CITY TO TURN ON LIGHTS, LAUNCH CAMPAIGN THIS WEEK.Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer The city has launched a $1.9 million cleanup campaign that will include the demolition of the old Sears department store building, a public eyesore eye·sore n. Something, such as a distressed building, that is unpleasant or offensive to view. eyesore Noun something very ugly Noun 1. for the last 10 years. Under the ``Lookin' Good Lancaster'' campaign, the city will tear down blighted blight n. 1. a. Any of numerous plant diseases resulting in sudden conspicuous wilting and dying of affected parts, especially young, growing tissues. b. buildings, remove old signs, repaint Re`paint´ v. t. 1. To paint anew or again; as, to repaint a house; to repaint the ground of a picture. s> Verb 1. block walls and add landscaping. Among the first projects will be razing the old Sears building at Avenue K and 10th Street West and the former Mitsubishi dealership building just to the south. The cost of the demolition has not yet been determined. The project is expected to be put out to bid in a few days, with work starting in February or March. ``This is something a lot of people in our community have wanted to see happen for a long time,'' Mayor Frank Roberts Frank Roberts may refer to:
The city and property owners are discussing what to do with the site, but officials declined to comment about any plans. The Sears building and the Mitsubishi dealership, originally a grocery store, were built in 1958. The Sears building was the first department store built outside of the city's downtown area and it was intended to anchor an outdoor shopping mall. That shopping center shopping center, a concentration of retail, service, and entertainment enterprises designed to serve the surrounding region. The modern shopping center differs from its antecedents—bazaars and marketplaces—in that the shops are usually amalgamated into never materialized. When the Antelope Valley Mall The Antelope Valley Mall is an enclosed shopping mall in Palmdale, California. Opened in September, 1990, its buildings take up around 1 million square feet (90,000 m²). Its physical main building, parking lots, and ring road businesses encompass an area a bit less than 0. was built in Palmdale, Sears pulled out of Lancaster. ``When that building gets torn down it's going to have a powerful symbolism and impact on the city,'' said Norm Hickling, president of the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce. The first project for ``Lookin' Good Lancaster'' includes the addition of twinkle lights along Lancaster Boulevard. The lights, which are expected to be turned on this week, will be a permanent addition - not just for the holidays. Other projects include adding curbs and landscaping along a three-mile stretch of Sierra Highway Sierra Highway is a road in Southern California, United States. It runs from Tunnel Station near the north limit of the City of Los Angeles, where it intersects with San Fernando Road and Foothill Boulevard, as well as Interstate 5, and continues north to Mojave, mostly paralleling , re-striping roadways and removing traffic dots and adding trees and bushes to medians and to freeway on-ramps. City officials hope the campaign will prompt citizen groups, such as Scout troops and churches, to conduct cleanup efforts in their own neighborhoods. Officials also hope that other property owners will step forward and work with the city to clean up other blighted sites. Roberts said he expects the initial campaign to last a year to 18 months, but he would like to see follow-up efforts. CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: (color) The city of Lancaster The City of Lancaster (2002 population: 133,914) is a local government district with city status in Lancashire, England. Its main town is Lancaster, from which it obtained its city status. Other towns in the district include Morecambe, Heysham, Slyne, and Carnforth. plans to demolish the old Sears building. Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer |
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