By Jonathan Friedman
Lookout Staff

October 20, 2010 -- From tweaking the rules for street performers to giving the nod to negotiations for a new state-of -the-art theater Downtown, the City Council continues to have a major hand in shaping how the heart of the city looks and feels.

That has always been the case. It was the council that put the public parking structures in place in the 1960s, created the board that runs the Bayside District and launched Third Street Promenade in the 1980s and in the 1990s altered the guidelines to spark a residential Renaissance Downtown.

And with the Expo Light Rail line fast approaching, the newly elected council will tackle a host of related issues -- including parking and traffic -- that will shape Downtown's future.

"Over the years, the council has been responsible for all the major decisions Downtown," said John Warfel, who has served on the Bayside Board for 11 years. "The council will be making a lot of important decisions."

"The whole reason the Bayside has evolved to where we are now is because the council endorsed an assessment process," said Bill Tucker, a property owner and the longest standing member of the board. "They are ultimately the facilitators to make things happen."

Even in areas where it has no ultimate authority, such as the Expo light rail, the council has played an instrumental roll in assuring that the line ends in Downtown Santa Monica when the first train rolls in around 2015.

"Without the council, the light rail would not be destined to come here," Warfel said.

While the Bayside Board, as all the City's Boards and Commissions, weighs in on key issues impacting its jurisdiction, its annual budget, as well as all major projects, must receive approval from a majority of the council before ideas can be put into action.

The council began the year by tweaking the street performance ordinance but leaving a place a key provision that requires a permit in order to perform on the Promenade, the pier and the transit mall. It was the first of nearly a dozen issues that impact the Bayside.

In May, the council addressed parking and traffic Downtown by increasing parking rates in the public structures and approving a proposal to rebuild Parking Structure 6, located at Second Street between Broadway and Santa Monica Boulevard. This is one of only two structures that will be rebuilt with added spaces.

That same month, the council approved the municipal purchase of the properties near Fourth Street and Arizona Avenue currently occupied by Bank of America and Chase. Both banks have long-term leases and there is no official plan for what to do with the site.

Also in May, the council gave the go-ahead to begin development agreement negotiations on a proposed hotel project at Downtown’s far-east end. The proposed 284-room hotel at 710 Wilshire, which has been endorsed by the Bayside District, is expected to go before the council for approval sometime next year.

In August, the council voted to also begin negotiations on a development agreement for a new AMC Theater. The theater -- which would include an 83,000-square-foot complex with 12 screens -- would be located at a City-owned site at Fourth Street and Arizona Avenue currently occupied by a parking structure.

The newly elected council will take up a number of issues already in the pipeline that will have a lasting impact Downtown.

Before the year is out, the council is expected to select the taxicab companies that will be allowed to operate in the city. The decision comes after the council last year decided to create a franchise system in order to reduce the number of cabs from some 500 to 250. The move is expected to ease traffic congestion Downtown, where most of the cabs are concentrated.

Perhaps the project with the furthest reaching impacts for Downtown will be the Expo line. The council, which lobbied the Metropolitan Transit Authority to bring the line through Santa Monica instead of Venice, will have a major say on the design of the terminal.

The council also will make major decisions impacting how the light rail line will be integrated into the Downtown without interfering with traffic exiting off the 10-freeway or pedestrians around the proposed terminal at the Sears Automotive site at 4th Street and Colorado Avenue.

"There are a host of issues (surrounding the light rail) that will dictate how Downtown feels and how it will operate," Warfel said.