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Old 07-13-2008, 12:34 AM
 
Location: Northern Colorado
4,932 posts, read 12,756,714 times
Reputation: 1364

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Quote:
Originally Posted by MIKEETC View Post
Santa Maria is not building any schools. The local school district, yes. But not the city itself.



Thanks for the links but I won't need it. All I have to do is go to work and do what I do to answer the question...



That definition has problems simply because lifestyle center is a marketing term. It's like calling a used car previously owned, or a phrase similarly created to imply something new or unique.

Victoria Gardens in Rancho Cucamonga, California is often referred to as a lifestyle center. It has Macy's, JC Penny, and before Macy's bought it, The Broadway. It also has a performing arts center, food courts, an AMC theater, and is outside. A lot of the stores there are "upscale and pricey", too. The Greene in Kettering, Ohio and Bridgeport Village in Portland, Oregon are very similar.

Victoria Gardens - One Destination. Countless Experiences.

The Greene :: Shopping, Dining, Entertainment, Apartments in Dayton, Ohio (http://www.thegreene.com/index.cfm - broken link)

Bridgeport Village - Best shopping center in Portland, OR

Step back from any of these, and what do you have? A shopping mall!!

I think what you're really trying to describe is a traditional downtown. Visit any central business district in any older city or town in the United States and you'll see a lot of what you're describing. If you don't see it, it's because a shopping mall was built that, for a lack of a better word, redirected the customer base.

You realize that one of the first, if not the first, outdoor malls was in Pomona, California? It went into decline around the time the nearby interstate (I-10) was built. That wasn't the sole reason, but it was a contributing factor. Anyway, shopping malls were built near the freeways which made them easily accessible in comparison to a lot of downtowns that were bypassed by the interstates. Interestingly, and not coincidentally, the Greene, Bridgeport Village, and Victoria Gardens are located off of Interstates 675, 5, and 15, respectively.

If you get the opportunity, visit downtown Claremont, Upland, Riverside, Ontario, or any similarly older community...it is a lesson of sorts. When people went out to do the thing that you describe, they went downtown.
So then the next school must be planned in Guadalupe or Orcutt. Probably Orcutt. The mall in Santa Maria is in downtown, so is that your point?

santa maria has 2 schools right now, and one private school. orcut has one school, and one private school.

-enclosed or open-air malls
-hybrid malls (enclosed and open-air malls)
-power centers (large big-box shopping centers)
-downtowns (streets lined with stores back to back, also with shopping centres fillng up big blocks)
-outlet mall (a bunch of discount-off price clothing stores)
-neighborhood/community shopping centers
-lifestyle centers (no primary department store, grocery stores, and some other community orientated facility)
-themed center (shopping center with major theme to it)

San Luis Obispo Downtown has hiquera street and marsh street with most of the street shopping, and then a couple blocks above that is some more stores and shopping centres and soon the downtown will have macy's. but its not an enclosed or open-air mall, no format.

Santa Maria Town Center is an enclosed mall in downtown Santa Maria.


What do you think about Gilroy, Clovis, or Salinas?
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Old 07-13-2008, 12:43 AM
 
139 posts, read 359,879 times
Reputation: 117
Quote:
Originally Posted by the city View Post
And SLO is also gettting Kohl's next to Costco. Paso is getting Lowe's. Atascadero is getting a stadium seating theater and a Super Wal-Mart. Templeton has became the busiest town around. That is all I can hope for this county.
There is no room left for sale near Costco for a Kohl's. And again, why do you keep trying to spread the lie about a WalMart Supercenter coming to Atascadero? It still is just a pipe dream for some folks.
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Old 07-13-2008, 01:05 AM
 
Location: Southern California
15,080 posts, read 20,467,366 times
Reputation: 10343
Quote:
Originally Posted by the city View Post
So then the next school must be planned in Guadalupe or Orcutt. Probably Orcutt. The mall in Santa Maria is in downtown, so is that your point?
Not quite. My point is that many downtown business districts have been supplanted by the shopping mall. Downtowns used to have a lot of what appears to be the attributes you like. Therefore, instead of focusing on the creation or new development of shopping malls/lifestyle centers, the focus should be on redeveloping downtowns. The outdoor mall (by whatever name you choose to call it), is a facsimile of a downtown.

