Revised sidewalks plan approved
By Suzanne Werre, BHG News Service
A small line of picketers . . . no, make that a line of small picketers, marched with signs and yelled, “We want sidewalks, keep us safe, ” in front of the Underwood City Hall Monday night, urging the Underwood City Commission to go ahead with its proposed sidewalk plan which would be voted on that night. Several children, a couple of whom needed help turning their signs right-side-up, walked the picket line, expressing their views and the views of their parents, as the commission met to vote the final time on its proposed Safe Route to School plan, which will utilize an approximately $196,000 grant to create and/or repair sidewalks throughout the city. The Safe Routes to School plan was created in an effort to encourage more physical activity for today’s youth as well as decrease motor vehicle traffic in school areas, and the commission has been trying to iron out plans for sidewalks throughout different areas of the city for months. The commission did pass a proposed Safe Route to School plan Monday night, after re-prioritizing the plan, eliminating the repair of the current sidewalks/construction of new sidewalks that go along the north side of Roosevelt toward the post office (Ash residence to Johnson residence), as that section of the plan would have used an estimated $40,366 of the budget to repair, the largest chunk of the estimated costs. With the removal of those repairs/new construction on Roosevelt, the commission hopes to be able to extend the new construction of sidewalks to include the remainder of the west side of Sayler Street, which will start at the elementary school, go along the football field fence, and initially end at West McKinley (Paul Brown residence). With the removal of the Roosevelt section, the commission is hoping to be able to extend the Sayler St. sidewalks all the way to Borchardt Ave., going beyond the Kelly Snyder residence to include the east side of the Westridge Apartments, which is the last priority, phase 8, on the priority list.
