Santa Monica city council members approved a downtown “entertainment zone” on May 13 to draw more people to the city’s shopping and dining establishments along the Third Street Promenade while also allowing them to drink alcohol outdoors.

The idea is to create an experience to bring more people down to shop, eat, and enjoy the downtown area, Mayor Lana Negrete said.

“We’re trying to bring back the promenade,” Negrete told The Epoch Times. “We’re trying to create a destination where you eat, you shop, you plan to visit, and you do something unique.”

The entertainment zone will be similar to areas in Las Vegas and New Orleans where visitors can walk along a street filled with shopping and dining establishments carrying beer, wine, or hard alcohol.

The downtown area has recently seen new entertainment venues open. One new business to move in is Outlandish Digital, a TikTok content studio specializing in bringing creators’ visions to life. The venue offers editing services, filming spaces, and some TikTok shop items.

The city is also considering adding more music and art events to draw more foot traffic, according to the mayor.

The new ordinance would allow the public to drink outside in plastic cups from 8 a.m. to 2 a.m., but those hours might change as the plan develops.

The city is working to finalize a management plan in the next few weeks, according to Santa Monica City Planner Jane Choi.

The idea is to train restaurant and bar servers, along with other businesses, about the new city law before they are certified by the state’s Alcoholic Beverage Control department to participate, Choi said at the city council meeting on May 13.

The plan also includes handing out wristbands to visitors who want to walk around with their alcoholic drinks, which can be checked by police or security.

Only 13 businesses on the promenade have liquor licenses, and none of them open before 11 a.m., according to city staff.

Santa Monica Pier after sunset in Santa Monica, Calif., on April 10, 2020. City leaders are hoping a new entertainment zone will help bring people back downtown for shopping, dining, and other experiences. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)

The city police presence will have to increase by four officers from 11 a.m. to 2:30 a.m. at an estimated additional cost of $650,000, Choi said.

The promenade currently doesn’t have a problem with people drinking in public, according to Santa Monica Police Lt. Ryan Gradle. The department hasn’t arrested anyone in the zone for being drunk publicly in the past two years, he told city councilors.

Five people have been arrested for being drunk in public in the nearby area this year, but they were homeless, he said.

The homeless population in Santa Monica is an issue, according to the Santa Monica Coalition, a group of city residents, business owners, and locals addressing the humanitarian crisis in the downtown area.

“It’s not a good idea for safety,” John Alle, a real estate expert and co-founder of the Santa Monica Coalition, told The Epoch Times.

Santa Monica's Third Street Promenade at night. (Courtesy of the Santa Monica Coalition)

The existing police presence and private security are not enough to handle the entertainment zone, he said. The group also worries about increased drinking and driving in the city.

According to the coalition’s research, 86 percent of residents don’t visit the downtown restaurants or shopping because of the current atmosphere.

“They don’t come to downtown to shop or dine because they don’t feel safe strolling the streets or parking,” Alle said.

Most local downtown retailers are already experiencing an increase in walk-in and grab-style shoplifting, much of which is not reported to police because of the potential for increased insurance rates, he said.

The downtown coalition sees restaurants as the biggest draw today, just as movie theaters were in the 1990s and 2000s on the promenade. While movie theater traffic has declined, restaurants are becoming more popular, according to Alle.

Another local group, Downtown Santa Monica Inc., which works with the city to improve the downtown area, fully supports the city’s plan to create the entertainment zone, according to CEO Andrew Thomas.

The nonprofit organization, made up of 13 members—six appointed by the city council, six elected by property owners, and the city manager—believes that the zone will have “a positive impact in downtown,” Thomas told city councilors.

“I consider [the promenade] to be the outdoor patio for our downtown community,” he said.

The organization believes that the zone will boost foot traffic and support local businesses, Thomas noted.

City leaders are planning to kick off the new entertainment zone on June 21, during the city’s “Pride on the Promenade” event.