I LOVE STREET VENDORS AND THINK THEY'D BE PERFECT ON GRAND. BRAZILIAN JAZZ STARTS AT 6 PM.

Most cities have street vendors. In New England, it might be hot dogs or sausage & peppers. In New Orleans, poor boys are popular. And out here, well the variety at the Farmers’ Market is impressive. Crepes, tacos, kebabs, tamales-and that’s just a few of the many that create wonderful aromas every Tuesday afternoon. Bistro 221 also gets into the act with pizza by the slice. It seems to work fine, so I’m wondering why those same vendors aren’t around for Cruisin’ Grand, Downtown Live and other events. I’ve gone online and can’t seem to find the law one way or the other on this subject. I know existing restaurants don't want the competition, but I think people that want to sit down to dine out are not usually the same group that will buy from vendors and walk along. If the restaurants would like, I’m sure we could allow them to have a food cart without paying a vendor fee so that would give them an advantage since they could still use their existing kitchen. I also think vendors add a busy and festive air to any street event and it might encourage people who now pack a cooler for Cruisin' to have a little something from the carts instead. (I've pulled a few pics of carts from various places. Next week I will shoot the ones at the Market.) Me, I’m still lusting after the corn on the cob rolled in cheese I saw at the Farmers’ Market. Next time I walk past that stand I’m going to stop and buy one. See you tomorrow.

THE NOMADIC LEGACY EXHIBIT AT THE MINGEI ON GRAND HAS ONLY TWO DAYS LEFT.

A few weeks ago I went over to see the photography exhibit at the Center for the Arts Museum. When I got there, it had been closed for at least a week and I was so annoyed that I hadn’t taken the time to go sooner. So, since the wonderful exhibition at the Mingei is about to close, I thought I’d give folks a heads up. If you haven’t seen Nomadic Legacy, do it today or tomorrow between 11 and 4 or you will miss it completely. It is a great exhibition on two floors with textiles, robes, jewelry and more. The picture above is of the centerpiece, the yurt, which I took off their website. Click here for details. It’s only $3 for adults, $2 for seniors, students, active Military. And if that doesn’t get you there, well, their air conditioning is impressive. See you tomorrow.

DOWNTOWN LIVE---MUSIC ON SATURDAY NIGHTS---BRAVO JACK BROOKS!

I'm excited about the new concert series starting this Saturday. Reported in the NCTimes this morning, the series will be on Kalmia north of Grand from 6-8:30 April thru September. It will be free to everyone and will cost the DBA about $400 a week. I plan to stop down to hear it--August 1 will be Ritmo Loco Brazilian jazz. I will remind everyone about it on Saturday and hope you will stop by for a listen and maybe a little dancing. See you tomorrow.

IF THE CITY COUNCIL DOESN'T BELIEVE IN ESCONDIDO, WHO WILL?

This recession will end, some people say there are already signs of that happening. But for people contemplating a new business right now, it takes guts and a belief in yourself to sign the lease, pay for the renovations, put up the signs out front and hire employees--never knowing if you're going to be one of the entrepreneurs who makes it, who barely squeaks by, or who crashes and closes. I've never been brave enough to open a business with my own money but I know many who have. I also know that everyone of them works amazingly hard while holding onto a belief that they will triumph. Otherwise, why would they even begin?

Of course, this takes me to the subject of the hotel. And here's my point. If I was a business person contemplating one of the empty storefronts on Grand-or maybe even anywhere in the city-I would ask myself if this was a city that believed in its future. And one gauge would be whether the city, through its City Council, is willing to invest in itself in ways that show it is able to see beyond today and recognize what is needed for tomorrow. We have a partner who believes in the city of Escondido and wants to build a hotel with us--can we share his vision? UPDATE: My husband felt I was a little neutral sounding about the hotel and the City Council. So I'll be clear. Right now, there are only two of the three votes needed to make the hotel a reality. I hope that one of those opposed to doing it now will change their mind before it is too late. If you want some info on the developer, you can find the website by searching "hotel" on this blog. See you tomorrow. PS City Council on vacation until August 12.

150 GRAND IS A GREAT SPOT; IT WILL COME BACK.

150 Grand was the first restaurant we ate at when deciding whether to move to Escondido ten years ago. Riko Bartholemew (sp) was the chef then, offering his wonderful Asian French fusion flavors that eventually came back as Asia Vous on Grand.150 Grand, along with the croissants at Delight France, were two major reasons why we moved here. Over the year we went there for special occasions-sitting by the fireplace on winter nights, outside for summer night dinners and just to enjoy Grand. We watched the abandoned JC Penney's turn into the Mingei and saw other positive changes on Grand. Of late, we found other spots on Grand that had more interesting cooking and took our limited eating out budget elsewhere. I am really sorry to see the place close, but I have no doubt it will come back quickly. ( The article in the NC Times had the details.) It is a great location with a nice feeling inside and it is one of the few restaurants with the space to handle larger groups-the kind that will be appearing once we get the hotel off the ground. See you tomorrow.

WHAT MAKES A CITY WALKABLE?

First, I have to talk about this photo. I found it at photobucket.com. I think it is incredible and captures that feeling of a perfect night downtown, in this case Cruisin' Grand and dinner at Delight of France. This is how Grand can and should look.

One of the reasons Grand is so well suited for walking, and shopping and eating is because of our wide sidewalks. Not as wide as some grand boulevards, but not the mingy ones you see in many cities, where there's not room for two people to walk abreast, let alone tables and chairs and benches. Hats off to the designer who decided the ebb and flow of the sidewalk, because it seems to fit beautifully with the pedestrian traffic.

The paragraph below from "Ingredients of a Walkable City" by Dom Nozzi it gives us much to consider about what's under our feet.

"Wide Sidewalks. It goes without saying that a walkable street should provide sufficiently wide sidewalks. In general, such sidewalks should range from 8 to 20 feet in width, depending on the pedestrian volumes expected. Note that there is too much of a good thing when it comes to sidewalks. Overly wide sidewalks can be just as undesirable as sidewalks that are too narrow, because wide sidewalks that carry only a handful of pedestrians creates the undesirable sense that the area is not very active or alive, whereas a narrower sidewalk with the same modest number of pedestrians can seem "bustling with life." Therefore, it is important that sidewalks use a width that corresponds to expected pedestrian use along the street-striking a balance between pedestrian comfort and the need to create a lively ambience even when there are not enormous numbers of pedestrians."

Creating that "lively ambience." I think we should keep that idea in mind. See you tomorrow.

MY FOURTH MONTH OF BLOGGING BEGINS TODAY.

I was so happy to see the butterfly yesterday--it was in the yard this morning--I completely forgot that it was the third-month anniversary of We Love Escondido. So today, I begin month four. Looking back over my 96 posts, there are obviously some recurring themes: The Hotel, the Farmers' Market, City Council, Downtown and flora and fauna top the list and I know they'll continue to be major parts of this blog. What I would like to work on over the next few weeks is a discussion of what makes a city attractive as a place to live, work and/or visit. It's been an interest of mine for a long time and I hope to dip into the work of writers I've read in the past as well as new ones I've found online. The site www.walkablestreets.com/ tells me Escondido has much of what a "walkable" city needs so we just need to build on it. I'll talk more about that this week. For now, I plan to find a cool spot in the shade and read. See you tomorrow.