Broadway business owners on both sides of bond proposal that would replace historic bricks downtown

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – Voters, once again, get to decide the future of the historic brick on Broadway come November.

Tuesday night, Lubbock’s city council approved a $103.4 million street bond proposal, including seven stretches of road throughout the city.

The most expensive project in that proposal is Broadway from Avenue Q to Avenue E. If voters approve this use of bond money, $16 million will go to that portion of road right through the heart of downtown.

After lengthy discussion, council decided to keep the plan as the Citizen’s Advisory Committee recommended, which would remove the original brick, resurface the driving and turn lanes, parking and bike lanes with concrete, and place new brick pavers in the intersections and crosswalks.

Greg Settler hopes voters will show up in November to knock the proposal down and keep the original brick. He leases out office space on Broadway and his mother owned a business on the downtown street for more than 50 years.

“Absolutely keep them. They’ve been here since as long as I’ve been alive, I guess. I think it’s just a historic part of Lubbock,” he said.

Others like him, who want to keep the original brick, spoke up in city council on Tuesday night.

Tim Collins, councilman for District 6, led some discussion about adding another $3 million to the bond to keep the historic brick in the intersections, instead of brick pavers. But ultimately, council decided to keep the plan as is, proposing to remove the historic brick completely from Avenue Q to Avenue E.

Dr. Jennifer Wilson, councilwoman for District 5, brought up the failed 2021 road bond, which included $40 million for a major overhaul of Broadway, in Tuesday’s discussion.

“The majority of Lubbock citizens at that time were unhappy and caused a bond to fail because of the cost of bricks on Broadway,” she said. “I do not want to see a repeat mistake made when a smaller minority of our citizens have a good strong emotional attachment to the bricks.”

Marsha Johnson, who owns Sweet Creations Bakery, hopes to one day see the bricks gone. At the same time, she says she’s seen what stalled construction projects have done to small businesses.

“They just wreak havoc on my cakes, and I realize they’re historic and that’s important, but I just, I don’t like the bricks,” she said. “I got a few questions, it just really depends on how long is it going to take them to do their job.”

Marcia Breckenridge also works downtown. She hopes the historic brick can be repurposed, but would like to see it removed from the roadway.

“I’s neat, I like the historic brick. But, as far as my husband’s concerned, he’s a mechanic. He doesn’t like it for our vehicles,” Breckenridge said. “My hometown, Neosho, Missouri, that’s what they did with some of the original bricks, is they made the sidewalks around the square out of their bricks.”

This plan calls for the historic brick from this section to be cleaned and given to the city to possibly be used elsewhere. Some councilmembers expressed concern about if the brick will make that transition and how long it will last.

Broadway is only one portion of the $103.4 million street bond.

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