Quote:
Originally Posted by the city View Post
santa maria has 2 schools right now, and one private school. orcut has one school, and one private school.
If schools are your interest then working for the planning department at the municipal level is the wrong place to be. You could always get a job as a facilities planner but you'd only work for one school district. If you want to make a more far reaching impact, you'll have to work on the state level.

Quote:
Originally Posted by the city View Post
-enclosed or open-air malls
-hybrid malls (enclosed and open-air malls)
-power centers (large big-box shopping centers)
-downtowns (streets lined with stores back to back, also with shopping centres fillng up big blocks)
-outlet mall (a bunch of discount-off price clothing stores)
-neighborhood/community shopping centers
-lifestyle centers (no primary department store, grocery stores, and some other community orientated facility)
-themed center (shopping center with major theme to it)

San Luis Obispo Downtown has hiquera street and marsh street with most of the street shopping, and then a couple blocks above that is some more stores and shopping centres and soon the downtown will have macy's. but its not an enclosed or open-air mall, no format.

Santa Maria Town Center is an enclosed mall in downtown Santa Maria.


What do you think about Gilroy, Clovis, or Salinas?
I don't know about those places.

Along with schools, you appear to have a lot of interest in commercial development. Unfortunately, you're going to have to choose which is most interesting to you because you won't be able to work on both. And you're going to have to decide if you want to work in the private or public sectors. Schools are a public sector responsibility while malls, and similar, are private enterprises. And, I think you are overestimating how much 'power' a city planner has at his/her disposal. There's a lot of work that goes into these types of projects with numerous different stakeholders with competing or opposing goals and objectives. Many of the stores that you think would go great in a mall or downtown or wherever are not up to the city planner to decide.
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Old 07-13-2008, 04:05 PM
 
Location: Beautiful California
253 posts, read 1,130,984 times
Reputation: 194
Quote:
Originally Posted by nevergoingback View Post
Dude, there is just nothing going on there. Place is filled with mexicans (when there is anyone there at all), little kids running around everywhere sometimes with only diapers on. 14 year old girls dressed like hooks. No gangters just wanabes which are worse because they don't mind their own business. Gansters usually do.

I am biased those because I think S.M in general is a dump.

If you want to go shopping, SLO and SB are very close. SB's mall is pretty nice.
Absolutely true. There was a rape out in the parking structure back in 2006.
People who go there, as nevergoingback described, generally do not buy, they just wander and browse aimlessly especially on hot days because of a lack of A/C at home.

Think multi-generations wandering, litter, gum-chewers, unruly kids running up and down the stairs screaming, fake Louis Vuitton handbags, ho-hoop earrings, spanish spoken everywhere - *that* is the Towne Center Mall.

Shop in safety at Paseo Nuevo in SB. Wandering teenagers of a particular demographic at La Cumbre Plaza off Upper State, but way better than TC Mall in SM.

Last edited by Cali-girl; 07-13-2008 at 04:06 PM.. Reason: Typos!
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Old 07-13-2008, 06:34 PM
 
Location: Northern Colorado
4,932 posts, read 12,756,714 times
Reputation: 1364
Quote:
Originally Posted by MIKEETC View Post
Not quite. My point is that many downtown business districts have been supplanted by the shopping mall. Downtowns used to have a lot of what appears to be the attributes you like. Therefore, instead of focusing on the creation or new development of shopping malls/lifestyle centers, the focus should be on redeveloping downtowns. The outdoor mall (by whatever name you choose to call it), is a facsimile of a downtown.



If schools are your interest then working for the planning department at the municipal level is the wrong place to be. You could always get a job as a facilities planner but you'd only work for one school district. If you want to make a more far reaching impact, you'll have to work on the state level.



I don't know about those places.

Along with schools, you appear to have a lot of interest in commercial development. Unfortunately, you're going to have to choose which is most interesting to you because you won't be able to work on both. And you're going to have to decide if you want to work in the private or public sectors. Schools are a public sector responsibility while malls, and similar, are private enterprises. And, I think you are overestimating how much 'power' a city planner has at his/her disposal. There's a lot of work that goes into these types of projects with numerous different stakeholders with competing or opposing goals and objectives. Many of the stores that you think would go great in a mall or downtown or wherever are not up to the city planner to decide.
Re-developing the downtown in Santa Maria seems to be my clinch. I don't really care about what stores the area gets, since by 2015 SLO county and SB county will have the major ones and from there on out it's basically one dies and another replaces it. And i dont which to go to a rural area in california and make it grow.
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Old 07-13-2008, 06:46 PM
 
