It's been a week since pedlets appeared on Santa Barbara's State Street, and people already have mixed reactions to the new pedestrian infrastructure.
"I don't know. It's not exactly what I thought it would be," said business owner Aron Ashland.
"Beautiful, I enjoy them," said visitor David Ross.
The new pedlets line both sides of the 500 block of State Street. Restaurants can now use what used to be the sidewalk for outdoor seating, replacing the older in-street parklets.
But that doesn't always mean more seats. The Cruisary owner, Aron Ashland, says he actually lost seating when his parklet was removed.
"I believe I went from 38 seats down to about 16 or 18 seats," Ashland explained.
That change has impacted his business operations.
"I stopped opening for lunch four days a week, and I just this week decided that I can't stay open on Mondays and Tuesdays any longer," Ashland said.
Many restaurants on the block have already moved dining to the sidewalk. Up the street, retail shop owner Jackie Karp says if pedlets come to her area of State Street, she could see fewer customers.
"I don't think on the 600 block parklets are going to work because we're mostly retail, and it'll take the pedestrians off the sidewalk for window shopping and put it much further out," Karp said.
On Monday, there were plenty of people using the pedlet walkways, but many pedestrians still walked in the street. Something some residents said was a safety concern.
"You can say you don't like the look of it, but to say it's not going to work or that it's dangerous, no one really knows that yet," Ashland said.
KSBY News reached out to the city to ask whether railings, planters, or other barriers will be installed alongside the pedlets, and whether more are planned. So far, we haven't heard back.
