Adding Perspectives

By Jorge Casuso

Oct. 9 -- A prominent architect who thinks cities should be more strict in telling developers what kinds of buildings to design and a small business owner who provides a first-hand look at independent merchants struggling to stay Downtown were appointed to the Bayside District board last month.

Architect Johannes Van Tilburg and Barbara Bryan, who owns the Interactive Café, will join restaurant owner Ruth Elwell, who was reappointed by the City Council September 9 to the 11-member board that sets policies and oversees operations for the Downtown.

Bryan and Van Tilberg will replace board members Ann Greenspun and Arthur Harris. Both new members live and work in the City, providing a dual perspective Bayside officials say is a welcome addition to the board.

Bryan, who opened her business at 215 Broadway as an art gallery ten years ago before turning it into a café with five computer terminals and a news rack, hopes to bring the perspective of an independent merchant to a board that has grappled with the loss of small businesses.

"Just my presence would be able to give that perspective," said Bryan, whose business caters to both locals and tourists. "My concern is that high rents may be driving small businesses out. I live here in Santa Monica, and that's one of the charms of the city -- having a diversified population and diversified shops. That's what gives the color to Santa Monica.

"I really think I can add something to the board," Bryan said. "We've been here for a long time. I kept seeing things evolve and said, ‘That's it, it's time.’ The issues are very exciting. There's never going to be a dull moment."

Van Tilberg said he joined the board because he also has a stake Downtown. His firm – Van Tilburg, Banvard & Soderbergh – is located in a building he designed and owns at 225 Arizona Avenue. Van Tilberg also designed Janss Court on the Promenade, as well as buildings at 225 Arizona Avenue, 1231 5th Street and 1207 4th Street, a property he also owns.

"I think I can bring some good aesthetic experience and business experience," Van Tilberg said. "I like to see how the decisions are made."

An acclaimed residential architect with decades of experience in Southern California, Van Tilburg has received awards from the local and national American Institute of Architects (AIA), the cities of Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, and Manhattan Beach and the County of Los Angeles, as well as a number of professional builder organizations.

His firm's major projects in Southern California include the Holly Street Village development in Pasadena, the Villas of Renaissance in La Jolla, the Dominguez Hills master plan in Carson and the Adventura community in Irvine.

Van Tilberg believes successful projects relate to the patterns, styles and scale of a community and that government can provide the necessary incentives for successful development.

"The key to creating a viable project is to go out and design a plan which addresses the conditions currently existing in a particular community," Van Tilberg said in an interview with the Planning Report, a trade publication for managed growth. "Successful projects are those which relate to the current patterns, styles and scale of a community."

Parking, Van Tilberg said, is "always a concern," although it can be "minimized through design."

"While it may never be eliminated, a mixed-use plan can dramatically reduce traffic because residents will no longer be using cars for local trips," he said in the interview. "When they come home from work they will park their car and instead use the sidewalk for trips to the grocery store, etc."