STOCKTON, Calif. — For years, Stockton's famed Miracle Mile retail and restaurant district has been the scene of numerous pedestrian accidents -- some deadly. Improvements are on the way in hopes of turning things around.
"I said last year, 'Enough is enough,'" said Kevin Hernandez. He owns the Ave on the Mile restaurant and bar on Pacific Avenue in the heart of the Miracle Mile.
Last August, 23-year old Casey Bynum was hit and killed by a speeding pick-up truck while snapping a picture as classic cars cruised on by. Bynum was a bus boy at the Ave on the Mile.
Now, $20 million in state funding for improvements is coming to the iconic shopping area.
"After people kept getting hit, kept getting hit and casualties... we just had another one last week again. It was time," added Hernandez.
The improvements include new sidewalks, more street lighting, blinking, lit crosswalk intersections, and overall beautification of the shopping district.
Business owners also want monitored security cameras to watch for vandalism.
Another proposed improvement is changing current diagonal parking into parallel parking so both the driver and pedestrian can see themselves more clearly.
Stockton state Assemblyman Carlos Villapudua says he had a friend struck on the Miracle Mile, too. He took up the business owners' cause and secured the funds to be overseen by the state Department of Transportation.
"It is a very unique, beautiful community, but it has also aged. Now we just have to modernize it, beautify it and make this the centerpiece of Stockton," said Villapudua.
"Just the facelift alone to bring up the morale of this mid-town community is going to be incredible," said Tina Wells Lee, president of the Miracle Mile Improvement District and certified financial planner with an office just off Pacific Avenue.
So, how soon might improvements happen? Well, it will be up to an ad hoc committee made up of Miracle Mile business people to decide.
