Palos Verdes Peninsula News
Thursday, January 17, 2008
From the Editorial Staff  

Report serves as reality check for officials

    Rolling Hills Estates city officials got good news and bad news last week, when staff released the results of Economic & Planning Systems Inc.’s Peninsula Center Commercial District Economic Analysis. This 100-page-plus document was simply a look at the financial prospects for the downtown area located on Silver Spur Road and Deep Valley Drive between Hawthorne and Crenshaw boulevards.

    The good news is that the city should cater to local residents, simplifying life for those who believe our little downtown must draw folks from across the Southland. This report finally should put to rest the thought that RHE can serve as a destination. Yes, at one point we at the Peninsula News believed that fantasy too.

    As EPS noted, downtown is too far from freeways and faces too much competition from centers like freeway-close Del Amo Mall in Torrance — which recently opened a wing of additional restaurants and shops — to get non-local shoppers. Sure, occasionally folks will come up here for events like the annual Holiday Parade, but the Hill crowd is the most important demographic to target.

    Fortunately, shopping centers like The Avenue of the Peninsula are focusing on community-oriented events, such as last year’s “High School Musical,” to bring in more local shoppers. Peninsula Shopping Center and Town & Country Center, with their staples like Rite-Aid, Pavilions, Longs Drugs and Bristol Farms, already attract many Peninsula residents. So for the most part, it looks like merchants are on the right track.

    The bad news, at least for some RHE officials and developers who envision more condominiums and apartments, is that downtown residential development — even 900 units — is not “sufficient alone to revitalize the retail sector,” according to city documents summarizing the EPS study. That pretty much negates the thought that more residents packed into the area will mean better days for local merchants.

    Again, the News wanted to believe that residential development would help struggling retailers. But given the study’s findings, the newspaper has to agree with Councilman Steve Zuckerman, who said, “There’s just not enough there to help the existing businesses significantly. In fact, it’s going to hurt many local businesses by forcing them off the Hill. We’re going to lose a lot of our existing businesses.”

    However, this doesn’t have to happen. EPS clearly stated a demand for office space downtown. As long as city officials encourage and approve such use, which provides needed medical services among other amenities, and allow the market to determine the businesses best suited for the area, downtown will be OK.

    In the meantime, officials seriously must reconsider the benefit of adding yet more residential development downtown. If they aren’t careful, they’ll end up with a more congested area full of condos and apartments that are a potential eyesore, and a bunch of residents who continue to travel down the Hill to patronize some of their favorite stores and restaurants.

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