Reclaiming a Community's Pedal Identity
TC City Commission Meeting Feb 2nd, 2009
HUGE TURNOUT FOR DIVISION STREET MDOT DISCUSSION:
Bob Otwell, John Nelson, and I met with the Mayor , city commissioner Chris Byzdok and other city staff to ask for their support of our efforts to get MDOT to work with the community on Division Street. MDOT has announced that it will be spending somewhere between one and two million dollars on a maintenance project to resurface, (mill and fill,) the length of 31 between South Airport and Grandview Parkway. MDOT has stressed that this is NOT a "construction" project, only "maintenance." Whatever their definition the community is pushing to get MDOT to work with us on this and future improvements to ensure our roads retain and build upon the unique community they run through.
The gist of the meeting with Mayor Michael Estes and his staff was to ask MDOT to view this project as a terrific opportunity to demonstrate the level of cooperation and planning encouraged by the Grand Vision. In order to make this connection however, the transportation consultants hired by the Grand Vision would need to accelerate their report on "Corridors of Interest." The suggestion was to first get the City to officially make this request of the consultants so that MDOT could have all the pertinent results before them. Furthermore, each of the organizations involved in the Grand Vision would make similar requests; TC TALUS, GT County, Garfield Township, etc.
So this simple request was put before the TC City Commission last night. Chris Byzdok did a terrific job summarizing the issue for the commission. When the mayor opened up the discussion for public comment, everyone was shocked at the long line of people getting up to speak their piece. It was a fine show of support for the Grand Vision, for concern in the community over the safety issues on Division, and in developing new approaches to engage MDOT in truly cooperating with the community on such projects.
Thanks to everyone who showed up. It was a great turnout, and indeed a resounding success.
Bob Otwell, John Nelson, and I met with the Mayor , city commissioner Chris Byzdok and other city staff to ask for their support of our efforts to get MDOT to work with the community on Division Street. MDOT has announced that it will be spending somewhere between one and two million dollars on a maintenance project to resurface, (mill and fill,) the length of 31 between South Airport and Grandview Parkway. MDOT has stressed that this is NOT a "construction" project, only "maintenance." Whatever their definition the community is pushing to get MDOT to work with us on this and future improvements to ensure our roads retain and build upon the unique community they run through.
The gist of the meeting with Mayor Michael Estes and his staff was to ask MDOT to view this project as a terrific opportunity to demonstrate the level of cooperation and planning encouraged by the Grand Vision. In order to make this connection however, the transportation consultants hired by the Grand Vision would need to accelerate their report on "Corridors of Interest." The suggestion was to first get the City to officially make this request of the consultants so that MDOT could have all the pertinent results before them. Furthermore, each of the organizations involved in the Grand Vision would make similar requests; TC TALUS, GT County, Garfield Township, etc.
So this simple request was put before the TC City Commission last night. Chris Byzdok did a terrific job summarizing the issue for the commission. When the mayor opened up the discussion for public comment, everyone was shocked at the long line of people getting up to speak their piece. It was a fine show of support for the Grand Vision, for concern in the community over the safety issues on Division, and in developing new approaches to engage MDOT in truly cooperating with the community on such projects.
Thanks to everyone who showed up. It was a great turnout, and indeed a resounding success.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Gary on -
Thanks for the recap. I wasn't able to make it so glad to hear that there was a good turn out. Awesome!
I'm starting to feel better that a "good" solution will come about on Division, but a small part of me still thinks that the "compromise" will have many holes--"pot holes?" I would love to see it be a great model for the other bad zones in the city.
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