Location: Northern Colorado
4,932 posts, read 12,756,714 times
Reputation: 1364
Quote:
Originally Posted by BobsGL1800 View Post
There is no room left for sale near Costco for a Kohl's. And again, why do you keep trying to spread the lie about a WalMart Supercenter coming to Atascadero? It still is just a pipe dream for some folks.
1)Prefumo Creek Commons was passed back in 2007 by the city council for development of 163,000sq. ft. shopping center anchored by Kohl's and developed by Madonna Enterprises, the property is known as "the gap". just in front of the circuit city. The Final EIR will be done at the end of the year, and construction is slated in 2009 and completion in mid-2010.

San Luis Obispo County’s website | 04/17/2008 | Biz Buzz: New Frontiers to break new ground (http://www.sanluisobispo.com/business/story/334965.html - broken link)

2)Super Wal-Mart is going through their EIR, and once the shield initiative is turned down by voters. There is nothing stopping it. The city is desperate for tax revenue to avoid bankruptcy, and I believe like Paso and Arroyo Grande Atascadero is going to pass the project. Atascadero is pro-growth right now, believe it or not, they gained 1,000 population from last year and are experiencing the mostr amount of growth during this recession.

3)It's not a matter of if these projects are going to go through since the city councils in each city have passed all the projects. In fact, many would be done by now if we were not in a recession.

San Luis Obispo:
-Garden Street Terrace project (finishing final EIR)
-Chinatown project (finishing final EIR)
-Prefumo Creek Commons (finishing final EIR)
-Macy's (finishing negotiations)

Paso Robles and Atascadero:
-Golden Hills Plaza (finished final EIR, waiting for last tenets)
-Mission Oaks project (finishing first EIR)
-Colony Square Centre (waiting to be financed)

Templeton:
-Longs Drug center w/ Hollywood (waiting for completion of Trader Joes center, agreement made with developer and town board of supervisors)

4)I work in Atascadero, and since the city is low on tax revenue, I can tell by the increase amount of hobos and lack of police patrolling the downtown area.
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Old 07-13-2008, 06:49 PM
 
Location: Northern Colorado
4,932 posts, read 12,756,714 times
Reputation: 1364
Also, the only 2 projects that did not go through are the San Luis Obispo Marketplace/Dalidio Ranch Marketplace project and 3rd Froom Ranch development.

Dalidio's first proposal was turned by the city council, second proposal voted down in the city, and third proposal turned down by the judge and county board of supervisors.

The third Madonna development was cut short because they could not pay to expand the Los Osos Valley bridge anymore. They only expanded it once for the Kohl's shopping center to go through.
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Old 07-14-2008, 04:22 PM
 
142 posts, read 524,035 times
Reputation: 64
Santa Maria currently has two public high schools, one being Santa Maria High School, and the other Pioneer Valley High School. They are two of three high schools in the Santa Maria Joint Union High School District. The third being Earnest Righetti High School located in Orcutt. The SMJUHSD does have the money via a 2004 bond measure to build a 4th high school in the district. The site of that 4th high school has yet to be determined. It may well be in the Orcutt area.

[quote=the city;4435080]Well, I know they plan on building a third school in Santa Maria. I'm not sure what type of city planning work I'd do in other cities.
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Old 07-14-2008, 04:33 PM
 
1 posts, read 4,671 times
Reputation: 10
Was wondering how long this thread would take before someone got racist.

Quote:
Originally Posted by nevergoingback View Post
Dude, there is just nothing going on there. Place is filled with mexicans (when there is anyone there at all), little kids running around everywhere sometimes with only diapers on. 14 year old girls dressed like hooks. No gangters just wanabes which are worse because they don't mind their own business. Gansters usually do.

I am biased those because I think S.M in general is a dump.

If you want to go shopping, SLO and SB are very close. SB's mall is pretty nice.
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Old 07-14-2008, 05:15 PM
 
4,070 posts, read 5,604,477 times
Reputation: 2034
Quote:
Originally Posted by WestCoastMan View Post
Was wondering how long this thread would take before someone got racist.


Nothing racist about it. I guess I should have said Hispanic? But in a town with over 8,ooo Illegal mexicans, it is what it is.
Last time I checked, people from mexico are mexicans.
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