Our Broadway district is sometimes referred to as the poor stepsister of the Avenue which can refer to the attention it garners from the city, its more affordable rents, or the rather homey general appearance of the retail district. Those are intertwined. I happen to spend more time on B'way even though I can easily walk to the Avenue so any investment in B'way is welcome.
The new street lights are almost done. The poles are in and await the actual lights. Some of the poles in front of Mike Harvey Acura were placed in the middle of the sidewalk due to the location of underground utilities making for a pedestrian slalom course, but the ones in the core retail blocks look good. They aren't an exact match to the originals, but close enough for government work; as they say. Check it out.
In 2015, I mentioned to former councilman John Root that Broadway was dark at nights and we needed more lighting. He came by one night and witnessed how dark Broadway was and brought it up at a city council meeting. The process started and the city applied for a grant and about 2 years ago, the city received approximately $1 million grant from the federal government for pedestrian lighting. The grant will allow the city to double the number of light poles on Broadway. The current new light poles you see are the new locations where new foundation was built. Due to the supply chain, hopefully all the components will arrive soon. The old light poles will all be replaced with new ones. We will have approximately 40 new light poles. The grants condition was to have all the light poles made in the U.S.A.
Posted by: John Kevranian | March 14, 2022 at 10:19 PM
Thanks for the additional information, John. It's great news that the poles will eventually all match. Perhaps the city can reuse the cool old ones somewhere appropriate here in Buildingame?
Posted by: Joe | March 15, 2022 at 12:20 PM
They look way too large for the street. Should of installed the sleek skinny poles in my humble opinion. Next time maybe we should invite a designer before spending a million or so dollars.
Posted by: TransSwimmer | March 19, 2022 at 07:24 AM
I hear the electricity went off for anywhere from 10 minutes to several hours today along Broadway as the lights were being installed on the new poles. Coincidence? Walgreen's apparently threw in the towel and closed up shop.
Posted by: Joe | March 21, 2022 at 05:41 PM
We attributed the outage to be connected to the installation of the power poles (and TransSwimmer, the new ones are smaller than the old).
Our shop, Weimax, had electricity for all but ten minutes of the day, while our neighbors at Sutterfield, Preston's and Walgreens were in the dark.
This is most unusual, as when they're out, we're out.
John Kevranian informs us that the outage was not caused by the fellows installing the new poles, but some snafu on the part of PG&E.
Posted by: Gerald Weisl | March 24, 2022 at 04:19 PM
Sure John.
Posted by: Paloma Walker | May 09, 2022 at 05:16 PM
No more lighting up on Broadway!
The air might be fresher and the sidewalks cleaner after Burlingame City Council approved a smoking ban, this week, for Broadway and the surrounding business district.
After 25 of the 38 Broadway businesses asked for a smoking ban on the street, city officials acted on those concerns when the pilot program was unanimously approved during a council meeting Monday, Feb. 6.
John Kevranian, Broadway Business Improvement District president, said over the years he has received many complaints regarding smoking on Broadway, according to a staff report.
https://www.smdailyjournal.com/news/local/burlingame-city-council-oks-smoking-ban-pilot-program-for-broadway-district/article_a3f20ff8-a770-11ed-8701-d75db08d83f1.html#tncms-source=block-contextual-fallback
Posted by: Joe | February 08, 2023 at 09:58 AM
After reading the ban on smoking on Broadway, I am also reminded that bicycle riding, roller skating/blading and skateboarding are prohibited. How is enforcement of those bans going?
As much as I hate the smell of cigarette smoke, how much more of a nanny state will we allow?
Posted by: Paloma Ave | February 08, 2023 at 03:02 PM
Remember when we couldn’t drive 10 miles from home because of a virus that is 97% survivable?
Now no gas appliances, developers’ fantasy of low-cost housing mandates… government bullies have been awakened to run over the rights of citizens who should be their bosses.
Our enemies know of our weaknesses and send balloons to mock us. Balloons.
Posted by: Spurinna | February 09, 2023 at 07:09 AM