By Eric Gray | Broadway is one of the most important streets in the City of Long Beach. This beloved corridor stretches all the way from Downtown Long Beach to Belmont Shore. While Downtown has seen a lot of successes lately, and no one could argue with the wonderful world of Belmont Shore, in between these two areas sits a destination all its own. Broadway from Alamitos Avenue to Belmont Avenue boasts a mix of amazing people, eateries, night life and shops, but it also has a streetscape that doesn’t own up to its potential.
Enter the “On Broadway Business Association,” led by President Sidney Cramer. After years of meetings, brainstorming and building consensus among the local neighborhood associations, the On Broadway Business Association has officially renamed this large corridor, “The Villages on Broadway.” Considering the length and disparate portions of Broadway, it is a brilliant idea. It helps build cohesiveness within the corridor while giving each Village its own identity.
To further brand the “Villages” concept, the On Broadway Business Association has designed metal neighborhood marker signs to be installed at each street light and is working to install vertical gardens to enhance invaluable spaces within the corridor.
The above mentioned are great initial steps in what I’d like to see as a full scale revitalization and reimagination of the Broadway Corridor. With Broadway being a challenging street, due to parking shortages and a certain amount of car volume, I feel any decisions made should be vetted through the community and that the city look at this project carefully and with an innovative eye.
Here are my suggestions for improvement:
1. Partner with Edison to remove the tall brown utility poles housing dangerous and unsightly utility wires and have the wires placed underground (Edison performs this enhancement across various portions of the city from time to time).
2. Install narrow landscaped medians along certain parts of the corridor with sculptured art put in place for the community to enjoy.
3. Extend sidewalks along Broadway to encourage outside dining and new businesses to open. With arguably the best weather in the world and an already walkable city, we should capitalize on our strengths.
4. Install a variety of beautiful tree species along the corridor.
5. Enhance the crosswalks with new design and add pedestrian lighting.
6. Implement angled parking in certain areas to create additional parking spaces.
For all of this to happen, “traffic calming” measures would have to be put into place. Unfortunately, this is a very difficult problem, but I think this is a conversation worth discussing and vetting through the community.
What you would get is a streetscape that is pedestrian friendly, more beautiful, and conducive to businesses investing in the community. Sitting just blocks from the ocean, Broadway could become the connecting jewel between Downtown Long Beach and Belmont Shore.
Lastly, I don’t think funding to improve Broadway is farfetched. The city has been instrumental in cobbling funds together through various sources to make the Pine Avenue Streetscape Improvement project happen later this year, and I feel the same approach can be taken. Long Beach has all the makings of a world class city. We have already achieved numerous accomplishments, but now it’s time to achieve our next one, reimagining and creating a better Broadway.
For more information on “The Villages on Broadway” go to onbroadwaylb.com
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