Grover Beach is tranquil and quiet at times.
“Its a very poor area and there’s no one here, no tourists," said Gabino Gomez, a longtime resident and owner of Elaine Taco Del Mar restaurant on West Grand Avenue.
He’s aware of the issues with homelessness in the area but he’s primarily concerned about an increase in crime.
"It's not safe to leave anything out there nowadays,” Gomez said.
His unease resonates with Don Osse, who witnesses traffic problems on 4th Street from his porch. In the last five years, Grover Beach Police say 4th Street has seen 36 speed-related traffic collisions.
Even during our interview Wednesday morning, a car sped down north 4th Street onto Newport Avenue, hitting a dip in the road pretty hard.
"That's the famous bumper dip," Osse commented. "I've seen bad bumpers left there."
In the recent 2023 Community Survey, people in Grover Beach listed homelessness, traffic and road, and public safety issues as their top concerns.
The city pays $20,000 for the survey. It’s conducted by a research firm that uses publicly accessible databases. The 400 people who participated in the survey answered 56 different questions.
“Every two years, the city conducts a community survey to be able to gauge residents' perceptions around the quality of life in Grover Beach, as well as key issues facing the community and overall satisfaction with city services,” explained Grover Beach City Manager Matthew Bronson.
While road concerns have eased with street paving, homelessness and crime — specifically, drug issues — persist.
Bronson says the city is taking measures such as increasing temporary housing units and enforcing camping ordinances to address some of these issues.
"We now have 20 temporary housing units in Grover Beach and soon another 30 coming online here in the next couple of months. We also have a camping ordinance that the council adopted last year to better maintain our public spaces and open space areas," he said.
Bronson also encourages residents who have traffic concerns, like Osse, to reach out to the city.
"We can send the police department out to take a look at it from an enforcement standpoint," he said.
Additionally, Bronson says economic development programs aim to invigorate local businesses by fostering affordable housing and bolstering infrastructure.
"That's really important for us to make sure that we support our local businesses by providing the customer base, the infrastructure, the utilities, the water and sewer, all that to help support our local businesses and make sure that they prosper," he added.
Editors note (Feb 1) : A previous version of this story did not specify on which street the car hit the bump, referring to Newport Ave. This article has been updated to reflect that.
