ALL WRITEY!!! A SAMPLING OF YOUR COMMENTS/CRITICISMS/LOVE NOTES/WITTICISMS

"ALL WRITEY!!"

APRIL 24, “BELLFLOWER TRYING TO REDEVELOP ITS ECONOMY WITHOUT RIPPING OUT ITS HEART”

Recently, I have been talking about this issue of the dying (or should I say dead) downtown with a few of my Bellflower friends. It seems like a classic case of they don’t care so we don’t care. Unfortunately this means that when thinking of what to do on a Friday night most Bellflower residents choose to spend their money in the surrounding cities. When I ride my bike downtown and see numerous empty buildings that haven’t been altered in many years it gives the impression that those “in charge” aren’t doing much to move forward and improve. Downtown areas should be the epitome of the city, and it seems like at the moment Bellflower’s is. As you said, it seems to be a city with no heartbeat…but we gotta remember it still has a heart and a lot of potential! My suggestion to the city…talk to the young people! The changes don’t have to be drastic, there just needs to be change…a movie theater, bowling alley, more bars, SOMETHING! Thanks for writing about this problem…a great opportunity to rant (now we just need to get out there and DO something!) / ANONYMOUS

SUPERVISOR KNABE ALLOTS $2.5 MILLION TO REHAB SAN GABRIEL RIVER BIKE PATH

FROM THE DOWNEY PATRIOT

CERRITOS – A $2.5 million project to rehabilitate portions of the San Gabriel River bike path in Cerritos and Lakewood will continue, Supervisor Don Knabe has announced.

“It is important that the bike paths along our riverbeds are safe,” said Knabe of a project that will be paid for  in Fourth District Capital Improvement funds. “The improvements will enhance the safety and increase enjoyment of the numerous residents and visitors who use the San Gabriel River Bike Trail.”

READ THE ENTIRE STORY AT THE DOWNEY PATRIOT

BELLFLOWER TRYING TO REDEVELOP ITS ECONOMY WITHOUT RIPPING OUT ITS HEART

BELLFLOWER THEN...AND, WELL...NOW

The City of Bellflower’s time capsule of a downtown is both heartwarmingly quaint and heartbreakingly … well without a heartbeat.  Bellflower Boulevard’s well-preserved architecture and its embalmed business district can probably both be traced to its citizens’ long opposition to creating a Redevelopment Agency, an orientation rooted in their suspicion that eminent domain might be used to take their homes. Bellflower finally passed a redevelopment ordinance in 1995, about 10 years after most surrounding communities—and it does not include an eminent domain component; people have to sell their properties willingly.

In another effort to catch up, the City Council unanimously voted to add 271 acres to the existing 571 acre redevelopment area. And then its members unanimously cringed, bracing for the blowback. That’s the powderkeg Councilmember Randy Bomgaars was trying to defuse when he told reporter Arnold Adler of the Herald American, “We must move forward but we need the community involved—then added that everything must be done in the open.

City officials view an expanded redevelopment area as a way to increase revenue without raising taxes. Currently the redevelopment district straddles some major streets—most notably, downtown Bellflower Boulevard, where the sad state of affairs is epitomized by glorious vaudeville-era movie palace … which, depressingly, is a church.

READ THE ENTIRE STORY IN THE HERALD AMERICAN