ESCONDIDO (KGTV) — Escondido received a $2 million grant from SANDAG to fund phase 3 of the Grand Avenue redevelopment project, which will focus on sidewalks, lighting, landscaping and pedestrian safety.
Construction for phase 3 is set to begin in January and is expected to finish in May or June.
The new round of improvements comes after local businesses raised concerns about a lack of communication from the city during previous construction phases.
Givino Rossini, who owns Kettle on Grand on Escondido's Grand Avenue, said his coffee shop relies on a steady stream of traffic to survive. He said during the last phase of construction, poor communication from the city left his business struggling. Rossini said he was given only one week's notice before construction began.
"Are we learning from the mistakes that were made previously? And then communicating with the community, I think that's a big important aspect too to let the community know, hey, from an official city standpoint, businesses are open. We'd love if you could go down and support them during this time," Rossini said.
I brought these concerns to Escondido Mayor Dane White, who said he hopes the city can do a better job maintaining connection with local businesses during phase 3.
"The plan is just more communication. More frequent and specified when certain businesses are going to be impacted," White said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
