The Dream Street

Mayor Peter Bee with landscape architect William Kuhl (Photo byJohn Gamber)

William Kuhl, the noted landscape architect and long-time resident of Garden City, was congratulated on the 20th anniversary of the redesign of Seventh Street by Mayor Peter Bee for his foresight and creativity in giving Seventh Street a new lease on life. After a generation of providing Garden City with one of its finest thoroughfares, the jewel that is Seventh Street promises to provide many more years of style and grace.

The design won the Concrete Design Award of 1987. The interlocking pavers were a relatively new paving material in the 1980's. Bill Kuhl was attracted to their use for their strength, flexibility of design and durability. He saw this building material as a way to create an ambiance of style and elegance to reflect Garden City. The Grinnell Company of Sparta, New Jersey, supplied and installed the pavers.

Along this impressive passage, Bill also designed the cast iron street lighting, tree grates, bollards and other amenities that make the area so attractive.

For those that remember what it replaced, which was an amalgamation of cracked concrete and some property owners DIY improvement, the 1987 overhaul of Seventh Street was a great project for the Village to undertake. Its continued beautiful upkeep is a compliment to the Village trustees and employees that helped start the project and maintain it. Subsequent Boards have expanded the beautification of our commercial street environments. Mayor Bee stressed that the viability, upkeep and elegance of Garden City will always be a top priority. The Mayor and Bill Kuhl discussed some tune-ups of the pavers, where some undulating or damages have occurred.

It is interesting to note that many homeowners are now using pavers for driveways and walkways.

However, as any walker can note, it is we as citizens that have to be more careful with our trash and that other bane of sidewalks, discarded chewing gum. Our thanks to Mr. Mangan of Garden City's Public Works and his work crews for keeping Seventh Street up to high standards.