Downtown Azusa

As Azusa entered the 1960s, Azusa Avenue and San Gabriel Avenue were converted into one-way streets to accommodate traffic destined to speculative mountain resorts. Soon after, the arrival of the Foothill Freeway, cutting through the middle of the City, relegated Route 66 to nostalgia. In the wake of these transportation improvements, downtown and highway commercial economies slid into a steady decline.

In the late 1990's the City installed public improvements on Azusa Avenue with new sidewalks, landscaping, and benches. During this movement several new businesses, such as Balzac Café (which was one of my earliest pioneering efforts to rebuild Azusa's Downtown) was successful to create an interest in the City and to its potential for growth. Small businesses such as Picasso’s Hair Salon, and Pretty Woman Boutique joined the effort to revive the Downtown to its glory days.

As a business owner in Downtown Azusa, and an advocate for small business for the last decade, I have worked closely and collaboratively with the city leaders and community members in developing plans and the strategy for our Downtown, a.k.a. the Downtown Red Team.

We all want and desire a functional Downtown that strives for high standards and a visually alluring atmosphere incorporating the Main Street Concept. A Downtown with shopping, dining, entertainment, and local businesses is vital to our economic vitality. By growing Downtown, we will increase the number of local jobs, boost our tax revenue base, and create business opportunities for the future. Azusa’s residents and businesses deserve nothing less.

As your Councilmember, I will work tirelessly with fellow Councilmembers, staff, local businesses, and the community-at-large to:

  • Reinvigorate Azusa’s historic Downtown with the Main Street Concept and strategies;
  • Develop Block 36 with small business affordability;
  • Create opportunities for new and existing businesses to grow with Azusa and stay in Azusa;
  • Adhere to the high standards set forth in the Red Team Model later adopted into the City General Plan;
  • Adhere to the Use and Design Standards and comprehensive approach to parking;
  • Maintain a sustainable approach to a pedestrain friendly and transit oriented development;
  • Continue to aggressively lobby for the arrival of the Gold Line.