I hope they take down the ugly green fence while they're thinking.

Many enjoy the lattice facade architectural element. Yes the fencing needs to come down. A cool restaurant concept like Cascal in Mountain View would be a good fit with music. So many people have said for years that the California Avenue Business Disttict has too many banks. Now StreetSmart the city’sconsultant is pushing a zoning change for ground floor to include medical offices. The avenue already has gyms and medical would create more dead spaces. Once you scrap retail it will never return. All of the housing in the pipeline will bring more consumers. One thought is if the Farmers’ Market is a deterrent to designing parklet design why not move it to the large parking lot at the train station as Mountain View has done?

I wonder where they found the consultant StreetSmart whose idea of analysis seems solely devoted to analyzing square footage and miscounting the number if businesses on major streets like Cal Ave.

They could have learned from neighboring communities like Menlo Park and/or Los Altos and seen how their business people recruit people to their downtowns by sponsoring regular events like the Weds French Market in Menlo Park or the First Friday in Los Altos. And of course Redwood City has those Friday night concerts downtown that literally attract thousands.

But learning about other communities and/or encouraging Palo Alto businesses to take the same initiative would require imagination and awareness of what's happening locally, neither of which our consultants are known for.

Plus those events cost their cities nothing -- and that's not the Palo Alto way,

I know this might sound a little crazy, but I think it would be great if city planners could think of ways to make California Avenue a destination place to visit, much like Solvang or Carmel...with an equivalent of the old downtown Liddicoats mixed in. An equivalent of Pike's Place in Seattle might work out as well...and yes, street entertainment like the groups that come to Farmers' Market on Sundays. We might borrow some ideas from Pier 39 also. Arcades, hat shops, magicians, jugglers, and mimes, to give it a carnival atmosphere/flavor. Cotton candy and popcorn balls will make it feel so real. And a history element could be added by bringing back saloon like bars, hitching racks to tie up horses, and a couple brothels, just to bring back the memories of old Mayfield, the fun town south of the prim and proper city called Palo Alto... a dry city. Palo Alto tried to maintain it's reputation as a sophisticated and culturally elite.vity. with a lot of pomp going on on University Avenue. Wealthy people ruled and controlled the area, starting with the Stanford family at the top. Not to be denied beer, however, Stanford students learned about a country saloon in San Mateo County...on Alpine Road...Rossoti's. They found it and I found it many years later. I promoted and led in organizing a Kaiser Electronics reunion there. We had a great turnout and great time outdoors while meeting and greeting former co-workers, and remembering and reminiscing about our working days when the company was located on the corner of Porter Drive and Page Mill Road.

I have a hunch all my great ideas won't go very far! But at least I tried!

@Gale Johnson, not so crazy at all. Look at Los Altos' big Food Hall on State Street. It was always packed until they ran into management problems.

I agree with ALB regarding the former Bank of the west building !
Hope we can find a tenant who will respect its elegant mid century a design and restore it instead of destroying it!