Edmore officials are considering changing or removing multiple trees from the downtown due to issues with the trees covering up business signs, including at NAPA Auto Parts, pictured above, as well as tree roots growing into the sewer system. — DN Photo | Elizabeth Waldon

EDMORE — The trees in downtown Edmore are pretty, especially in autumn.

However, they also cover up multiple business signs, they are scattered in clusters throughout the downtown leaving many wide-open gaps and the roots of some of the trees are now growing into the sewer system.

The Edmore Village Council and the Downtown Development Authority held a joint meeting on Oct. 10 to discuss downtown landscaping — especially the trees and whether to remove them altogether.

The DDA has been considering a streetscape project which would involve replacing 35 existing trees with 16 flower planters and 19 trees in response to business owners concerns about the trees getting bigger and overgrown to the point where some trees are blocking store fronts and some roots are growing into sewer lines. The layout of the trees from two or three decades ago doesn’t appear to have any rhyme or reason for it.

NAPA Auto Parts at 523 E. Main St. in downtown Edmore, owned by Ryan Vander Veen, has several trees directly in front of it which block the view of the business’ signs, depending on the angle at which motorists are passing by. — DN Photo | Elizabeth Waldon

Ryan Vander Veen is a DDA member and he also owns NAPA Auto Parts at 523 E. Main St. downtown, where two trees cover both of his business signs, depending on the angle at which motorists are passing by.

“I always want it to look as it good as it can,” he told the Daily News while working behind the counter recently. “You always want it to look clean. Just so you can see all the business fronts. Maybe the trees could be trimmed or taken out. It covers up all the signs out front. The roots are growing into the sewers and stuff like that. We’ve had to get the roots cleaned out of our sewer here.”

The preliminary budget for the considered landscaping project was estimated at $75,000 to $77,000, which would require much of the DDA’s fund balance, so the DDA decided to scale down the project and to move in phases.

At their last meeting, the DDA approved purchasing six large Earthplanter flower planters to be placed downtown with the goal of cutting down 13 trees scattered throughout the downtown to thin out the canopy and create spaces for the planter boxes.

According to meeting minutes, Councilman Chet Guild was against cutting down the current trees. He said while he likes the idea of ​​new trees, the current ones don’t get taken care of, and he also voiced concern about the project being done in phases, as he thinks the downtown will look terrible and will also expose how bad some of the downtown building fronts look.

Village Manager Justin Lakamper, who is also the DDA director, noted that if the village wanted to do the entire project in one year, they could consider increasing the tax capture financing or asking the Village Council for assistance in funding the project. Guild questioned why the DDA doesn’t just use its entire current fund balance to fund the whole project in one year, an idea Lakamper appeared to agree with.

The Edmore Village Council and the Downtown Development Authority are considering changing or completely removing multiple trees from the downtown due to issues with the trees covering up business signs, as well as tree roots growing into the sewer system. — DN Photo | Elizabeth Waldon

Councilman Tom Colburn noted that the new planners won’t cover up any of the downtown blight and they will also be open in the wintertime. He suggested going to downtown businesses and asking which trees they would like to see saved or removed.

Village President Gloria Burr said the council would like the DDA to come up with a printed visual of the feedback they receive. Burr also thanked the DDA for participating in the joint meeting with the Village Council and she added that she thinks both sides should do this more often.

The next Edmore Village Council meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. tonight. All meetings are open to the public.

Phase I of the San Pedro Creek Culture Park is finally complete. The re-imagination of what had been a concrete ditch for decades is filled with landscaping, walkways, stone walls, public art and water features.

The block between Houston and Commerce streets near the Spanish Governor’s Palace was overflowing with humanity Friday evening for the several hundred gathered to see their tax dollars at work.

The big attraction was a 250-foot colorfully lit waterfall. When officials turned it on, the crowd roared.

The waterfall, named “Stream,” is a public artwork by New York artist Adam Brown. The waterfall lights change colors once synched to music or voices from a 1940s style microphone at its base.

“People should come and experience it. I’m surprised by how few people have experienced it,” said poet and artist John Phillip Santos. “I think this enhanced track now will maybe invite still more folks down.”

