By: Chip Taylor

The Downtown Paseo, which is a reuse of a portion of a street for pedestrian and open space connectivity was a component of the downtown portion of the Specific Plan for the City. The City wanted to do a trial of the Paseo in an effort to gather information regarding the best location for this amenity. By using artificially turf, furniture, and closing a portion of the street, the first location for the paseo was on Chestnut street near Santa Cruz. The State of the City speech was the first use of the paseo where buckets were used as seats for residents and then provided to the residents to help reuse water during the drought. After the first trial period for the paseo on Chestnut, it was relocated to Curtis Street to gather more data and see how the paseo interacted with other uses, such as Starbucks that might be more compatible.

The paseo has mainly been used as a passive space for having coffee, enjoying your lunch or conversing. In combination with the passive use, the paseo has hosted very successful movie nights that filled the paseo with residents enjoying the evening. Darth Vader was even seen strolling down Santa Cruz Avenue waiting for the movie to start. 

With successful information and data gathered about the paseo, the City has decided that it is time for the trial portion of the paseo to be completed. The City looks forward to a future conversation regarding the permanent location of the paseo including the types of uses, both passive and active that would ensure success. The paseo is expected to be removed by Wednesday, Oct. 4.