Orange Mayor Larry Spears Jr. is going to get involved to improve the appearance of the 16th Street commercial district by writing letters to business owners and visiting the businesses.
On Tuesday, City Planning Director Kelvin Knauf outlined 17 ideas for 16th Street, which is the main entrance off Interstate 10 into town. The council liked the ideas.
The first on the list is for the city to have a meeting of 16th Street property owners to get their ideas and opinions. The city can also conduct a citizens survey through the internet to get more ideas.
Spears said he would send letters to the businesses and the residents to ask them to keep their properties clean and attractive. He also agreed to have on-going visits with the business owners to ask for their support for the projects.
Council members this year have been focusing on cleaning up the city. The members have met on some Saturday mornings to pick up trash along the thoroughfare.
The proposed ideas included posting “No Littering signs” and having strict enforcement of the city’s anti-litter laws. One suggestion was installing surveillance cameras to catch litterers.
The city’s code enforcement department could adopt a “zero tolerance” policy against high grass, weeds, and trash.
The city could also use people who are given community service probation by judges to pick up trash. Another idea is to pay homeless or unemployed people to pick up trash.
One recommendation was to join the Keep Texas Beautiful group to get ideas from other cities and possibly get grants for special projects.
The city’s Economic Development Corporation could get involved in the 16th Street improvement project by creating special grants to help business owners get new facades for their buildings.
Council members liked the ideas, but took no action on adopting any policies.
-Margaret Toal, KOGT-
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