How To Vitalize East Lubbock

Notice I did not say revitalize. It's simply because that part of town has never been vitalized at all, despite tons of potential.

The east side of Lubbock, Texas, ladies and gentlemen, needs a serious renaissance. Never mind what demographics exist there; there's a positive way that you can play off of that. Every time I look at Google Maps or take a drive through the area, I cannot help but think of the potential that area has, but, yet, the city is missing out. Look at Idalou Road, for example. Now, why is there nothing along the stretch between MLK Boulevard and Broadway? Potential. Businesses. Banks. Offices. Fast food restaurants. Sit-down places. Gas stations. Grocery stores. Shops. National chains. Local mom-and-pops.

Why not there?

Broadway Street? Fill in those empty spots with new development. MLK? Same thing, plus get some new landscaping. Guava Avenue? Widen that rascal to five lanes (including a continuous left turn lane). It has the potential to be a great alternate to MLK, at least north of Idalou Road. Guava could stretch, at least, northward to Regis and southward to a point just east of Canyon Lake Park, then take a curve to the east on an alignment in line with 34th Street, except that it could have another name. I'd like to see that road intersect with Loop 289. I wouldn't mind seeing it go over the freeway, as all other side streets go underneath the loop. Along those same lines, East Loop 289 could have mixed-use development along its southbound feeder, and industrial development (I envision a big park) along the northbound feeder and points east.

I've mentioned in a previous blog post about Erskine Street, so I won't mention that one again. And Olive Avenue? There's a house that sits squarely at its intersection with the frontage of U.S. Highway 82. It needs to be razed, as it's directly in the path of what potentially could be another north-south artery in town, possibly with some of it containing seven lanes. And Parkway Drive really needs to be replaced by a freeway. Yes, a freeway. The Marsha Sharp Freeway runs smack into it, so a new stretch can pick up where it left off. Six lanes. Given its location, it could be in a trench from MLK to Guava before surfacing near the loop and continuing east toward Idalou. Good for the area's mobility. New houses? There should be at least one thousand in the area south of 19th Street. We should encourage new homes near Erskine, in some portions north of the loop (around the occasional pumpjacks), in the area near FM 40 and Olive, and do some fill-ins where there are many gaps, particularly in areas south of Idalou Road.

My question to the people of East Lubbock is this question: Don't you ever get tired of going west of Interstate 27 to get some of your favorite things? Wouldn't you like to have them in your own neighborhood? Develop a vision for your part of town, and you can.