HOW WOULD YOU IMPROVE NOVATO?
by Eric Lucan - June 13th, 2009.Filed under: news.
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June 13th, 2009 at 9:28 am
This town needs more retail. I have to go north or south on the 101 corridor to find what I need. I have lived here 32 years and my sales tax monies are not spent in my own hometown.
June 13th, 2009 at 9:43 am
i think that we can improve novato by somehow putting street lights in certain areas that are needed. for example, where the motorcycle accident was where the little girl lost her life. or at least put speed bumps where needed.
June 13th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
Novato needs complete sidewalks. With draws like Trader Joes and Whole Foods we need safe bike lanes and sidewalks. More trees too.
June 14th, 2009 at 11:29 am
Need to have more facilities for younger kids and teens. Need to have more local businesses staying open later, instead of finding somewhere else to buy items needed.
June 14th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
Don’t build anything else until the empty stores are filled on Grant Avenue first. Pini, Rosalee’s, the bank building, the theatre. Novato looks like a ghost town.
June 15th, 2009 at 3:46 am
The biggest policy challenge facing Novato is the lack of high-tech and bio-tech job growth in the city. Novato does indeed look like a ghost town because it has no economic heart. The city relies on a cottage industry of various mom’n'pop businesses to produce its commercial identity–and revenue–both of which are ailing in the current economy. The majority of citizens are commuter-residents–living here but working, shopping, and entertaining elsewhere. Others are stuck in a rural mentality which sees this city as a place of retirement not as a vibrant and growing business community.
I suggest that the city council begin to focus on expanding its high-tech and bio-tech business offerings by attracting more large businesses in the aforementioned fields through tax incentives. The new Genentech research laboratory in Dixon could have easily been housed in facilities in Novato. The Bel Marin Keys commercial park houses numerous small-biotech firms and is a great indicator of Novato’s potential to attract young college-educated, high-end workers. Moreover, the city of Novato has the basic infrastructure–Indian Valley College, (relatively) cheap property, low crime, freeway access, the Buck Center–that will make it attractive to such businesses.
The city needs to stop building infrastructure and start using it to attract the businesses which will take Novato into its future. We must make Novato a place to live AND work.
August 13th, 2009 at 9:52 am
I agree with Joe, but more importantly, I have heard rumors that there are plans to build another hotel on the north end of town. Considering that the current hotels aren’t even at normal occupancy levels (and really haven’t been for years) it seems like a bad idea to build more hotels. There are hotels south of Novato that are going out of business. We don’t need more middle-of-the-road hotels.
September 11th, 2009 at 7:19 am
Create a true gathering place in downtown Novato that will encourage our citizens to spend more time downtown. This in turn will create more retail interest from better businesses and bring more tax revenue to the city coffers.
Close down Sherman Ave and build a city square (complete with grass, benchs, lights, stage, ect) and incorporate this with the current remodel of the city hall to create a special place to draw our citizens to downtown. Sell the three city owned buildings on Sherman to a developer to bring retail/restaurants to these spaces. Build the long planned parking garage on the lot across from the police station (on Machin). Open the theatre.
This, in my opinion, should be the main goal of the council and it would truly help revitalize downtown Novato.
October 8th, 2009 at 3:03 pm
I agree with Joe and I think Henry has the best idea of how to encourage retail owners to stay open longer; fill some of our empty stores on Grant Avenue and get residents downtown. This grandeous idea of high end stores and hotels is not Novato. We are fortunate that they are only 15 minutes south of us and San Francisco less that 30 minutes South; and still keep our small town a comfortable and safe place to live.
May 19th, 2010 at 7:26 am
i think that we can improve novato by somehow putting street lights in certain areas that are needed. for example, where the motorcycle accident was where the little girl lost her life. or at least put speed bumps where needed.
June 24th, 2010 at 5:52 am
This town needs more retail. I have to go north or south on the 101 corridor to find what I need. I have lived here 32 years and my sales tax monies are not spent in my own hometown.