- On Monday, the City of Wasco, CalTrans, and members from in and around the Wasco Community gathered on 7th Street to celebrate the groundbreaking for Wasco's Downtown Revitalization project. With noise from nearby work on the project cascading over the ceremony, city leaders celebrated the investment into Wasco's downtown. 23 ABC previously reported on this project, that article can be found here.
- In nearby Shafter, the city started on one of its many projects being funded by Clean California Grants at Stringham Park. The park is currently under construction as crews leveled trees and the existing concrete pads. Along with Stringham Park, Shafter will also be working on the skatepark, as well as the Shafter Aquatic Center's pool. 23ABC previously reported on the construction plans for the Shafter Skatepark here, and the Shafter Aquatic Center's pool here.
- All of the projects above are being funded by Clean California grants administered by CalTrans, and must be completed by June 30.
- Along with the projects above, Buttonwillow Union School District is working on a new project by building a new Early Childhood and Resource Center building. That project is not funded by a Clean California grant and is anticipated to be completed by August. The project is re-routing school drop-off traffic, more information on area traffic changes can be found here.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
I’m Sam Hoyle, your Wasco, Shafter, and Buttonwillow neighborhood reporter and you might be wondering why I’m rattling off all three? Well starting today in these three communities construction projects are firing up to start the year, so let’s start here in Wasco.
In Wasco, It’s the downtown rehabilitation project, groundbreaking kicked off — Wait a sec, that’s not a ground-breaking.
Now, we’ve touched on a lot of these projects already, so you might remember this one.
The city is working on switching up downtown and creating more community spaces by creating parklets, revamping Veterans Memorial Park, and updating the landscaping.
In our previous story, we spoke to an area business owner of over two decades who said she can't remember the last time any changes came to the area
In Shafter, work on Stringham Park began, but that’s just one of the three projects happening off Lerdo Highway. You might remember our stories on the Shafter Skatepark and the Shafter Aquatic Center’s pool.
The Aquatic Center’s pool has been out of operation since late 2019 and is now being repaired with new plaster, a new deck, and a new pump and filter system.
And the Shafter Skatepark is.. Well, I’ll let this skater tell you.
"Whenever we go out of town to a different skate park and we tell them where we're from, they say, 'Oh yeah, I've been to your skate park it's not that great.'"
Now, all of the projects we listed above are part of the Clean California grant program and need to be finished by June 30th of this year.
And in the Buttonwillow Union School District – the new Early Childhood and Resource Center building is now being worked on and where parents are dropping off their kids in the morning is changing.
The project is not being funded by a Clean California grant is slated to wrap up in August.
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