City Renaissance Holds Dangers

There is only one thing tougher than bringing a downtown back to life: keeping it from being smothered by success.

We are learning that lesson in Pasadena in ways several Ventura County cities should note. Our old downtown used to be skid row, a decaying place that most people avoided. Our city Redevelopment Agency nearly demolished it. But after preservationists fought them off, a 15-year renaissance began that has transformed Old Pasadena into one of the hottest pieces of real estate in Southern California.

Our city’s historic center has become a poster child for hip urban revitalization.

With restaurants, movie theaters and top-flight national retailers drawing more than 40,000 customers per weekend, Old Pasadena is a certified success. We have won awards from the Southern California Assn. of Governments, the National Main Street Program and the International Downtown Assn.

Delegations arrive constantly to ask us: How did you do it? It’s easy to think we’re on easy street.

But we’re not.

Other cities can learn as much from our current challenges as they can from our past achievements.

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Far too often these days, I hear local residents complain: “Nobody goes to Old Pasadena anymore. It’s too crowded.”

Part of their gripe is nostalgia for the brief moment in time before the area was “discovered.” But their dissatisfaction goes deeper.

They resent the way Old Pasadena has outgrown our community. They feel it’s become a commercialized money machine, what the real estate industry calls an “urban entertainment district.”

The real estate market is always promoting the “flavor of the month.” Remember “festival marketplaces?” The first ones were big hits in Boston and Baltimore. To a public bored by traditional malls, they offered off-beat stores, zesty ethnic food and historic settings.

The formula was quickly copied, but like the Xerox of a Xerox, the facsimiles got worse and worse. Pretty soon cheap knock-offs sprung up everywhere, with virtually identical combinations of stores offering T-shirts and junk food. Inevitably, the magic fizzled.

The same thing is happening to “urban entertainment districts.” Hey, Pasadena and Santa Monica have structured parking and cinema complexes--why not Ventura?

The result can be what some people call the “chain store massacre,” where a generic formula swallows up the “hometown downtown.”

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Is there an alternative? Of course.

First, “just say no” when real estate “experts” and slick hucksters tell you that you have to abandon local values and assets for a rigid formula.

We fought titanic battles over these issues in Pasadena. The threat was always: Submit or progress will pass you by.

Wrong. Nurturing local enterprise and distinctiveness gives you a competitive advantage.

Second, promote uses other than stores, restaurants and film complexes. A downtown is more than a place to go spend money. Offices, parks, schools, apartments, townhouses, museums and civic functions all belong in a true downtown, to add variety and authenticity.

An “urban entertainment district” is just a mall without a roof. A downtown that belongs to the whole community will be far more successful in the long run.

Third, take public initiative. What passes for “planning” in cities is often just reacting.

In Pasadena, we were reluctant to impose government regulation on the market. But there are all kinds of creative incentives and public-private partnerships that can promote healthy, sustainable downtowns.

Take just one example--we hire a marketing specialist to do customer surveys that we share with all retailers. It gives small merchants access to the sophisticated data that big retailers accumulate on their own, helping local businesses compete with chains.

It’s your downtown. You can let it die, like so many brain-dead cities. You can turn it into a trendy playground for the young and restless. Or you can work hard to sustain it as the heart of your community--the crossroads of economic, social and cultural life.