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closeT he members of Save Our Downtown find it difficult to fathom why Mayor Romero and Councilmen Settle and Brown have voted to give approximately $10 million of public assets to the Copelands to enable their Chinatown development.
The Chinatown development covers most of the block between Monterey and Palm Streets across from the Mission. It takes in the parking lots that run near Muzio’s Grocery and up to Palm Street near the Palm Theater. This city-owned parking lot land is being transferred to the Copelands for this development.
The land is question has been appraised at $8.8 million. It could cost the city $5.2 million to replace the parking lost by this development. The Copelands will pay $1.1 million for the land and $2.6 million for the lost parking. This leaves the city something over $10 million short on the deal.
If the city wanted to help the Copelands, it could have simply leased this land to them on a 99-year lease and perhaps taken a percentage of the gross profits of the development when it is completed. This would have provided an income stream to the city and not lost its asset.
This gift would be understandable if the proposed development was fulfilling some basic city needs. The city is badly in need of affordable housing. The people who fill the service jobs downtown cannot find low-cost housing. But, on the contrary, this development proposes high-rise condominiums in the million-dollar price range that will obviously be attractive to wealthy retirees and empty-nesters.
It would be understandable if this development were proposing retail space that would attract the kind of small, locally owned businesses that are fleeing the downtown. On the contrary, Chinatown proposes large retail spaces that will undoubtedly be filled by corporate outlets such as Pottery Barn and Banana Republic and the like that will supply service jobs and take their profits out of town.
It would be understandable if the development sought to enhance and preserve the historic and cultural heritage of the downtown, but to the contrary, it proposes the destruction and replacement of historic buildings with a high-rise hotel.
One wonders what the city is then getting for its gift. True, this development will eventually spin off about a million dollars a year in taxes to the city. However, if the development is completed by 2012, it will be the mid-2020s before the city even breaks even on this investment.
It is understandable why Councilman Brown would vote for this gift. This kind of development and his hotel will undoubtedly enhance the profits of the downtown bars and restaurants such as the one he owns. It is more difficult to understand why long-time politicians such as Councilman Settle and Mayor Romero would want a development like this as part of their legacy, a legacy that will move downtown San Luis Obispo into the Thousand Oaks category.
Sunset Magazine did not pick San Luis Obispo as one of the top 10 small towns because we had better corporate outlets, more rich retirees per square inch and more new high-rise downtown buildings. San Luis Obispo was picked for the way it is now — for its small-town atmosphere and cultural heritage. For some reason, these three politicians want to change it.
It will be interesting to see who financially supports the re-election campaigns of these three politicians.
Jim Duenow is a San Luis Obispo attorney.
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