FOUNTAIN VALLEY

On Avenida Cinco de Mayo, resident Roger Flores pointed to a stretch of road next to his house where the sidewalk ends and a dirt walkway leads to the crumbling mural on Calle Zaragosa. “The city said they would finish this sidewalk 15 years ago, but they never did,” he said. “I helped paint that mural when I was young, and the city said they would restore it, but they haven’t.” The city has had a tendency to neglect the La Colonia neighborhood, he said. But city officials are saying that’s about to change. To solve a slew of problems on the city’s older streets, officials will launch the Neighborhood Improvement and Community Enhancement program this week, said the city’s housing coordinator, Chris Corbin. “Our goal is to improve the beauty and quality of life of the neighborhood,” Corbin said. Corbin said the city is mailing a survey to 110 tenants and property owners in southern La Colonia that asks them to rank the problems in their neighborhood to help the city set priorities. Residents are invited to a meeting at Calle Zaragosa Park at 6 p.m. Wednesday to discuss their responses.