Broadway in B'game is viewed by some as the poor sibling to the Avenue. My Bemoaning B'way post goes into some of the issues and commenters added on their perspectives mostly reinforcing the image. As I said then, I kind of like B'way in the same sort of way that I like 25th Ave in San Mateo--it's more local and real. The person with the closest view of the status of B'way is Gerald Weisl of Weimax who has provided me with this summary of recent clean-up efforts:
Having been spending much of its time tending to Burlingame Avenue, Burlingame's Public Works Department has responded to a hue & cry from both residents and merchants on Broadway.
The City sent a staffer in early August to spray the sidewalks with a high-pressure washing device and as one merchant described the results "It was more like the fellow was irrigating the concrete, not actually washing the sidewalks." Three Broadway merchants, Weimax, Sutterfields and Preston's then hired a private company to clean the sidewalks in front of their stores. They invited the Public Works leaders to come have a look. A bit embarrassed that they didn't do the same quality of work, more Public Works staffers were dispatched to Broadway.
One crew splattered all the sidewalk dirt onto the freshly-painted Japanese restaurant facade at Broadway and Laguna, so a second crew was sent to actually clean up that mess. A Public Works Supervisor reportedly told the merchants they might be interested in asking private contractors to bid on this sort of work (despite having full-time employees and high-pressure washing machinery). Another Public Works manager reportedly said "We're not making excuses..." and " We unfortunately are required to focus more on “quantity”, as opposed to the quality of the cleaning."
As of this writing, the sidewalks are in considerably cleaner condition, but it only takes a few people to spill ice cream and soda onto the sidewalk, along with people depositing chewing gum.
We have the "ribbon-cutting" of the new B'way interchange on Thursday morning which brought out more Caltrans trucks than I have ever seen in one place on Saturday night around 10pm as they get ready. I'm hoping for lane clarity and better flow as they "finish". I would also suggest it might be time to ban 18-wheelers from B'way. As one council member noted when I suggested it, there are now good alternatives to get around B'way. So the time is ripe. Let's hope the combination of traffic improvements, better cleaning and the Planning Commission's emphasis on good retail uses helps B'way stay vibrant--and local. Here's the crew cleaning up
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