WASCO, Calif. (KERO) — As the city's downtown project nears its completion, 23ABC speaks with members of the Wasco community who are working to beautify the space.
- Funded by a Clean California Grant, the Wasco Downtown Rehabilitation Project is nearing its end, but according to city leaders, the project needs a little bit more time to wrap up the odds and ends. Keri Cobb, the City's Community Development Director tells 23ABC, that the city received an extension on the project from CalTrans, which administers the grant funding, to allow them time
- The project includes updates to sidewalks, parking lots, community, and green spaces, as well as a litany of art installations. Axzay Villareal, one of the artists whose work will be etched in Wasco history, said she's happy to know that she's been able to leave her mark on the community.
- Art Sherwyn, the project's art director, said the new installations are a sight to behold and he's excited for people to see them.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
For the last 6 months, Downtown Wasco has seen its ups and downs with sidewalks, parking lots, and a park being torn up, but it's out with the old and in with the new.
I'm Sam Hoyle, your Wasco Neighborhood Reporter as the Wasco Downtown Rehabilitation Project is nearing its completion.
The project was funded by a Clean California Grant and with it, the project has hard start and completion dates. According to Keri Cobb, the City of Wasco's Community Development Director, the project needs a little more time for the odds and ends to get wrapped up.
"Just for finishing touches, things like finishing up the art installations, as you can see most of the landscaping is complete, most of all the streetlights are up and most everything is complete but there are a few little last minute touch-ups that need to be completed, so we sill have a little bit of an extension," said Keri Cobb.
The project features quite a few additions to the downtown space like ADA-compliant walkways, shade trees, new parking lots, and new murals to name a few aspects.
For the new artwork, city leaders said they wanted it to feel like Wasco, so they're working with Wasco Artists.
Axzay Villareal immigrated from Monterrey, Mexico in the early 2000s and now calls Wasco home, for her, to know that her art will persist in the place she calls home, is a dream come true.
"I feel happy, believe me, I want to cry. I feel grateful because I came in 22 years ago and I do something in my town and I'm so happy for that," said Villareal.
Villareal's mosaic that you see here is just one of several art installations that Wasco residents and visitors will be able to see soon. Art Sherwyn is the project's director and he said the search for artists was an interesting challenge, but all of the projects excite him, and once everything is all set and done, he hopes Wasco residents feel:
"Just major pride they're going to walk down that street, they're going to come across, they're going to be educated," said Sherwyn. "They're going to get to see not what the building looks like, they know what the building looks like but they're going to see how it looks artistically. This is education."
Cobb did say the city plans on holding a grand opening or ribbon-cutting ceremony to commemorate this project, but it will likely be a little later this year once the weather is a bit cooler.
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