Dear City Council, My name is Karsten Iwers, and I have owned and operated Harvest Furniture at 639 Santa Cruz Avenue for over 25 years. I understand that the City Council will vote on whether to reopen the street for the Downtown Business Community today. I am very much in favor or reopening Santa Cruz Avenue. I am a very experienced downtown merchant with four downtown locations in the Bay Area, and I can assure you that closing Santa Cruz Avenue has been devastating to us and to ALL of our neighbors, including the restaurants. Our foot traffic is roughly half of normal for June/July. While closing the street may offer another park for youths to ride their bikes, denying access to downtown businesses is an unsurmountable obstacle to business owners. I ask that you please vote in favor of reopening Santa Cruz Avenue in its entirety. Thank you for your consideration, Karsten -- Karsten Iwers harvest www.shopharvest.com http://www.shopharvest.com > Received on Thu Jul 16 2020 - 10:52:53 PDT
