Having had a reputation as a place that is not so beautiful, downtown San Pedro is getting a facelift, putting on some makeup, and restyling its hair. Because the area is expecting many new residents in the coming years, community leaders want to make sure that these new residents won’t immediately regret their decision to move there. But there won’t be any fancy designers or architects to put the lipstick on this pig. Instead, a kiddie art project volunteer panel will work to make downtown all pretty.
Local colleges and secondary schools will be asked to pitch in this spring with their ideas on everything from architecture to color schemes to signs to creative designs for an attractive parking structure to how to manage traffic flow.
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Initial phases of the beautification effort already have identified some priorities, such as providing locks for trash bins, improving the look of vacant storefronts and removing the bulky, rectangular planters that were installed on downtown sidewalks some 20 years ago.
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"My goal is to preserve Pedro as we love it, not get rid of the quirkiness and not gentrify it to where it looks like another Santa Monica," [landscape architect Jane Denton] said.Thems are fighting words. Except, sadly for San Pedro, there is probably no one besides the gentry who are buying loft condos, even outside of Santa Monica.
· San Pedro Hatches Plan to Beautify Downtown [Long Beach Press-Telegram]