One of the things coming up for discussion at the next Town Council meeting is a feasibility study of putting in a sidewalk in one section of town.
Citizens of Christiansburg have been asking for sidewalks for decades now and little progress has been made. Perhaps that is because there has not been a clear plan made for sidewalks in general. Why not simply do a study of where people would like to see sidewalks. Then, create a list of potential projects. Next, evaluate each proposed sidewalk section based on how much it contributes to citizen safety and wellbeing AND on how well it helps to connect to other features like safe routes to school. (
Check out this Safe Routes to School webpage for some good information about the benefits of this particular program, types of materials to use, where to locate them, etc.)
Another useful source of information can be found at: PEDSAFE - Pedestrian Safety Guide and Countermeasure Selection System.There are a lot of funding sources out there for helping defray the costs of sidewalks and most of them require this type of evaluation and prioritization in proposals they accept. Just sticking a sidewalk somewhere because of a campaign promise, or because it will look good in a certain setting just isn't enough of a reason to invest taxpayer money.
With one quick Google search, I found hundreds of locations where grant money and other funding sources help to pay for sidewalks in jurisdictions across the country.
Now, if I were on the Town Council, I would ask the Mayor to establish a committee of citizens to look at the issues pertaining to sidewalks in town. I would expect that citizen's group to promote citizen surveys, review traffic patterns and talk to the Police Dept. about where sidewalks would have the most positive impact. Have the group do the research to find out what funding sources might be available. Is it possible to do something with the County/School Board that would enable the most cost effective means of making this happen.
Let that same committee look at how to make those sidewalks into welcome resources. Maybe some landscaping around them would be appropriate. Perhaps citizens and local businesses would be willing to work with a 'buy a tree' program where trees could be donated to the Town. Perhaps citizen or business sponsors would be willing to sponsor some benches along the way where people like me could sit to catch their breath:)
While I have long argued that citizen involvement is crucial to making our Town all that it can be, those citizens on citizen groups should be willing to do the work. This should not be a process whereby a group of people comes up with a list that says "we should do this and this but not this". Those committees need to come up with ideas on how to accomplish those goals.
In the long run, it could mean the town would need to hire someone to manage grants (writing, submitting, overseeing), but given the hundreds of thousands of dollars that are lost by not utilizing those resources, I think it would be a small price to pay.
I think it is time that government and citizens take a view to the future rather than look to the past for guidance. Citizens need to be empowered to work in partnership (not subservient to, or in charge of) government to get things done. And, I do not think that every citizen committee/board needs to receive compensation for attending meetings. That puts too much pressure on the Town to keep meetings at a minimum to save taxpayer money.
Would I be willing to serve on such a committee without compensation? Well, all you have to do is look at these blogs and my website to find out the answer to that. I believe that what I do is a community service. Not everyone is as crazy as I am by being willing to pay money to do community service, but I would be willing to bet there are a lot of people who would be willing to do it at no cost to taxpayers.
Another thing about committees is there should be some limits placed on how long someone can serve on a committee. New faces bring new ideas to the table. The people who have formerly served can still attend meetings and offer input with public meetings being held, but the people who are making decisions to go to Council should be varied in order to bring in different viewpoints. After a term away, those people who previously served could come back to the committee. But, since the establishment and makeup of committees is at the sole discretion of the Mayor, all Council members can do is ask.
I imagine the biggest problem I would face in doing something like this would be to find those citizens willing to stepup and actively serve on such committees. Since, so many people work, it would require that committee meetings be at hours and on days where people could participate. Perhaps a survey could be done to find people who would be willing to serve on Committees and ask them, as part of that survey, what days and hours they would be available. Having meetings between the hours of 8 am and 5 pm on weekdays serves to eliminate a large portion of the population from participating in these activities. (That is one of the problems with the timing of the Planning Commission meetings. 3 pm or 4 pm until 5 not only eliminates the opportunity for many working people to attend, it restricts those who might have children to pickup from school.)
How accessible is Town government? About as accessible as people demand it be, or as accessible as the Town Council chooses it to be. So, here's the question for today: What committee would you like to see formed in Christiansburg AND would you be willing to serve on it?