San Antonian Chris Castillo described what he’d seen.

“Art installations, a lot of nice water features, seems like it’s built to last. high-quality It’s not going to fall apart in a few years,” Castillo said. “So it seems like a solid effort. I do appreciate you putting money into infrastructure projects like this.”

The phase completed runs from Houston Street to Cesar Chavez.

“I think this is going to be bigger than most San Antonians ever understood as it was coming together. It will rival some parts of the River Walk, and it should,” said former San Antonio Mayor Henry Cisneros. “It basically takes the River Walk to the west side of downtown, an area that’s been overlooked, generally. It makes water the whole thread that holds the city together in a wonderful way.”

Nearby art also includes a five-panel mural that tells the county’s 300-year history. The foundations of an old African Methodist Episcopal Church, soap works, and brewery can also be seen. There is also an outdoor public performance area.

The entire San Pedro Creek Culture Park, when completed, will run 2.2-miles along the creek through west downtown. The total project is currently valued at $290 million. It is funded by the county and managed by the San Antonio River Authority.

County Judge Nelson Wolff during his recent State of the County Address said the culture park is spurring new economic growth.

He also said the creek project has helped restore the ecosystem, improved flood control, cleaned the water, and has seen the return of native trees and plants.

Wolff and Cisneros were among local dignitaries who attended Friday’s grand opening, including City Councilwoman Teri Castillo, County Commissioners Rebecca Clay-Flores and Justin Rodriguez, County Clerk Lucy Adame-Clark, Congressman Henry Cuellar, former Mayor Phil Hardberger, Poet Laureate Carmen Tafolla, former San Antonio River Authority General Manager Suzanne Scott, San Antonio River Authority Public Art Curator Carrie Browne, and artists Lionel and Kathy Sosa.

Brian Kirkpatrick

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Texas Public Radio

“Stream” as it appears during the day. Downtown visitors can stroll creek side or find a place to sit to eat lunch. TPR HQ sits to the right.

The grand opening ceremony continued Saturday, when Texas Public Radio — headquartered alongside the San Pedro Creek — celebrated its own grand opening.

The TPR building is adjacent to the 73-year-old Alameda Theatre, once one of the largest Spanish language movie theaters in the country for decades before it closed in the 1980s.

“This particular area in my memory was where my grandmother on my mother’s side would take me to the movies at the Alameda,” said former San Antonian BK Munguia. “And this is where many Mexican-American families shopped.”

Residents are looking forward to future phases of the San Pedro Creek redevelopment project, that include renovation plans for the Alameda and the entire area surrounding the creek.

“I sincerely hope the community can enjoy this. Originally some people thought this was going to be a little mini River Walk. That’s not the idea,” said San Antonian Robert Ramirez. “The idea is this is a gift to the community. And we hope that the community can enjoy it. And certainly tourists are welcome. But this is really for us.”

PADUCAH — Beautiful Paducah, the beautification organization that organized this year’s Barbecue on the River, says the votes are in, and part of the proceeds from last week’s festival will be used to develop a proposal to improve landscaping downtown.

during the festival, Whitney Ravellette Wallace with Beautiful Paducah told local 6 that the organization’s goal is to raise money for various beautification projects through the festivals it hosts. At Barbecue on the River, attendees could go to Beautiful Paducah’s tent and vote from among three initiatives by buying a $1 ticket.

In a news release sent Wednesday, the group says the initiative that received the most votes was to create a proposal to improve landscaping in areas of downtown Paducah and a continued maintenance plan. Beautiful Paducah says the goal is to begin the initiative sometime next spring.

The organization says the event supported 59 local charities. As for how much money was raised, Beautiful Paducah says it will publicly announce the total once it has all the information from the vendors who participated.

In the news release, the organization says it knows many of the elements of this year’s festival were a big hit, and that there’s room for improvement. Beautiful Paducah says it looks forward to making those improvements for the 2023 festival, and organizers with the group plan to meet with the other parties who helped make the event possible to analyze what worked and what adjustments need to be made.

This was the first year Beautiful Paducah took on Barbecue on the River, and the organization says it was “an incredible learning experience.”

