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���The best way to predict the future is to create it.��� - Peter Drucker, management consultant and writer For Beaumont, the last half century has been an epoch with distinct changes and many possibilities. Looking back to the early 1960s, we see a bygone era and understand how far we���ve come from that time ���fty years ago. Interstate 10 had just opened, paving over the heart of downtown along 5th Street. The sprawling Haskell Ranch, one of the legendary spreads in the Pass, covered thousands of acres. And rocket engines were tested on the remote Lockheed property. Now, having completed our centennial celebration, it���s only natural to wonder what our community will be like ���fty years from now. It���s not hard to feel optimistic about the years ahead, based on how Beaumont has evolved to this point. With our storied past and the guiding light of our forefathers, our community is poised for an even brighter future. BEAUMONT RETROSPECTIVE First, let���s recall how the optimism of the past came to represent the can-do spirit of our current residents and their leaders. On our city���s Golden Anniversary, the Beaumont Leader wrote these words on Nov. 14, 1962, when only about 5,000 people lived in town: ���The past 50 years are only the beginning of the history of Beaumont, and only the foundation for the progress that the city will continue to make.��� We see how those words have come to life two generations later as civic leaders kept their pledge to ful���ll the dream of a progressive city with a small-town feel. Today, Beaumont features master-planned communities with schools and parks nearby; convenient, hometown shopping centers; new roads, bridges, traf���c lights, water pipelines and other infrastructure; and sparkling, stateof-the-art industrial projects with good-paying jobs. THE FUTURE The future, by its very nature, can seem elusive. We���re mindful about predicting things that could be decades away. But Beaumont is a carefully planned city with innovative and pioneering approaches to meet tomorrow���s demands. After careful study, we have a pretty good idea what our city can expect to look like a half century from now. LOTS OF SPACE First, there will still be plenty of elbow room. About one-third of Beaumont will stay in permanent open space���whether it���s spacious, green parks or the Potrero Preserve. The former Lockheed site has thousands of acres ���lled with stands of cottonwoods and willows, a gentle stream, big granite boulders and abundant wildlife, including deer, bobcat, and quail. Downtown is the heart and soul of a city, a place where people come together to enjoy life. In the coming years, we���re dreaming and planning for a renaissance of downtown Beaumont. Here���s an artist���s conception of what downtown could look like to get us started before a ���nal plan. TRAIL NETWORK In the coming years, you���ll be able to traverse the entire city���east, south, north and west���along a network of hiking and biking trails and on golf cart and electric car lanes. You will travel from home, school, and work and reach wildlife nature areas like Copper���s Creek and San Timoteo Creek in a ���green��� city. DOWNTOWN REVITALIZATION The city will feature a vibrant new downtown where people will live and work in three- and four-story, ivy-covered buildings overlooking a bustling Beaumont Avenue. This new, urban lifestyle will be the perfect spot for singles, young professionals, young married couples, middle-aged professionals and empty nesters. In this Old town atmosphere, shopkeepers and deli owners will draw customers on the ground ���oor. Doctors, lawyers, and accountants will serve customers above. And from top ���oors, townhouse owners will survey a scene that includes sidewalk cafes, crowds strolling beneath old-fashioned street lights, and bicyclists pedaling past a row of cherry trees. OPEN-AIR MALL Just a few minutes away, where Interstate 10 and Highway 60 come together at the ���Y,��� an openair regional mall will resemble a quaint small town. Shoppers will mill about on streets ���lled with meandering walkways and fountains. People will zip into angled parking spaces just like they did in the 1940s and 1950s. A new interchange built at the juncture of I-10 and Hwy. 60 will make it easy to traverse the area in vehicles powered by whatever form of propulsion exists a half century from now. NEW NEIGHBORS Finally, we���ll have many new neighbors eagerly joining us to enjoy life in Beaumont. Two to three new master-planned communities will be built south of the freeway with their own schools, parks and convenient neighborhood shopping. The good life will grow in Beaumont as the city���s population nears 100,000 people. As the writer Victor Hugo once said, ���There is nothing like a dream to create the future.��� As the future unfolds, it���s up to us to join hands and create the future of our dreams! Photos by Rigo Pena, for the City of Beaumont 10 BEAUMONT NOW | JANUARY 2013 BEAUMONT NOW | JANUARY 2013 11

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