Westchester

Some ‘shovel ready’ street and sidewalk repairs to be completed with stimulus funds

Some Westchester sidewalks and streets near Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) are among Los Angeles infrastructure projects that will be repaired through federal stimulus funds.

City of Los Angeles Bureau of Street Services officials said that federal stimulus funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will be paying for Westchester projects including sidewalk paving, sidewalk repairs and street resurfacing that the organization Gateway to L.A. has been seeking since 2003.

President Barack Obama has pledged that “shovel-ready” infrastructure projects would be first in line to receive federal stimulus dollars, and Gateway to L.A. officials say they have lined up several area projects worth $7.5 million to take advantage of the president’s stimulus package.

“I have confirmed with Lance Oishi of Bureau of Street Services that the work will begin with the sidewalk repairs throughout the BID (business improvement district) where tree roots have lifted the sidewalks,” said Gateway to L.A. Executive Director Laurie Hughes.

“We’re excited that the city has recognized that improvements to our area play a key role in attracting and retaining business and other travelers.”

Other projects that will be completed with the federal funding include:

n New sidewalks on Vicksburg Avenue and 98th Street (currently dirt);

n Resurfacing of the alley between La Quinta/Holiday Inn hotels and McDonald’s;

n Resurfacing of Glasgow Place south of Century Boulevard, near La Cienega Boulevard; and

n Resurfacing of 102nd Street between Glasgow Place and Aviation Boulevard.

“It is rewarding to finally move forward on these projects, especially since we have spent more than five years urging the city to complete them,” Hughes said.