Standing room only!
Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade — already reeling from record high vacancies and a downturn in tourism — has quietly begun removing all pedestrian seating during weekdays.
“We recently decided to remove public seating on the Promenade Monday through Thursday…when the Promenade is not as active,” Kevin Herrera, a spokesperson for Downtown Santa Monica, Inc. confirmed to The Sun.
“We are still putting all the chairs out on Fridays and on the weekends because we know there is a definite increase in people visiting.”
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Herrera said a shortage of downtown “ambassadors” and the growing presence of homeless individuals were main factors in the decision.
“We have received complaints from people in the community about the number of unhoused individuals who appeared to be monopolizing the chairs,” he said.
“Some of these people felt that the chairs were a magnet for some anti-social behaviors, so we were responding to that as well.”
The move comes less than a month after problems with homelessness and criminal activity forced the city to close nearby Chess Park.
“We have done our best to accommodate people of all ages and abilities,” Herrera said. “There are many competing interests involved and it is truly a balancing act to make sure that we are meeting everyone’s expectations.”
City council member Phil Brock also acknowledged the “delicate balance” between comfort and safety.
“We must always have seating for our senior population and for anyone who becomes weary from shopping,” he told The Sun.
“However, there have been issues with the long benches becoming monopolized by our unhoused population.”
Third Street Promenade offered visitors permanent seating — mostly metal benches and chairs — when it first opened back in 1989.
“Those were removed about three years ago,” Herrera said.
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