LA MESA VILLAGE REVITALIZATION WORKSHOP

Printer-friendly versionPrinter-friendly version Share this

April 20, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm at the La Mesa Community Center, 4975 Memorial Dr.

By Kristin Hobbs Kjaero La Mesa - Locals call the La Mesa Village the heart and soul of their hometown. Given this sentiment, the Village Revitalization Workshop on April 20 is a great opportunity for the community to share their thoughts for improvements to the Downtown Village.

According to Greg Humora, the Director of Public Works, the Workshop's goal is to "get feedback from people on what their concerns are, what they like and don't like, before we go too far down the path." Topics that will be discussed include outdoor dining spaces, parking, trees, lighting, sidewalk widths, special event elements, and how to manage construction with a minimum impact to businesses. Humora stated, "We're trying to get an idea of the stakeholder's priorities for the usage of the street." It has been 30 years since the Village last received a major renovation. In the past several years the City has invested significant resources to replace the sewer and storm drain system in the Village area, and with that work completed it can now address deteriorating streetscape elements. All money from parking meters in the Village is specifically dedicated to improvements in the Village district. From these funds, the City hired RBF Consulting, in an initial step to a Streetscape Improvement Project. RBF Consulting has developed hand held devices to measure preference on issues, which it will bring to the Revitalization Workshop. The City has a $991,000 grant from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Funds of 2009, for which on April 14 the Council authorized an amendment in the RTIP to include a "Downtown Village Streetscape Improvement Project." Councilman Ernie Ewin explained, "Were trying not to be limited by what we've already done before, but asking people, what do we want to do? It's a long time coming since the Downtown Specific Plan was approved in 1989. With everybody's input, I'm sure there are some items we wouldn't have thought of that should be included as well." Councilman Dave Allan summed up hopes for the project, "What's better than people coming downtown to enjoy their City?"


Error message

Support community news in the public interest! As nonprofit news, we rely on donations from the public to fund our reporting -- not special interests. Please donate to sustain East County Magazine's local reporting and/or wildfire alerts at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate to help us keep people safe and informed across our region.