Palm Desert makes room for bike and pedestrian accessibility

The street was closed to cars for Palm Desert residents to “Vision San Pablo” in a different light.

“The city’s updating it’s general plan. We’ve taken a close look at San Pablo Avenue and we want to build a city center here, so this event allows us to showcase what that could look like,” says principal planner, Eric Ceja.

“It’s an opportunity for the community to reinvision their streets in a way to help promote walking and biking and create great places for the community to gather,” says Sarah Jepson, manager of active transportation with Southern California Association of Governments.

The city received a grant to hold the event from Go Human, which works to create active and healthy living in community spaces.

The city hopes the street festival, with room for bike riding, food trucks, live music, and an evening beer garden, can give residents a taste of what could become a permanent space.

“We hope to come in, widen the median, install new street trees, some street furniture, widen the bike ways and the pedestrian paths on the sidewalk– really enhance the area,” says Ceja.

Should project plans be approved in July, it would take a few years to construct between Hwy 111 and Fred Waring Dr.

Residents shared hopes of what they could see in the space.

“I think that the bike lane would be great, I think some restaurants cafes you know that you could dine on the sidewalk,” says resident Wendy Robinson.

“We love bike riding. My husband and I both love taking our kids out so we think this is a really great idea,” says local Maria Palomo.