San Leandro Fares Well In A Tale Of Two Streetscapes

City officials in Alameda are after they cut down trees on Park Street as part of a "streetscape" plan to improve the popular throughfare.

An alert Patch reader, recalling that San Leandro had a similar-sounding program on the drawing boards, wrote in the :

Isn't San Leandro's redevelopment embarking on a streetscape project? Is this what we can look forward to?

No, said Cynthia Battenberg with San Leandro's Redevelopment staff. She outlined city streetscape plans that are already underway on East 14th.

"The poplars that line the street were planted ten plus years ago and were an important first step in recreating East 14th St. as a Grand Boulevard," Battenberg said. "The trees will definitely remain."

She said the city plans to take utilities off poles and bury them underground but that is being done in stages due to the cost.

This undergrounding work was recently completed from 150th St. south to the city's border. Plans are underway to underground utilities from 150th north to Lillian Avenue. 

Battenberg said the streetscape plan for East 14th also includes enhanced medians, crosswalks and landscaping to create a more pedestrian friendly street.

These improvements are being implemented. She said the first enhancements run between 136th Avenue and 145th Avenue as shown in the photo above.

Battenberg also provided before and after photos of streetscape improvements on MacArthur Boulevard (see photo gallery).

So this seems to be a case where no news is good news.