Ordinarily I don’t advocate viewing a video over a written story. But in the case of this KFDA-TV report about Amarillo Boulevard, aka Route 66, in Amarillo, Texas, it is an exception.
Here’s the gist: Business owners along Amarillo Boulevard are complaining about crime, crumbling sidewalks, prostitution and other alleged neglect. They think these things give Amarillo a bad impression when thousands of Route 66 tourists come through town.
A chamber of commerce official says Amarillo Boulevard’s old look doesn’t dissuade travelers because it offers a glimpse of America’s yesteryear.
The TV station’s video added more detail and nuance than the written report. Still, it seemed from the clip that businesspeople and the chamber aren’t quite understanding each other.
Let me help clear this muddle. I’m fairly sure Amarillo Boulevard business owners aren’t advocating dozens of historic buildings being torn down in their area.
They’re just asking the city to put a few more cop patrols in the area, crack down on the prostitution, fix the sidewalks, and lean on neglectful property owners to spruce up buildings a little.
I’m fairly certain such things would make a better impression on travelers. Having driven Amarillo Boulevard a number of times, I know it would make a better impression on me. Instead, I get an impression that the city treats Amarillo Boulevard as a red-headed stepchild, hoping it will go away.
Am I wrong, or am I missing something here?
I feel the same way about Lincoln Ave. and 23rd street in Oklahoma City. Both of those, which are on Route 66, are blighted areas. The State Capitol is not in a very good area of town.
They don’t need to be renovated, just cleaned up and patroled.
I’m not sure about Lincoln, but I’ve been on 23rd in OKC, and I would never consider it run-down or crime-infested. It certainly looks better than Amarillo Boulevard by miles.
This is why I’m usualy not in favor of Big City’s on Route 66? Amarillo’s only somehwat cleaned up area with popularity and use on Route 66, is what THEY (themselves including the business owners) call 6th Street? They’ve not seemed to embrace Route 66 for years, so most people opt for the Big Texan as an experience instead. The REAL Amarillo Route 66 gem, is the East Side going all the way down to the Triangle Motel. There are lots of awesome signs, businesses, buildings and more, but that’s the tough side of town. There needs to be a real effort by these business owners to get rid of the 6th Street and Amarillo Blvd. names, commit to Historic Route 66 and then begin tying that Route 66 community together. Then it could grow and appeal more to the public, instead of only the few cafes and shops in just the 6th Street click area. Amarillo has a really cool looking and long strip of Route 66, if they’d just realize it, embrace it and work together all the way across it…
We were in Amarillo last weekend, and tried to find and follow Rt 66 through the city. We were successful for a while, but lost the road due to a lack of signage in the downtown area.
Yep – unforunately just like in this story’s video, they have huge signs everywhere that say Amarillo Blvd., 6th Avenue or otherwise, and then these little, itty, bitty, tinnie, tiny brown squares somewhere up there, that say Old Route 66. But for the others reading and still to come through, keep a real sharp eye out and look for those little brown square signs, hopefully you find the way…
Amarillo’s been spending a ton of money revitalizing their downtown area, maybe with the Route 66 Festival coming next year, they can at least afford some new Route 66 signs?