Bellflower, California

on the go. According to DellaLonga, “The City was recently awarded a grant to improve the streetscape of Bellflower Blvd., south of State Route 91 to the city boundary. That’s an area that’s been difficult to energize over the years because of the fragmented ownership and some of the challenges with the recession. So, it’s going to be nice to be able to do some improvements in that area. And we’ve also just finished up a street- widening project at the interchange of Bellflower Blvd. and the 91 freeway. That was a huge, grant- funded project that we recently completed that will significantly reduce traffic congestion at the interchange.” A suburb of Los Angeles, Bellflower is predominately a bedroom community, in that it doesn’t have many industries. The major employer is Kaiser Permanente – a renowned healthcare HMO with a large campus in the city. But most of Bellflower’s revenue comes from property tax. DellaLonga reports, “We have a low property tax rate in the area, so we use our sales tax to augment that. Sales tax is a huge piece of our income puzzle, because all of our main corridors, like Bellflower Blvd. and some of the other large arterials, are retail oriented. It’s a struggle now, because as retail changes, with Amazon and all the online shopping, everything is in flux. We can’t count on it and we’re trying to figure out other ways to augment our revenue, which is why we looked at the hotel product.” In the early 2000s, a number of parks and plazas were built in the downtown. In 2015, further work was done through a grant for pedestrian and streetscape improvements in the downtown core. That infrastructure project provided wider sidewalks and bulb-outs (curb extensions) in some areas and streetscape elements to make the area more pedestrian-friendly and safer for walking. A scrambled intersection was added in one location and other intersections were improved, as well. But what’s coming down the pipe is really exciting for the community – a light rail transit (LRT) project being built by the regional transportation pictured Street widening at interchange of Bellflower and 91 FWY