Al Fresco Streetscape

Merchants,

The second phase of our new streetscape installation begins Tomorrow, June 29th. The installation will go from south to north. Nobody is permitted to use the space until they have completed the new Santa Monica Main St. permit. Get started asap!

See an official notice attached. These flyers have been hand-delivered to all merchants and emailed twice now, but feel free to distribute the JPG or PDF attached here to staff and others who you think might be interested. CLICK HERE for the new website we’re working on with City Staff.

For those of you who could not attend our recent presentation, HERE is the top-level overview and HERE is the working streetscape model, though we’re still tweaking some details with City staff, who have been our tireless partners on this project. They all deserve a huge round of applause!

Reminder: Automobile access will remain all the way from Pico to the Venice border. All parking lots will remain accessible. In addition, extra highly visible signage will be installed to direct people to the large city lots between Main & Nielson.

HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO DO ASAP:

Restaurants:

1. CLICK HERE for the Santa Monica outdoor dining permit application. Read it thoroughly. Fill it out and send it back to: EconDev@SMGov.net and CC me Hunter@MainStreetSM.com so I am aware of your plans.

AS REFERENCED ABOVE, YOU WILL STILL NEED TO FILL OUT A SEPARATE MAIN ST. PARKING LANE AGREEMENT PRIOR TO OCCUPYING THIS NEW SPACE. THEY WILL PROCESS THEM RAPIDLY, SO YOU WON’T NEED TO WORRY ABOUT LAG TIME.

1.a – Do you sell alcohol currently? You MUST fill out and obtain THIS NEW PERMIT from the A.B.C. before expecting to be able to serve alcohol in this new outdoor zone. CLICK HERE for instructions. CLICK HERE for the diagram you must also submit. Don’t mess this up. 🙂

1.b – Make sure to take care of the insurance requirements mentioned in The City’s permits, and the ABC’s permits. Call your insurance broker asap to set this up.

2. READ THIS LA County’s Department of Public Health has prepared a toolkit for dine-in restaurants, brewpubs, craft distilleries, breweries, bars, pubs and wineries offering sit-down, dine-in meals. The toolkit offers further guidance on:

• COVID-19 Prevention Practices
• Physical Distancing Requirements
• Infection Control
• Protecting Employees
• Protecting Customers and
• Resources to communicate with your staff and customers

Restaurants and other food facilities are encouraged to support takeout and delivery service when possible.

If you still have questions about prevention practices and/or requirements, visit LA County’s Department of Public Health (DPH) website or call (888) 700-9995 for more information.

3. Start thinking about how you’ll configure your tables, chairs, and umbrellas in your new outdoor spaces if you plan on using it. For now, only plan on having the space directly aligned with your store frontage available, and plan on appx. 13′ of additional space past the curb into the street for your use. See this schematic for a general idea. Restaurants north of Hollister will have a slightly narrower space to work with, but likely longer.

Do some diagrams, think it through, and be prepared so when this is installed you can hit the ground running. Pay particular attention to how you can maximize the revenue-generating potential of this new space while adhering to Covid-19 guidelines on social distancing, etc.

Think about what tables, chairs, and umbrellas you’ll be using for this. You can certainly use your existing ones, but you may want to get some other ones instead. You’ll have to take it all in at night, so obviously you’ll want light, durable, and inexpensive furniture that stacks well or fits inside your space.

You’ll also want to think about how you’re going to keep this area clean and organized.

NOT ALL MERCHANTS HAVE AVAILABLE SPACE IN FRONT. There is no way to move things like fire-hydrants and other critical infrastructure. If you have an unusual frontage situation, like a loading zone, red curb that can’t be moved, or other obstruction, ask me to look at it so I can make suggestions. Almost all of the spaces on the street have solutions, even if they are not directly in front of your store.

Final guidance on how this program will be managed will be released this week.

Questions? Ask.

Stay tuned for more! We’re thrilled to be able to bring this to Main St. 😉

IN OTHER NEWS:

Today, Sunday, June 28th, California Governor Gavin Newsom ordered the closure of bars, wineries, nightclubs and brewpubs in Los Angeles County effective immediately. The order includes six other California counties, including Fresno, Kern, San Joaquin, Tulare, Kings and Imperial.

For more information, view the California Department of Public Health press release.

Town Hall: Applying for Newly Available Civil Unrest Federal Disaster Loans
The federal government declared a disaster as a result of the May 31st civil unrest in Santa Monica and is now offering new low-interest loans to help impacted businesses recover.

Join the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce and the Small Business Development Center on Wednesday, July 1st at 3:00pm for a presentation on these emergency loans and other opportunities and resources available to repair your business. Register for the webinar here.

PPP Deadline Approaching
The deadline to apply for the Paycheck Protection Program is June 30, 2020. There is still $100 billion dollars remaining in the fund, so be sure to get your applications in ASAP. For more information visit the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) website here.

Looking for a lender? Visit the SBA’s lender search feature here.

Hunter G. Hall,
Executive Director
Main Street Business Improvement Association
314.323.4663
Hunter@MainStreetSM.com