CALEXICO — Just in time for the holiday shopping season, downtown Calexico merchants will see the vehicular access to Rockwood Avenue that many of them had been hoping for fully restored with the temporary end of the promenade project.
“I’m glad it’s working for you, it’s not working for anyone else. It was a great idea … It was just not the right time, not the right place,” said Calexico Wellness Center Executive Director Blanca Morales, representing the Calexico Business Improvement District, in capturing the sentiment of many downtown merchants.
“If that street does not open within the next two weeks, (businesses) will have to shut down,” she told the Calexico City Council a day and a half earlier during a special meeting on Wednesday evening, Nov. 22, leaning heavily on the idea that the impending holiday shopping season would be make or break.
Calexico Public Works crews were at the promenade site on Friday afternoon, Nov. 24, removing the K-rails that block traffic and making any needed adjustments to the area to restore traffic and parking, including reinstalling the 26 parking meters that were removed. The projected opening was on Saturday morning, Nov. 25, Calexico City Manager Esperanza Colio Warren said.
The council voted 4-1 to remove the K rails blocking access to Rockwood via First Street and Second Street until around February or March, at which time the city would develop a more strategic plan to implement a promenade closure and seek outside grant funding sources.
City Council member Camilo Garcia, who showed his frustration on his face throughout the discussion on the issue, voted against the option to temporarily end the promenade. Garcia’s frustration and likely source of a no vote came at the utter confusion on display during portions of the meeting, not only in making motions on the promenade but the content of those motions. At times it was difficult to follow.
In past meetings, the merchants have come out to decry the promenade, several at a time. This time, during the meeting where the issue was to be decided, there was nearly a balance of those speaking for and against.
There was a letter from Jordana Selwick read by the mayor. Selwick is the daughter of Arturo Selwick, an iconic longtime downtown Calexico merchant. In her letter, she referenced the work the General Services Administration is doing to rehabilitate and expand the downtown pedestrian Port of Entry, which will already negatively affect local businesses by closing parts of First Street.
“After a year the city has nothing to show for the closing of Rockwood,” Selwick wrote.
Downtown business owner George Rashid attended the meeting in hopes the promenade was going to be a thing of the past. “Your action was noble in regards to the promenade,” Rashid said, but the merchants he has spoken to have “had a very hard year.”
Rashid spoke of the city of Mexicali’s recent decision to reopen several streets it had closed 10 to 15 years ago for pedestrian-only.
The Rockwood Promenade has worked wonders for the bottom line of the Jack in the Box on Rockwood in the heart of the promenade. A woman, presumably a manager who did not give her name, said sales have increased, the presence of homeless persons has decreased, the cleanliness of the restaurant is easier to maintain, a closed street has meant no raiteros (illegal taxis) and the need for a security guard inside the restaurant has been eliminated.
The woman asked that the street remain closed.
A former contract employee with the city who worked on some elements of the promenade, Calexico resident Christopher Velasco, supported sticking with the promenade and working to make it successful, including increased public engagement.
Velasco’s involvement was tied to the grant around the public art on the street, to which he said, “keep the art on the street closed or it will be destroyed,” in reference to the colorful swirls and butterflies.
The public’s comments were linear, yet by the time the council finished with the issue, it felt anything but. A lot of the confusion came when Mayor Raul Ureña kicked off the lion’s share of the discussion with his motion to reopen the street temporarily. That part of the motion was clear, but how long it would stay open and the mechanism for bringing back the promenade was unclear.
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Council member Garcia countered the mayor’s convoluted motion by saying he wanted a choice with “no restrictions.” The agenda had a simple option of No. 1, for reopening Rockwood and No. 2, for leaving it permanently closed. Garcia said he wanted to see a comprehensive approach to revitalizing downtown that includes new business attraction; more than a promenade with no follow-through: “I don’t think a quick fix is a fix at all.”
City Council member Gilberto Manzanarez, while lengthy in his discourse, made points in defense of the promenade backed by common sense and research, along with historical context laid at the feet of the city and the BID.
“Councils and governments have to be bold,” Manzanarez said, drawing reference to drastic actions taken by the city of San Diego in the Gaslamp Quarter and other communities where decisions are being made to turn high-value, high-sales terrain into pedestrian-friendly areas.
Manzanarez also referenced the Downtown Action Plan approved by a recent past City Council and fully endorsed by the BID. A major piece of the plan was the Rockwood Promenade, Manzanarez said, but in a different physical form and different in the support around it to make it a success.
The Southern California Association of Governments assisted on the project with the understanding that it was to be built out with numerous kiosks for small businesses to inhabit the middle of the street and shaded structures, and, Manzanarez said, “It had to go hand-in-hand with a calendar of events to bring people downtown.
“If we don’t have the promenade, what do we look like?” he asked.
When the council came back to the motion for the promenade, it took a few minutes to untangle what was being voted on. Council member Javier Moreno made a motion that was voted down, and it was not clear on what had happened, because when Mayor Ureña came back with his motion to open the street temporarily until February or March while the city develops a program to redo the promenade, Moreno kept saying, “I said that.”
After the council voted roll call-style, council member Garcia, who voted against, stated after his vote: “No one is clear as to what is going on here. It should be (Option) 1 or 2.”