Tiburon on the Move

By Mary Swift-Swan

A group of action-oriented people able to make decisions and take responsibility got ferries restarted on the Bay after ferryboats were outlawed as transport near or under any bridges on San Francisco Bay to give the bridges a boost to recover costs. Communities in our state have taken a series of tough economic knocks. People all over the state are beginning to pick themselves up and dust off. What is going on in Tiburon may be an inspiration for other communities around the Bay.

Jim Hermann is spokesperson for a new Economic Development Commission (EDC). The group is a joint effort and includes members from Tiburon and Belvedere. The EDC was formed to define short- and long-term improvement goals designed to benefit both residents and visitors to revitalize the whole community, beginning with Tiburon’s Main Street.

The idea originated with the Tiburon-Belvedere Chamber of Commerce members who felt the need to help bring in new and support existing businesses in Tiburon. Many businesses have been through tough times lately, and not all of them have weathered the storm. The group began looking for areas that needed focus and attention, and from that evolved the Economic Development Commission. Their mandate was to put together a strategic direction, work with property owners to fill vacant shops, plan for those that may soon become vacant, define what kind of shops are needed, and identify the type of businesses the community needed to fill spaces to best serve visitors and local residents. They looked to developing guidelines to decide what kind of town Tiburon would best look like, a fast food environment or a village appearance.

No one had gone through the process of putting such a plan together. A design review guide exists for what the town should look like in the most general sense, but it does not define the kinds of shops to best serve the community, especially since the mix changes as the community evolves. It does not get into the details of such things as where to put benches or flowers, traffic patterns, routes for cars and pedestrians, local signage, etc.

After analyzing the concepts, the members of the Chamber of Commerce decided that, “We should do this!” It was daunting as an entire effort, so tasks were created, with task group leaders assigned to better define the projects into long- and short-term components. Then they defined the piece they could solve or move on fairly quickly. The first issue was Main Street. The second phase is where Tiburon Boulevard and Beach Street meet. That area serves more residents than Main Street and will take more study. For Main Street, it is possible to make a difference almost immediately for visitors and residents.

They first looked at the kinds of shops that now exist on Main Street, and how they do or do not attract people. They drew up a David Letterman-type top 10 list to tackle the question of what mix of shops will not only draw in visitors but will also serve local residents so they do not have to go elsewhere for their needs. The next step is to work with the local property owners to go out and attract those kinds of businesses to Tiburon. Parking needs to be convenient to shopping. Other ideas include putting historic signs on buildings to let people know just what Tiburon has that is historically interesting and adding flowers and benches to make Main Street more inviting and attractive to shoppers and strollers.