The new Main Street lights will be on for the 2013 Seal Beach Chistmas Parade, said assistant City Manager Sean Crumby late Thursday afternoon, Dec. 5. The parade will be held Friday night, Dec. 6. Crumby is also director of Public Works.
Crumby said Seal Beach would issue a brief press release. The official announcement had not reached the Sun as of 5:18 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 5. Seal Beach City Hall closes at 5 p.m.
Seal Beach Main Street merchants, employees and customers have been watching the new street lights go up since the lighting construction project started in early September.
It was not certain that the lights would be on in time for the Seal Beach Christmas Parade.
Crumby, director of Public Works and assistant city manager, said on Monday, Dec. 2, that the contractor has until mid-December to complete the project.
Crumby said if the project is not complete by Dec. 13, work will stop until after the holidays.
He said the project was never scheduled to be completed in time for the parade.
However, the contractor is apparently racing toward that unofficial deadline.
“The goal is to have the lights on Friday,” Crumby said. “To have the lights on for the parade.”
He said the city was working hard to achieve that goal, but he would not know for a day or two if the lights would be on by Friday.
“We’re going to be working on them right up to the very last minute to get them ready for the parade,” Crumby said on late Tuesday afternoon, Dec. 3.
The City Council unanimously approved the plans for the Main Street lighting project Monday, March 11. A staff report written by Crumby estimated the project would cost $590,483. The city allocated $688,000 to light the three-block business district that runs from Pacific Coast Highway to Ocean Avenue.
“The Main Street Lighting Project will remove all existing Southern California Edison owned light poles on Main Street from Pacific Coast Highway to Ocean Avenue and install 40 new light poles,” said Crumby’s report.
The landscaping plan calls for a canopy of trees to cover the street lights.
Brian Kyle, owner of O’Malley’s On Main said he was on the Main Street Specific Plan Committee in 1982 and the subject of lighting Main Street was discussed then. Kyle put a street light in front of O’Malley’s as a demonstration to the city.
Deb Machen, who was president of the Seal Beach Chamber of Commerce at the time, said lighting on Main Street would encourage later business hours and bring more revenue to the city.
Esther Kenyon, also representing the Seal Beach Chamber of Commerce, had collected 64 signatures from business people in favor of the project.
Only one person expressed concerns about the project, Mayor Gary Miller.
Miller said there were many businesses open at night on the 100 block of Main Street, but only five on the 200 block. He also said the 300 block had a different character than the rest of Main Street.
Miller asked how much undesignated money the city had available. At the time, Finance Director Victoria Beatley said $9.3 million.
When the time came to vote, Miller joined his four colleagues and voted in favor of the project.
At the time, the audience applauded the unanimous vote.
