Please allow me to express our company’s concern for what appears to be the increasing frequency of closure of San Vicente Blvd. for community events. We now have the LA Marathon in March, the Brentwood Art Fair in April, the Memorial Day run in May, the cycling Grand Prix in August, the Kickin’ Cancer run and Brentwood Art Festival in September, the Prostate Cancer run in November, and a request by MS for an event in January. In these economic times, it would seem that the Brentwood Community Council would be interested in finding ways to increase business along San Vicente Blvd. rather than discouraging business by allowing the frequent closure of the corridor for at least half a day.
Specifically, on Sunday, September 5th, the Kickin’ Cancer race occurred. Our Sunday manager was informed that our driveways would be barricaded beginning at 6:30 am until late that morning and the San Vicente/Bundy intersection would be closed. Our workers, vendors, and customers had a difficult time reaching our store. The only way to get to our location was to avoid San Vicente and approach the store from Bundy. The following Sunday, the Brentwood Art Festival occurred.
We would recommend that: 1)the number of events be capped at its current level, or less; 2) any street closure of San Vicente Blvd. would occur on only the south side of the street, as is the case for the Brentwood Art Festivals; 3) traffic control would work with Vicente Foods (and other retailers) to minimize the duration the boulevard is closed; and, 4) the Brentwood Community Council would have as one of its goals, a policy of doing all in its power to facilitate the smooth flow of traffic along the San Vicente Blvd. business corridor 365 days of the year.
A healthy business climate, where there are no vacant storefronts, gives a community its vitality and glow of prosperity. A vital business environment ultimately results in higher income and property and sales tax revenues which accrue to the community’s benefit. Whereas nearby retailing corridors on Montana Ave. and Melrose Ave. have a number of vacant storefronts, we should do all we can to prevent this from happening to San Vicente Blvd.
Your efforts in these matters would be greatly appreciated.
