Morgan Hill held its first Viva Calle open streets event Nov. 2, closing 2.5 miles of roads to vehicle traffic and opening them to pedestrians and cyclists in an effort to promote community building and support local businesses.
The event, held from 10am-2pm, marks the expansion of a concept that has taken root in other cities, including San Jose, into South County.
“The whole idea of open streets is you want people to get out and stretch their legs and be active,” said Ed Sothis, who founded San Jose’s Viva Calle program in 2016 while working in the city’s parks and recreation department. “You also want them to share in community, but also you want to trick people into exercising.”
The event was funded through a grant from Santa Clara County Supervisor Silvia Arenas’ discretionary budget. Arenas said she has been an admirer of the concept for years, and has been looking for a way to bring it to South County.
“When I was a council member for San Jose, I did a study trip, back in 2017, to Guadalajara,” Arenas said. “A huge city like Guadalajara, it has millions of people living there, and they have their streets open every single Sunday.”
The route ran south along East Main Avenue from Guglielmo Winery to Condit Road before turning north along Half Road, then west on Peet, ending at Mission Avenida—with all roads along the route closed to vehicular traffic to allow cyclists and pedestrians to roam the streets freely.
Dozens of food trucks and activity booths were stationed at either end of the route, along with live music and free bicycle repair stations.
“It wasn’t our first choice,” Sothis said of the route location. “With it being your first event, you know, obviously there’s a lot of caution, and so working with the police department, their ask was to put it in an area where it’s not as populated.”
Because a primary incentive for the event is to drive foot traffic to local businesses, organizers said a more densely-packed area such as downtown would have been more ideal, but the route was the best compromise available.
“When you slow people down, you get them on bikes, you get them walking, they get to see, ‘oh wow, this is great,’” Sothis said. “The impact on local business is what drives these programs around the world.”
Morgan Hill City Council member Yvonne Martínez Beltrán, an urban planner who first learned about open streets programs while studying Bogotá’s model, championed bringing the concept to Morgan Hill.
“It takes the will, but we also have the perfect environment for it,” Martínez Beltrán said. “I mean, we’re about building community in Morgan Hill. This builds community. This brings people from all the districts right together.”
Beltrán said the event aligns with the city’s strategic plan, which includes making investments to drive up tourism.
“Now think about that as an economic multiplier,” she said. “I’ve been trying to get money to be spent not just in downtown but in our other hubs of the city.”
Arenas said the funding reflects a broader effort to address what she described as historical underinvestment in South County.
“I’ve been recognizing that the south part of our county just has been underserved, and the previously elected hadn’t provided any grants to the south part of the county before, you know, in his whole tenure,” Arenas said. She distributed approximately $1.4 million to South County organizations and events this year.
Organizers are already planning to iterate on the event next year, potentially moving it to downtown Morgan Hill.
“We want to do this bigger and better next year,” Martínez Beltrán said. “Let’s bring this into downtown, let’s get our wineries in on it, let’s get all of our businesses and do it throughout. That’s really the vision that I’m hoping for from Morgan Hill. There is nowhere better, in my mind, in Santa Clara County to do this.”
Arenas said her ultimate goal is for the city to take ownership of the program and move it in whatever direction best serves the community.
“I want to see the city of Morgan Hill take it on, adopt it, and then have their community members run it,” she said. “Because that’s really who should be doing it, right? If this speaks to them, if it’s something that they want to continue to do, I want them to take it on, personalize it and make it whatever they want.”
Roads were made for cars! not bikes. Bikes have made it dangerous for automobiles. They are taking over all roads in many ways. They should not have the right away in all instances. The riders believe they do which has made it much harder on car drivers. Needs to be a better solution.
This is awesome! They need to do it more often!
While some cyclists are reckless, it doesn’t negate the fact that any mistake by a car driver and their 3k pound car means there is a much higher chance of death/grave injuries for pedestrians. Distracted driving, sleepy, DUI/DWI, kids in the back seat. There are an abundance of roads cars can take, but few (if any) dedicated bike/walking paths that prioritize pedestrians.