By: Diane Benjamin
Since a few people on the council think the remaining brick streets need to be saved, the Council will hear how much it will cost at the Special meeting. This is the 10 year projection: PDF page 76 http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=14866
I added the zeros the presentation conveniently leaves out.
When the eventual ordinance hits the Council it should include a mandatory reassessment for all properties on this brand new brick road.
Obviously the historic look of brick streets will increase property values.
If it doesn’t, that means $7,363,000 is being spent for vanity streets that serve no useful purpose.
.
.
.
When this issue came up in the news a few weeks ago the cost for repair of a brick street was $400,000.00 to cover with asphalt was $50,000.00. Amelia was quoted as saying several of her neighbors wanted to keep the bricks, I would have immediately said would you and everyone else that lives on the street be willing to share the cost the city will pay $50,000.00 you will pay $350,000.00. Her comment was nothing I guess votes mean more than a prudent fiscal response.
Amelia went door to door petitioning the residents on East Monroe. As long as they didn’t have to pay, they were in favor. Duh!!
The LMFT is supposed to generate $2.2 M/year The 0.25% sales tax increase is supposed to generate $2.4M/year. About $5M is the total annual allocation for streets/curbs/sidewalks. Keep in mind that sales tax revenue is flat or declining. Where in the heck is the money for rebuilding bricks streets going to come from? Is this the EVA Amelia Badelia she plans to capture? Or is this part of the downtown catalyst project to attract tourists? What will happen to the other streets when the brick street project eats up designated revenue?
I have to admit, I like the brick streets – a friend of mine who is well versed in road construction (from anther country) has told me the ones here are poorly done – if done RIGHT, they will last much longer – I have noticed (and so has she) that the latest “repairs” were not of the best workmanship (she also said they are using a very “shoddy” mix on the other streets and that it is not the sort of composition for the extreme temps we get – perhaps bring in someone who truly knows how to do streets right and they would last far longer and maybe even cost less in the long run since they would need less frequent re-doing – of course that doesn’t serve the perpetual employment requirement… – and, that is of course only if the city can bring itself to allow to allow a company that is not a “good buddy” to do the job.
Sometime the shoddy mix is due to choosing recycled material because it is cheaper. However that said, some contractors make mistakes sometime and still get paid in full. RIpping off the taxpayers is common practice in most all government endeavors.
Yep
Did Abe Lincoln move to Bloomington, IL? They look fine in front of his Springfield home and that is about the limit..