I appreciate Nick Welsh's recent articles about challenges affecting downtown Santa Barbara. I have lived here for 27 years and have always been a regular visitor to downtown. Now that I live in an adjacent neighborhood, I go to State Street about four times a week.
I visit favorite cafés, shops, the library, the art museum, etc., and I also like to walk the length of State Street from Haley to Arrellaga for exercise (it's a gentle uphill climb). Therefore, given my familiarity with the area, I would like to offer a few remarks.
First, I was pleased to read that the consultants recognize that State Street has the "bones and scale" of a good downtown. My many years of living and traveling on the East Coast and then in California make me very aware that the stretch of historic downtown Santa Barbara is an exceptionally lovely and easily accessible pedestrian street. (My thanks go to the city leaders since 1925, the landscapers, and the early morning sidewalk cleanup crew.)