you take into consideration in the bullet points above.
Downtown works best when it’s a place for residents to enjoy all day long, not just a bar district for
college students and tourists. Thanks for taking the time to read this and for your work on the upcoming
strategic plan.
Aurora Lipper
Johnson Ave, San Luis Obispo
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