Janesville Council Tripping Over Sidewalks Again

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Back in May of 2007, I wrote my take on the sidewalk issue, and once again I was surprised at the turnout of citizens opposing the sidewalks after the city council already made it clear in previous meetings that sidewalks are mandatory. One would think that after last year’s meetings, residents would have figured it out by now that if you live within Janesville city limits, sooner rather than later, a sidewalk will be planted in front of your house.

Probably the only unsettled area in the sidewalk plan was the apparent confusion over its implementation, and it does appear that the city’s earlier one-sided plans have helped fuel some of the resentment. Council member Amy Loasching came up with what I thought was the “friendliest” course to take in planning the next stages of sidewalk installation.

JG Sidewalk Excerpt:
She wondered, however, how Jack Messer, the public works director, could out of fairness choose one side of the street over another for a sidewalk. She prefers that sidewalks be put on both sides. “Instead of bringing neighbors together, we’re dividing neighbors,” she said.

The first thing someone notices when they look out their front window is not the sidewalk being dug or the concrete being dumped in their front yard, and its not some map with colored lines they’re thinking about either - nope – it’s the sidewalk that’s NOT going in across the street! I don’t know if her comment was lost in the shuffle, but the city should fill in all unfinished (one-sided) streets first – that would be a good start to eliminate at least half of the neighborly animosity. Then, follow that by installing sidewalks on both sides of the nearest street block.

The only other thing here is that about 80% of the property owners in Janesville have already paid their share towards sidewalks. Asking them now to pitch in to pay for the rest is grossly unfair. But who knows what people are thinking now anyways?

Although existing Janesville residents have paid for their own water utilities and infrastructure to service their current water needs, they were more than happy to pay for a water tower to service the special terrain and altitude for a wealthy private developer and future sprawl. So who knows? Maybe they'll pay for sidewalks too.