“We can’t wait to see what 12 months of planning, as opposed to 5-6 months of planning, will bring for 2023,” the news release says.

The Town of Smithers reopened Main Street today (Monday) after it was intermittently closed for five months for the Downtown Landscape Revitalization project.

Council members, town staff and the local chamber of commerce were in attendance at the re-opening event that was held this afternoon.

The group gathered at Main Street and Second Avenue where there were speeches and refreshments.

Trever Morris, Chamber President (supplied by: Lindsay Newman)

Smithers District Chamber of Commerce President Trever Morris said it was a long summer and that the community had to exercise a lot of patience.

“I think we can finally say with confidence that it was worth it. It looks beautiful and I’m excited to have a sustainable Main Street. Smithers is beautiful and it’s important that it stays that way because this is why people come here and live here,” he said.

The contractor for the project was Lyons Landscaping out of Kamloops.

President of Lyons Landscaping Colin Lyons said that they tried their best to work with people from the community.

“We worked hard to find some experts in the industry, so that they could really work beside us on this project. So, you have a lot of locals here with a lot of talent that really helped put this project together well,” he said.

Smithers Mayor Gladys Atrill presenting a bowl created in memor of Harry Kruisselbrink (supplied by: Lindsay Newman)

Additionally, former councilor Harry Kruisselbrink, who passed away earlier this year, was recognized.

“I imagine Harry would be here this day to celebrate with us for all of his decades championing all the good things that we do in this community,” Smithers Mayor Gladys Atrill said.

The Kruisselbrink family was given a bowl that was made by Bruce Hobson out of one of the tree trunks that were on Main Street as a part of the Harry Kruisselbrink Project.

The Down Landscape Revitalization project cost nearly $1.3 million dollars which was acquired by the Northern Capital Planning Project.

The project is expected to take 45 days, a schedule that Katy City Council says has already started. Courtesy of Katy City Council

Katy City Council, at its January 11th session, voted to approve the final landscaping plan for the Downtown Plaza project. In the meantime, this step will make the space usable before further architectural designs are decided. The project is expected to take 45 days, a schedule that Katy City Council says has already started.

“We’d want to wet the whole area with grass now,” said Mayor Pro Tem Chris Harris. “That way it can be used in early spring and then we have time for some kind of design.”

The landscaping, to be carried out by the local company Earth First, was one of several elements of the project that was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic, coordination with utilities, and uncooperative weather conditions. City council members voted to move forward with landscaping to avoid future delays.

“This project has been going for a long time and has had many different challenges along the way,” said engineer Chris LeBlanc. “Unfortunately, COVID and the limitations of COVID over the past calendar year resulted in a project where we had to ask ourselves last year, ‘Well, how can we move this project forward and make the space usable while we move on trying to work towards the ultimate vision? ‘”

One element that contributed to the delays was the relocation of an existing center point service pole. Harris said coordinating with Centerpoint would take time and effort.

“Unfortunately, they just don’t move that fast,” said LeBlanc. “This delayed our project as the underground power supply to the civic center was at odds with one of the foundations for our grid. This is part of the Hardscape project that is in the back of the civic center. This has delayed the concrete placement and is the reason why this project has not progressed any further. But all of these things have been corrected and now we are ready to mobilize again and proceed with construction and we are pretty confident at this point that there should be no further delays. “

Voting to move forward with landscaping would allow the area to be harnessed while the city pushes the architectural design and funding process, LeBlanc said.

“We have some street trees,” said LeBlanc. “I think we have three dedication trees that were important in getting into the ground. And generally we have a cleanup of the existing Harvest Plaza area – as well as what we originally planned. … That makes it a usable parking space in the short term while we continue to raise money, largely through the various sources of funding we have for the project. “

The city council also discussed possible ways like Survey Monkey or a public comment email address for the space to get public feedback on how to continue designing the space after the landscaping is complete.

Mayor Pro Tem Chris Harris said the project’s unpredictable schedule taught him a valuable lesson.

“This project taught me never to give the public data on when something is done,” said Harris. “I’m not going to be negative, but I’m just going to say it’s really unfortunate how all of this is played. Downtown companies don’t like to look at something under construction for four years. “