Santa Cruz Down Town Association

The Santa Cruz Downtown association proudly represents hundreds of businesses choosing to operate in the heart of Santa Cruz. The Downtown Association promotes the Downtown area and works to help keep the Central Business District clean, safe and friendly.

Mission Statement

On the DTA's home page it states its mission to be: 'To provide effective leadership in order to create, promote and sustain downtown as a unique and economically viable business, entertainment, social and cultural center.'

Every year Shingu City invites students from Santa Cruz to participate in a home stay program. Interestingly, when the Santa Cruz students are asked what makes them proud of their city they almost invariably most students mention 'Downtown' as their pride and joy indicating that the Downtown center has become an important asset for the community as well as being a draw for tourists. Things were a little different before the October 17th, 1989 San Francisco earthquake that devastated 85% of the downtown core.

After the earthquake a reconstruction committee was formed and presented the idea of getting the citizens together to picture the future of Santa Cruz 50 years down the road. This project was dubbed 'Vision Santa Cruz' and the idea was the make the downtown core into a kind of 'Civic Living Room'. After being off limits for 2 years taking 5 years to recover the reconstruction the downtown was finally completed and prosperity once again returned. 

In order to allow each merchant is able to concentrate on running their own shops, the downtown promotion association hired a professional specializing in shopping mall promotion. There are also many ongoing events going on to draw people to the downtown core. 

Downtown activities are not confined to just special seasonal events, but also include wide range of collaborations that bring together literary events, music events, jazz festivals as well as art and cinema events, and dance events creating the atmosphere of a 'downtown living room' where the citizens may enjoy just being there with shopping being a secondary reason for being there quite often.

Moreover, a 'business mentor' program was set up to give special support to people wanting to start a new businesses in the downtown core. 

Thanks to the Facade Improvement Program and the concept of 'Santa Cruz Uniqueness' the downtown core has placed much importance on creating a warm and comfortable atmosphere reminiscent of earlier times.

Interview with Management of a Downtown Bookstore (Female owner in the middle)

Content of the Interview

  • Promises to contribute a portion of their profits to the community
  • Engages in activities to support local schools
  • Publishes a monthly newsletter to communicate effectively with people in the community
  • Specializes in featuring various genres that large chain bookstores cannot feature.
  • All employees provide handwritten statements, comments, and recommendations that help customers find books and materials of interest. 
  • In an age where anything can be bought online, at the root of all their activities is to provide and enjoyable and rewarding experience for the locals that goes beyond just purchasing books and things. 
  • They manage the city's parking lot
  • They see the downtown core shopping mall as one of the three main attractions in Santa Cruz including the amusements and natural beauty of the beach area and Maritime Museum