Cars Get Green Light on 3rd St. After 25 Years

Vehicular traffic has not been allowed on 3rd Street between Broadway and Wilshire Boulevard in Santa Monica for nearly 25 years. But after a two-year, $10-million conversion of the aging Third Street Mall into the upscale Third Street Promenade, the City Council has opened the street to cars--albeit grudgingly.

After nearly two hours of discussion Tuesday night, the City Council decided that vehicular traffic would be allowed daily except between 10 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. and between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. on Wednesdays. The Farmers Market is held on Wednesdays at Arizona Avenue and 3rd Street.

Hours for vehicle traffic will be extended between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, with the ban applying from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily, except Wednesdays when the 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. ban will remain.

The promenade officially opens Saturday with a celebration from noon to 7 p.m.

The debate over the hours that vehicles will be allowed on the new tree- and topiary dinosaur-lined Third Street Promenade varied from merchants asking for as short a ban as possible to an elderly resident calling for as lengthy a ban as possible because of concern for children and elderly residents walking around the mall.

Councilman William H. Jennings sided with merchants who argued that they needed visibility provided by extended vehicular traffic, but Jennings was the lone vote against the daily 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. ban. Councilman David Finkel was absent.

Councilwoman Christine Reed argued for a longer ban, but her motion to extend the daily ban to 6 p.m. failed on a 3-3 vote.

Debate then centered on weekend hours and the potential conflict between automobiles and pedestrians, particularly with 17 movie theater screens scheduled to open.

The council decided to delay any action until after all screens open at the end of the year.

Mayor Dennis Zane, a major force behind the mall’s renovation, pushed for the shorter ban during the holidays. The motion passed on a 5-1 vote, with Reed dissenting.

With the matter of vehicular traffic resolved, Zane asked about bicycle traffic. The council quickly agreed to make that question part of the staff’s analysis of the movie theater impact in January.