Thank 45th & Long for action;
Council should follow priorities
The Sweet Home City Council’s managed to make a lot of folks mad lately and many others happy; but the Council is destined to have even more unhappy people following a decision it made last week.
The Council agreed to throw $30,000 into the ring to fix a drainage problem for a specific intersection on the east end of Long Street. That’s great. These folks had some real problems with storm water, and they’re expecting a rougher winter this year.
The problem here is that particular area is in the city’s third priority for projects in its master drainage plan. If that plan is worth the price we paid a consultant to develop it, then that means there are two areas that have more serious drainage issues and they’re getting skipped in favor of one neighborhood.
The reason is that this particular group showed up at council with a petition, pushing both staff and councilmen to fix their problem. The council listened and gave them $30,000 worth of solution. I hope it works out and their drainage nightmares are a thing of the past.
That sets a lousy precedent for the City Council. What happens when the folks around 43rd and Long or 43rd and Airport Road see improvements just up the street? Is the city going to have another $30,000 to throw at each of these areas?
Maybe the City Council can fix two, five, seven or more of the many drainage problems around town, but it’s going to end somewhere, leaving a lot of unhappy people in other problem areas asking why the City Council won’t listen and fix their problem.
Those in the priority one area — there are 14 or 15 priority areas — should visit the Council and ask why their area isn’t being upgraded. A part of that priority, the first thing that is supposed to be done according to plan, is expanding the drainage along 18th Avenue to the river. This area often has serious problems with high water, but it isn’t fixed yet.
It’s nice to see the City Council spend some money on something that is a problem throughout the city, and the Council should include some money to begin making upgrades like the one at 45th and Long; but the City Council should make the improvements for some other reason than noisy residents. There are plenty of those throughout town, and the only difference is in which ones have gone to the council and the ones who have not.
The Council might consider using its master plan as criteria for determining which drainage projects get done first and start doing them instead of the “just-talking-about-it” approach that several councilmen themselves suggested was going on. If this happens, folks can thank residents of 45th and Long for prodding the City Council into action.