La Mesa business owners, citizens and city officials say the long-planned improvement on La Mesa Boulevard in La Mesa Village are all but done, pretty much on budget and on schedule. That\u2019s good news indeed for some of the business owners who say the year-long street construction has had impacts on their operations, despite efforts to make it as painless as possible.<\/p>\n
La Mesa Public Works Director Greg Humora says the city had to make a choice about that.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we, and the public, decided was best was to do a block-by-block phased approach where we do half of the street, and one block at a time. That allows for the other half of the street to be open for parking and open for through traffic. And we created pedestrian zones within the construction zones so that even though they\u2019re working, the businesses are still open.\u201d<\/p>\n The alternate plan, he said, was to shut down the entire street all at once which would have made the project\u2019s timeline shorter but would have also caused \u201cmore significant impacts\u201d to businesses in the Village.<\/p>\n For the most part, the block-by-block approach seems to be working for most people \u2014 but not all.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s hurt us badly. Our business has really dropped off through this,\u201d said Lupe Marrujo, manager of the Por Favor restaurant. \u201cIf the other restaurants in our group hadn\u2019t helped us through, we might not have made it.\u201d<\/p>\n Similar thoughts came from Carol Tolosko, who runs Centifonti\u2019s and Konnichiwa Sushi. \u201cA lot of us are losing money through this. We\u2019re down 50 percent in one place, and almost two-thirds in the other. Right now, we can\u2019t even get temporary railings so we can serve outside. Some people still want to eat outdoors, even with the construction noise and dust.\u201d<\/p>\n Other business owners have a more optimistic view of the streetscape improvements.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not a walk-in business. People come here with appointments, not just cruising,\u201d said Terry White of Golden Artistry Jewelry. \u201cBut it\u2019s still very nice to see this ending and seeing what what [the improvements are] going to look like. It\u2019s been needed for a lot of years.\u201d<\/p>\n The streetscape project to revitalize La Mesa Boulevard between Fourth Street and Acacia Avenue really began back in 2008 when the design work began. Then the public hearings began and a bidding process for who would get the construction contract, which was eventually granted to Dick Miller Inc. for a bid of just under $7.5 million.<\/p>\n Funding for the project comes from a variety of sources: A SANDAG smart growth incentive grant for $2 million; $1.3 million from downtown parking meters; some Transnet money; some money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act; an estimated $650,000 from the Transit Development Administration because of the project\u2019s proximity to the trolley and bus stops; and $250,000 from wastewater fund reserves.<\/p>\n Humora said he expects the project\u2019s final cost to be very close to the original bid cost by the contractor, despite some unexpected setbacks that came up during construction.<\/p>\n \u201cWe ran into some underground fuel storage tanks that had been there since the 1920\u2019s that were underneath the sidewalks that we didn\u2019t know were there,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can look at old photos and see there were gas stations there. Back in the day, the gas stations put the tanks underneath the sidewalk. For whatever reason, previous projects did not remove them.<\/p>\n The construction crews had to remove five 500-gallon tanks from under sidewalks along La Mesa Boulevard. Three tanks were found between Third and Fourth streets and two more were found east of Fourth. There was no fuel in the damaged tanks but the city had to bring in a hazardous material contractor in to abate them as well as get the county to clear the site.<\/p>\n![\"(top)](\"https:\/\/lamesacourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/web1.jpg\")
<\/a>
(Drawing courtesy of city of La Mesa, photo by Jeff Clemetson)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n