Basic Stuff

If you live in Dignowity Hill and have walked around the neighborhood you've probably noticed that many of our sidewalks are in need of repair or need to be replaced. At the first public meeting of the reinvestment plan someone asked who is responsible for the maintenance or repair of sidewalks in the neighborhood. This question has been raised in other public meetings held for the reinvestment plan. Well, according to city code it is the responsibility of the adjacent property owner to maintain and/or provide for sidewalks abutting their property. Interesting.
The general feeling from the community is that we need to start with some basic infrastructure improvements in the neighborhood, for example, repave our streets, repair sidewalks, put in curbs, and improved street lighting, in order to start improving the quality of our neighborhood. This makes sense. But the current city code that puts the onus on homeowners to maintain or provide sidewalks does not make sense. The community is pushing for those basic infrastructure improvements to happen and city planners need to listen.
The reinvestment plan and neighborhood plan developed over the last couple of months has some excellent elements and goals that will over time have the potential to bring much needed positive change to the neighborhood. The point of this little ramble is that if these plans have any chance of succeeding then we have to start with the basics.