California city spent $11.5m building 'America's best main street'

The city of Lancaster in California spent $11.5 million transforming its ugly five-lane boulevard into 'America's best main street' boosting the local economy by $280 million, according to the California Redevelopment Association. 

The nine-block street was once nothing more than a paved-over street lined by concrete buildings at the center of the Southern California city. 

In the late 2000s, Lancaster was struggling with housing shortages, an unemployment rate twice the national average and vacant stores.  

But now, the boulevard is lined with trees and booming local businesses, after an extensive eight-month renovation in 2010. 

At the start of the east end of main street perches an idle F-4 Phantom supersonic jet on a cement plinth, honoring the Mojave Desert's aerospace legacy. 

From there the road, rebranded as 'The BLVD,' diverges into two lanes of slow traffic under palm trees and passing by pedestrian friendly sidewalks. 

The central 'rambla' inspired by the esplanade of Barcelona, helped to prioritize pedestrians which in turn increased footfall for local businesses. 

'Before, there were a lot of empty spaces on our boulevard and there was parking lots. Rundown buildings, what have you. So people would drive by at 60 mph,' explained Shirley Griffiths, owner of Panache Salon told SF Gate. 

'It slowed everybody down,' she explained.

Indeed more than 40 new businesses sprung up along the boulevard following the renovation. 

Among those are an underground bowling lounge, a tattoo parlor and a Mediterranean café.

'So now, they'll park once, get out, walk the streets and see what else is available to them other than just driving by as a street thoroughfare.' 

The street is rubbish free, according to the SF Gate, as a result of the street team commissioned by the city.

The team begin cleaning 9am every weekday and continue until 2:30 in the afternoon. 

'Lancaster BLVD changed the way we think about boulevards. It also changed the way we think about parking' Andrew Von Maur, a professor of architecture at Andrews University, told SF Gate. 

The BLVD also borders a new city park, the American Heroes Park, built as part of the renovation, as was the Museum of Art and History which has blossomed into a central cultural hub for the area. 

'There wasn't much; I only came here for my dentist,' Emily Hernandez told the SF Gate about the road before renovation. 

'But now it's become something pretty fun to do. I like it a lot. It's family oriented, safer. And people drive slower.'

The BLVD increased city tax revenue and property values within two years of completion according to the renovation's lead architects, Moule & Polyzoides Architects. 

Despite the benefits the boulevard has its critics who argue its beautifcation is a smokescreen for the city's rising crime. 

Reported violent crimes have steadily risen over the past decade in Lancaster, up to 1,453 cases in 2022 — nearly twice the number reported in 2012, according to federal crime data.  

'It's a ghost town at night,' John Paul Gordon, a security guard for a bank on The BLVD, told the SF Gate. 

'People come out here at night and it's quite dangerous. You'll get robbed at the ATM.'

'There are shootings, stabbings and homeless people jumping in front of cars,' Destiny Metter, who was born and raised in Lancaster, told the SF Gate.  

'The BLVD is more for the homeless people,' Carole Moore, who's lived locally since 2000, added.

'They took over. They sleep on benches and charge their phones for free.'