Sixteenth Street has businesses, but no charm and ambience. Orange Planning Director Kelvin Knauf presented the Orange City Council with ideas to make the street inviting for people.
“There’s no easy, simple solutions to this problem,” he said.
The street, part of Texas Highway 87, is the main entrance into Orange from Interstate 10. Council members, led by Mayor Larry Spears Jr., have been working on ways to clean and beautify the city. Council members and other volunteers have spent a couple of Saturday mornings picking up litter along 16th Street.
Knauf said the city needs to continue with clean-up efforts on 16th. The city could also join the Keep Orange Beautiful commission and might be able to acquire grants through the Keep Texas Beautiful statewide program.
In addition, the city could erect “No Littering” signs and start enforcing the city ordinances. The council could make a “no tolerance” policy for people caught littering or having high grass and weeds on the thoroughfare, he said.
The council might want to buy special equipment, like a giant vacuum machine that reaches out on sidewalks to pick up litter.
Knauf said businesses could make their buildings and parking lots more inviting to draw people in. He would like to set up a meeting with the business owners and managers for their suggestions and to discuss ideas.
Some of the buildings have facades that have aged. He said the City of Orange Economic Development Corporation board could consider financial incentives to help businesses get new facades.
Another possibility is setting up a special public improvement district to oversee the development.
City Manager Dr. Shawn Oubre told the council to study the ideas and set priorities for what they can do.
Spears said a new community Facebook page called “Trash Talk” has been established. The council and volunteers will spend the second Saturday of each month cleaning up. The public is invited to join the Facebook page and the trash pickup.
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