CornucopiaFlag.jpgA few weeks ago I needed to get my bike tuned up and the brakes replaced and thought about taking it to a bike shop in Burbank near my office. (Yes, I not only own a bike but actually ride it!) Having second thoughts on that plan, I opted to take the bike over to the Newhall Bike Shop to have the work done.

Boy was I in for a shock!

I had not been to the Newhall Business district since Newhall Hardware closed its doors and went out of business. Before that happened, I found myself in downtown Newhall on weekends several times a month going to that venerable hardware store. It was a much more meaningful and gratifying experience then hitting the local big box chains.

So one Saturday morning I headed over to see “Roger” at the Newhall Bike shop to drop my bike off. It was a very pleasant and uneventful experience and I was told that the bike would be ready the following Saturday for pick-up.

Here is where it gets a bit dicey. As I came to a red light at Lyons Avenue and San Fernando Road it finally sunk in that traffic coming south and going north along San Fernando Road is now diverted onto Railroad Ave. the “by-pass” route through the business district. Basically, most people zooming along San Fernando Road are more and more becoming oblivious to the businesses there!

Now, as I turned onto San Fernando Road and started heading south a few blocks to the Bike Shop there was a strangeness to the area. A lot of businesses had signage that was in Spanish; there was a store front church occupying an old bank building and there was a hodge-podge feeling to the place. It felt neither inviting nor relevant to the overall makeup of the Santa Clarita Valley.

Any business that has signage in any language other than English is basically saying that unless you speak our language we don’t want your business. I won’t go to a business like that because they have already let me know that I’m not welcome.  

With the way that the area currently looks and the lack of any kind of foot or vehicle traffic, I doubt that any establishment in their right mind would want to open up shop in that stretch of San Fernando Road. The area looks ramshackle and not conducive to doing business or to opening a new business. In fact a wine bar that wanted to open in that area met with hassles from the City, and then finally opened only to go out of business almost as quickly.

Whatever master plan there might be for the Newhall Business District it appears to be a piecemeal and haphazard map to disaster. The death-blow was closing off the road on the north end of business district forcing vehicles onto the bypass. This exactly what the City should not have done!

Look at other areas of Los Angeles that have developed old town and/or hip shopping areas like Colorado in Pasadena or Melrose in Los Angeles or Montana Avenue in Santa Monica. They all have open roads that allow traffic to circulate through the business district not a forcible bypass like the one currently in place in the Newhall Business District.

The City of Santa Clarita should re-examine what they are doing to the Newhall Business District before the area slides further into a malaise. Traffic should be allowed to travel effortlessly on San Fernando Road so that motorists can see what is available along that business corridor. It will be good for all the businesses and will hasten the rejuvenation of that entire shopping district.

If they don’t do that there is little hope of attracting any “anchor” businesses to the area in its current state. Adding a library or trying to get a movie theater is admirable but what the district needs is a master developer, a clear vision and the financial resources to transform that district quickly.

Until that happens the Newhall Business District can Rest In Peace.   

Dave Bossert- Commentary 

Dave Bossert is a community volunteer who serves on a number of boards and councils. His commentaries represent his own opinions and not necessarily the views of any organization he may be affiliated with or those of the West Ranch Beacon.