Downey Public Works
by Lorine Parks
Who trims 8,000 trees a year, replaces 380 street lights, and keeps all the fire hydrants painted yellow? Your Downey Public Works Department, that’s who.
And they patch 63,000 square feet of streets and alleys, Mohammad Mostahkzami went on to tell us. Mohammad is the Director of Downey’s third largest department, whose budget is surpassed only by the Downey Fire and Police Departments.
You may not need to see a policeman or a fire truck every day, but you’d better have the sewers working and the electric and water meters going around. Things you take for granted; maintaining bridges and traffic signals and street signs, are the province of this department.
And new things you never had before, like the First Bicycle Master Plan, to create safe bicycle paths all around town, to make Downey bicycle friendly: that originated in the DPW too. LED street lights have been installed throughout the city and inside city and public facilities, which will reduce electricity usage and also maintenance.
Every home and business can be thankful for how well our Public Works Department operates. DPW administers maintenance, utilities and capital improvements in Downey. For example, Our Keep Downey Beautiful administers the Grafitti Hotline, to discourage gangs, and citizen volunteers are involved in helping out.
Under the Maintenance category, the Department resurfaces the tennis courts in Independence Park, and also the basketball court floor in McCaughan Gym in Apollo Park. The jogging tracks at Furman Park are kept in good condition for the joggers and just plain slow walkers too.
Another area is Utilities. In addition to essential service for water, sewage and drainage, a mobile phone app has been prepared and kept updated.
Finally, one of the most conspicuous services is the Maintenance of roads, landscaping and intersections. This is when we notice our City Department at work, because this causes traffic delays and the narrowing of daily traffic lanes. To encourage business, the city displays portable electronic signs that advise motorists that “businesses are open during construction.”
As Mohammad continued, everyone checked out the on their mental maps the many locations he identified. Maintenance involves street surfaces, traffic signals, lighting and sewers. Some projects include the $5 million that has been spent on the Lakewood Blvd project between Florence and Gallatin. The Firestone Bridge at the San Gabriel River project, just finishing, has cost $1 million. And Firestone between Old River School Road and Brookshire has been resurfaced and center meridians have been created, with palm trees and plants that require little water, with s spray-nozzles watering system installed, for 6$ million.
Some of the roads of the Northeast quadrant of Downey have been slurry sealed, 52 streets at $300,000, involving 9.2 miles. The pavement on Muller between Pangborn and Lesterford has been improved. In the Southwest Quadrant, long-awaited concrete repairs are underway.
It’s not often that DPW makes the front page of the local newspaper, but The Downey Patriot just reported on a project that concerns all of us: at the end of August, work began on the busy intersection at Paramount and Firestone. That will cover widening the streets to add more lanes and adding more turn lanes.
Street widening requires so many intricate small steps, such as pavement removal, new curbs, gutters and curb ramps. Then there are storm drain modifications, traffic lights, street lighting, tress, median planting and sprinkler systems, traffic striping and pavement marking. Work here is expected to be completed by December, though it may stretch in to January.