George Sanford
English 134
December 3, 2004
Marketplace Madness
On a Friday afternoon I traveled with two others from my English class to a rather ordinary patch of farmland next to Highway 101 and adjacent to the Promenade. From out of the car window we looked at a seemingly endless field of cabbages, bordered at least an acre thick with black dirt. It looked strange that the busy Promenade abruptly ended at this sea of dirt. To the left we could see cars streaking by on the highway. The field had a tilled appearance, yet it looked as if nobody had been working on it for a while. Weeds grew sporadically on the black dirt. The sight of it told of half hearted farming efforts and neglect. We decided that one pass of this field would yield all that it had to give visually. However, the controversy surrounding it takes much research to understand. This field is the proposed site of the San Luis Marketplace, a shopping center bigger than any single building project in the history of San Luis Obispo.
Spurred on by curiosity, I researched the field in the hopes that I could learn more about it than what I saw at first glance. The field contains Salinas Soils, the most productive kind of soil found in the county. Salinas Soils are alluvial, containing nutrients and minerals washed down from the hillsides by rainwater. The fertility of the soil makes it a very productive field for growing, yielding crops many times a year. The dark black color of the soil indicates how fertile it is. This made me think of something that my girlfriendÕs mom said. She works at the El Dorado County Agricultural Department, and she came down here a few weeks ago. When she passed by the Dalidio field she exclaimed ÒWow! Look how black the dirt is!Ó
The owner of the property, a farmer named Ernie Dalidio, struck a deal in 1992 with developer Bill Bird to build a forty-acre shopping centre on the property. Proponents of the marketplace argue that the shopping centre will generate an enormous amount of sales tax that the city can use to support the community. Opponents of the project believe that it will destroy the charm of San Luis Obispo. They also say that the Marketplace will be a man-made obstacle in the middle of a floodplain. On April 26, 2005 citizens of San Luis Obispo will vote by referendum on the issue. If the vote passes then the city will annex the land and allow construction to begin on the Marketplace.
A group of pro-development advocates have a webpage at sanluismarketplace.com in which they make their case for the Marketplace. The site lists many economic benefits that the Marketplace will bring to the city. The advocates believe that the new Target, Old Navy, and LoweÕs Hardware will attract many local shoppers who usually go to Santa Maria to shop. It says that San Luis Obispo loses over a million dollars a year from residents who go to Santa Maria to shop at Big Box stores, and that having these stores within the city limits will greatly enlarge the amount of sales tax that the city gets. The money generated by sales tax can be used to finance a new overpass at Prado Rd. This will make it easier for people to get onto the highway without having to go all the way to Madonna rd. The site also talks about the amount of fresh water underneath the property which the city will have rights to if the marketplace is approved. This means that the city can tap into it in times of draught. The proponents describe the location as an area perfectly suited for a shopping mall and completely unsuited for anything else. It argues that farming is unproductive and hazardous there because the Promenade is so close by. The makers of the website also say that it is ideally suited for a shopping center under the 1994 Land Use element of the General Plan, a document that categorizes all of the cityÕs land and recommends what it should be used for. Repeatedly, it is stated that the site is Òtwo football fields awayÓ from the highway, therefore passing motorists will not have to look at the buildings of the Marketplace as they drive by.
Of the groups opposed to the Marketplace, the leading organization is Save San Luis Obispo. Their central claim is that the marketplace will draw so many people away from downtown San Luis Obispo that the stores and restaurants will all go out of business. They cite the 2004 Keyser Martson economic impact survey, a study paid for by downtown businesses that concluded that existing businesses in downtown will lose almost all their customers to the Target, Old Navy, and LoweÕs located inside the marketplace. They also say that there already are spots available for big box stores to go in at Froom Ranch Development next to Home Depot. Individual big box stores will not have a significant economic impact on downtown. The Marketplace, however, consists of many such stores all clustered together and within walking distance from each other. This mimics the downtown environment already in place, but with attractive new stores and restaurants that draw people away from the existing downtown.
City councilwoman Christine Mulhholland makes an entirely separate claim as to why the Marketplace should not be built. She argues that the deal made with developer Bill Bird concerning the Prado Rd Overpass is unfair to the citizens of San Luis Obispo. Under the current plan, a portion of the sales tax generated by the Marketplace for the next thirty years will go directly to the developer. Mulhholland also points to the current development happening at Los Osos Valley Rd, where the city has already committed to building an overpass in the future, eliminating the need for the Prado Rd overpass. She claims that it would be unwise to start working on another overpass if there is no need for it.
Those who advocate the development of the San Luis Marketplace repeatedly bring up the hundred and fifteen million dollars that Santa Maria makes off of San Luis Obispo residents with its big box stores. However, the opponents cite the issue of BusinessWeek that tells how Santa Maria used to be a lot like San Luis Obispo until the big boxes came and killed its individuality. The stores and restaurants in downtown San Luis Obispo embody its unique identity. It would be a tragedy if this were lost because the Marketplace drew everybody away from it. The proponents also advocate that the Marketplace deal will include a new overpass for better traffic flow. However, Christine Mulhholland shows how that deal would put the citizens of San Luis Obispo in a financial entanglement with Bill Bird for decades. There is no economic need for the marketplace, and there certainly is no need for the irreparable damage it could cause.
When I look at this field, I cannot picture it being turned into a shopping center. It is hard to imagine these rows of cabbages being paved over by concrete. It makes me think of El Dorado hills, a town near my old home, where lush farmland was paved over to make way for Borders, Old Navy, and MimiÕs Cafe. I remember a decade ago when the old downtown district was a thriving place. People would go to get chocolate at the local candy store, or go bowling at Knotty Pines Alley. The old Downtown part of El Dorado Hills was crushed by the arrival of two new shopping centers. Nobody wanted to go to downtown El Dorado Hills anymore, choosing instead to shop at the new stores less than a mile down the road.
I admit that I myself shop at places like Old Navy, Target, and Borders, but I think that this San Luis Obispo farm should not be paved over to make way for them. I think the opponents of the San Luis Marketplace make a stronger argument then the proponents, who seem to have little concern for what effect the Marketplace will have on the future of San Luis Obispo. I know from past experience that when towns replace their local businesses with chain businesses, they lose the individuality that separates them from every other town. As a college student who knows the importance of downtown San Luis Obispo, I am opposed to the development of the San Luis Marketplace.