Shoppers, office employees, and residents have all commented on the current appearance of Franklin Avenue, expressing some displeasure with the piles of bricks and torn up sidewalks, but almost all have taken it in stride, noting that they eagerly anticipate the final product.

Mayor Hal Hecken announced in his report at the last Board of Trustees Meeting that the contractor for the streetscape project wants to complete the stretch of road between Stewart and Ninth Street as the final product to give people a concrete visual of how the project will eventually look. The original plan was to do a block at a time, one step of the project at a time, but with the dramatic appearance of the "in the works" stage of the project, it was felt that residents, shoppers, and merchants alike would be pleased to have one block completed so that they could truly understand what the outcome of all of the work will be.

Mayor Hecken reported in his column, which appears weekly on the editorial page of Garden City Life, of April 29 that the Franklin Avenue Beautification Project is "proceeding without delay on the two blocks on the west side of Franklin Avenue between Stewart Avenue and Tenth Street. The entire sidewalk has been removed. New curbing for the layby parking has been installed along with the dense base pavement for the parking area. The concrete light pole bases have been installed together with the underground conduit."

He also explained, "The installation of the sidewalk pavers began last week [the week of April 22] on the block between Ninth and Tenth Street. This process is labor intensive. It involves first leveling and compacting the sub base, then adding and compacting layers of stone screenings and sand and finally installing and aligning the pavers to meet the required pattern and grades. In many cases the pavers must be accurately cut to fit around utilities and other existing obstructions."

As can be seen in the street next to PayHalf, for example, Hecken noted, "The contractor also began the installation of decorative crosswalks which will cross the side streets as well as Franklin Avenue. The concrete base and curbing were installed across Ninth Street and covered with steel plates while the concrete cured to sufficient strength to support traffic."

The streetscape, which was designed by William Kuhl, a Village resident, is the culmination of work by the Business Planning Coalition, the Village staff, the trustees of the last several Boards, and the Chamber of Commerce. It is the hope of the Village that this project will inspire pedestrian traffic along Franklin Avenue and will attract new retailers to some of the as of yet unleased properties along the Fifth Avenue of Long Island.