Sebastopol's "People" Lane Needs You

Sebastopol's Main Street merchants are facing a unique challenge that we are told only Governor Gavin Newsom can remedy. Sebastopol is located at the crossroads of two state highways-- 116 and 12, which are under the control of the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans). Merchants are seeking to temporarily reclaim one parking lane on one block of Main Street for extended pedestrian use, including outdoor dining: the west side of North Main Street (Highway 116) between McKinley Street and Bodega Avenue (Highway 12). This still leaves three one-way lanes for vehicular traffic and one parking lane on the east side of Main Street free.

In addition to the merchants themselves even representatives of Caltrans have indicated that they are in support of the "People Lane." In order to proceed, Caltrans has said that the governor’s office must issue an executive order temporarily putting the statute that restricts the use of state-owned roadways for pedestrian use in abeyance.

Please help us by acting quickly to show the governor’s office your support of the Sebastopol People Lane. We must take advantage of every day of good weather if we are to have any hope of keeping our small local businesses afloat during these extremely challenging times.

Sign petition at Change.org Here

I support this People Lane initiative! We are only talking about maybe 10 parking spots to make downtown safer, more pleasant, and more vibrant!

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Sebastopol council wants to create a 'People’s Lane' down Main
By Rollie Atkinson, Sonoma West Staff Aug 13, 2020 Updated Aug 13, 2020

Support also voiced for local small business loan program

Sebastopol Mayor Patrick Slayter is writing a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom to ask if his city and its residents can make some temporary changes in how they’d like to use their Main Street. You might think a city could do whatever it wanted, but that’s not how it works when your Main Street is also a state highway and is maintained by Caltrans.

Slayter, his city council mates and numerous downtown merchants and city residents want to convert the western-most lane of Main Street into a “People’s Lane,” to accommodate pedestrian right-of-ways, parkettes, outdoor dining areas and curbside food and shopping pickup spots. While Caltrans had most of the city’s major thoroughfare coned-off and full of daily jackhammering for many weeks, it turns out the city needs special permits from the state just to hang a banner across the street or paint an extra stripe on the asphalt.

Never mind that 673 Sebastopol business owners and others think the “People’s Lane” is a great idea. If a Caltrans bureaucrat disagrees, then it’s all a “no-go.” The pedestrian-focused idea came from a city’s consultant survey seeking local business economic stimulus ideas.

“I think ‘People’s Lane’ strikes the right tone for us,” said Slayter. “This creates places for humans, instead of storage for automobiles.”

An original proposal to add a people’s lane on Main Street between McKinely Street and Bodega Avenue may be extended further south to the post office if Slayter’s letter holds sway with the governor. “When we want a dog, we might as well ask for a pony,” was how the mayor said he might frame his official request.

The proposal would allow adjacent restaurants to set up semi-permanent seating and dining tables on the former western parking lane. Caltrans requires specific safety barriers and rules for any overhead tenting or canopies.

The People’s Lane idea was not unanimous in the survey completed by consultants CoMission who have been working for several months on various city economic vitality initiatives and planning. Concerns were raised about a loss of parking spaces and a few individual merchants questioned how their normal sidewalk foot traffic might be impacted.

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