More on the “Welcome Wagon”
Also, showing how screwy our government functions…. we learned we’re far more likely to get a BIG improvements package approved… than to just ask for a SIDEWALK where it is badly needed! Sheesh!
I won’t go into the gory details, but it all comes down to funding. And, despite the fact that business in Independence is booming (with respect to the 39th Street / Blue Parkway area)… there apparently is no funding available for this sort of thing!
I don’t really understand why there can’t be a basic fund for emergency infrastructural improvements. All we really NEED is that sidewalk, plus some better lighting (our side of the street by my house is completely devoid of streetlights… and the street there is extra-wide due to the presence of a strange “right of way” area…. something left-over from trolley-days).
But now we’re going to have to come up with a bigger package, which actually will DECREASE the likelyhood of us getting the money (somewhat) because the City Council only gets so much Community Development grant money from the Feds (or is it the State?) each year! Odds are, if we get the plan approved, it will take multiple years to do.
One interesting tidbit is that those of us who have this “right of way” area in front of our homes will have to AGREE on what we want to be done about that area… and then AGREE TO TAX OURSELVES to pay for it! Since the area is suppossedly 44% rental properties (yikes!!) that means almost half of the votes will be coming from rental property landlords, whom I really doubt will want to spend a nickel more in taxes.
I don’t understand exactly where the Street Resurfacing program / money comes into this. It doesn’t sound like it does. I made a mental note to ask some of the other key people in the Association about this at a later date.