Summer concerts have transformed a Fifth Street block into a
night-time plaza, attracting scores of residents on Friday nights
to hear music, eat and drink coffee.
Gilroy – Summer concerts have transformed a Fifth Street block into a night-time plaza, attracting scores of residents on Friday nights to hear music, eat and drink coffee.
And a growing number of residents and local leaders are starting to ask why just Friday? Why not transform the Fifth Street block just west of Monterey into a year-round plaza?
The city’s new downtown specific plan, a set of development guidelines for the city’s historic main drag, calls for several public gathering places in coming years as part of a vision of a revitalized downtown. The specific plan suggests two locations — Hornlein Court, just north of the Caltrain Station, and Martin Street, where Garlic City Billiards now stands. But some leaders see Fifth Street as the best option for a plaza in the near future.
Councilman Craig Gartman, who has taken a lead role in backing the idea, said the area needs “a draw” as dozens of new commercial and residential projects get under way. He has proposed transforming half a block, from Gourmet Alley to Monterey Street, into a public square complete with benches, gazebo, tables, and trees.
“If people could sit downtown with a laptop, have some coffee or food and relax, it would get them downtown,” he said. “We need to have a draw so that people can come down and enjoy the ambiance of the downtown.”
Steve Gearing, owner of Happy Dog Pizza Company who helped start up the Friday night music events, welcomed the idea of a plaza, but was cautious about blocking off all of Fifth Street, as some people have proposed. His restaurant is located in the center of street at the intersection with Gourmet Alley.
When the Friday night events started, he initially “worried we were blocking off traffic and it might hurt, but it didn’t hurt at all.
“It makes me think a plaza wouldn’t be so bad, especially if it increases foot traffic,” he said. “I think it would be great for the downtown, which will be great for everybody.”
Local developer James Suner, a member of the downtown task force, believes the city can fold the plaza construction into the third and final phase of the streetscape project – a major overhaul of Monterey Street from Sixth to Fourth streets. The project, which involves tearing up the winding median along Monterey and installing new sidewalks and lighting, is expected to start in January 2006.
But Mayor Al Pinheiro said other priorities require attention first.
“I think our next step is to be cognizant of the fact that we are going to cross some hard times in downtown,” he said, referring to the 10-month closure along Monterey Street as part of the streetscape project. “That’s where I want to concentrate my efforts – to work with everybody involved to minimize the impact to existing businesses.”
Any plans for a downtown plaza will require study and funding, Pinheiro added. He said the city’s future arts center, planned for construction by 2008 across from the Caltrain Station, could serve as an interim public gathering place.
Regardless of when it takes place, city leaders will also have to consider local business owners’ anxiety over parking. Many may doubt the wisdom of eliminating more spaces as a major residential and commercial building boom gets under way.
City leaders have sought to allay fears by pointing to efforts to secure land for a future parking structure.
Gartman said that under his plan to convert half a block, the area would only lose six to eight parking spots.
“The benefits of bringing people downtown,” he said, “would far outweigh the loss of those spaces.”
