Tourism Opportunity for Lodi

Many California cities are envious of Lodi and the “renaissance” the community has and is experiencing. Propelled by an expanding wine marketing effort begun by local farmers and producers, Lodi with its newly revitalized downtown core has created a synergism and buzz that Lodi is someplace special. It is helped along by the overall charm of the well-planned and historically well-maintained community. All of this and investment on the private sector’s part have contributed to Lodi’s rebirth or at least repositioning in many people’s mind’s eye. The community has opportunity for tourism for another reason, which is location. Lodi is ideally situated to be only a short two-hour drive from home for nearly 12 million northern California inhabitants. Lodi is being discovered!

Most Lodians today see the growth of the tourism opportunity but it seems the community is inconsistent on how best to facilitate its profitable development. Many Shopkeepers are resistant to open on Saturdays & Sundays, School Street is only steam cleaned once a year. As a result sidewalks are disgustingly filthy in places. Weeds sprout around vacant buildings and in street medians in too many public places.

If Lodi is to become successful at repositioning itself as a “destination,” a place where people want to come, and return, it is imperative our city be maintained in a higher-quality manner. Cleanliness in public places, colorful flowers, attractive facilities, is fundamental to our ability to attract a discriminating visitor. In Northern California there are many cities vying for the tourist dollar. A city with dirty sidewalks, dead flowers in planters, weeds growing in street medians, in adequate directional signage, closed stores on weekends all say to a visitor “we do not value you,” and we don’t value our city. Lodi is not living up to its potential in this respect, we can and must do better.

Also, few dollars are dedicated to marketing the community as a destination. Desirable tourist infrastructure such as adequate hotels and other attractions beyond wine-tasting are limited. The City Council has been mildly supportive of ideas to establish incentives for a downtown hotel. Most hotel rooms are
along Cherokee Lane, Highway 99 corridor, although clean for the most part, they are not considered for accommodations by the wine-tasting tourist.

While weekend business is strong at the few Bed & Breakfasts and upscale Wine & Roses Hotel and SPA, the mid-week business or occupancy is anemic. Is this a catch 22 condition? If we build it will they come? We recommend the City Council re-visit a plan to use city-owned property in such a manner to create an economic incentive for attracting a hotel operator downtown.

Other infrastructure is needed to facilitate the continued development of downtown. Code ordinances are not conducive for reuse of existing structures or mixed use applications. Downtown Bed & Breakfasts in second story buildings can add a whole new dimension to downtown’s dinning and entertainment scene.

Monies for façade improvement and some consistent out of Lodi marketing are needed to bring more foot traffic downtown. Another draw to downtown will be “downtown tasting rooms.” The General Plan should have language that describes a willingness to partner with wineries who will “invest” marketing dollars into the tourism appeal of downtown. Such partnerships are in operation today and similar ones should be struck in the future.

Downtown can broaden the experience for a wine-tasting visitor to Lodi. Art is a great “go with” attraction for an upscale visitor. We suggest the City identify a block downtown and search for a developer to take on an “Artist Row” concept. An example could be the block of old buildings across Sacramento Street from the parking garage. Those old buildings could be marketed as Lodi’s Art Walk. Galleries and studios on the ground floor while the artists / proprietors live in upstairs lofts above. Incentives such as fast-track permitting, tax and utility incentives can facilitate the entry and help buffer costs in the first year(s) of operation. Redevelopment can again play a huge role in bringing this to fruition.

Members of our task force know of at least two other cities that have successfully done this very thing, so we suggest learning from Oakland and Fresno. Other cities such as Merced, & Madera have used creative ways to revitalize blighted properties specifically for similar art related projects. We think this is key to downtown’s evolution toward destination status. Also it does not compete with School Street’s fragile retail condition but complements it and adds foot traffic to downtown sidewalks.

Beyond downtown the Mokelumne River is an underdeveloped asset for a tourism oriented community. Consideration should be given to adding the North bank of the river to our General Plan and Sphere of Influence, or as a special Area of Interest. Not for future development, but to have a say in how it will be protected and possibly enhanced at some point in the future. Keeping the Mokelumne in a natural state, with greater access and enjoyment by the public could contribute mightily to the tourism pull of Lodi.

The Lower Mokelumne Water-Shed District is currently working with the National Parks Department to have the river designated as a National Parks Water Trail. Such a designation will bring funding to the river and increase the usages such as Kayaking and Paddling on the river. Reno, Nevada has made the Truckee River the center piece of their downtown revitalization. It brought the “outdoors experience” into the heart of the city, and has expanded Reno’s appeal and versatility in attracting “new to Reno” visitors.

Being the largest city closest to the Delta Wetland Habitat for West Coast migratory fowl, Lodi has an opportunity to attract yet another population segment with quite a bit of disposable income. The birding community is aware of Lodi by being the winter home to thousands of Sandhill Cranes. Any clear fall evening one can go out to the Isenberg Reserve and count dozens of license plate frames from bay area dealerships and metro Sacramento. They come to see the spectacular fly-in of thousands of cranes returning to roost for the night.

This natural attraction combined with the Lodi-river experience, the downtown Lodi experience these bird-watching visitors have many attractive options, not to mention wine-tasting. This is an untapped year-round tourism market. But they will demand attractive, unique hotels close to other Lodi attractions. City signage, perhaps in partnership with local business or the Chamber of Commerce should be placed out in the birding areas, directing out of town visitors to Lodi.

The City might also work with the Woodbridge Irrigation District to complete the Fish-Ladder Viewing project. This would allow viewing of Salmon and other native fish migrating back up river to spawn, another notable attraction for both young and old when coming to Lodi.

All of these suggestions add to the value of Lodi not only for tourists but for Lodi citizens as well. The General Plan must use language that recognizes these opportunities and determine the actions, and mechanisms to bring these or other ideas like these into fruition. We need progress quickly if we are to truly be a first-class destination experience.