• David Tewes •
• Originally published July 7, 2009 at 9:36 p.m., updated July 8, 2009 at 8 a.m.

• The three sidewalk options present to the council include:

  $2.33 million for standard white concrete sidewalks with eyebrow extensions at the corners.

  $2.7 million for a combination of brick pavers and colored and textured concrete with eyebrows.

  $2.75 million for ...

• SHOW ALL »

The three sidewalk options present to the council include:

$2.33 million for standard white concrete sidewalks with eyebrow extensions at the corners.

$2.7 million for a combination of brick pavers and colored and textured concrete with eyebrows.

$2.75 million for a surface of all brick pavers with eyebrows.

Plans to spend up to $2.75 million to improve the sidewalks in downtown Victoria will go to the next stage.

A majority of the city council said Tuesday it has no problem with moving into the design phase in preparation for the actual construction.

The council decision came after a public hearing in which every speaker said the improvements are needed.

"The time is so right for this," said Gary Dunnam, one of public hearing speakers. "Victoria is a great city and it deserves this type of enhancement downtown."

The work would be done in conjunction with a downtown utility replacement project that will result in streets and sidewalks being damaged.

The project would cover a five-block section of Main Street between Commercial and Juan Linn streets. It would also cover sections of Forest, Constitution and Bridge streets surrounding De Leon Plaza.

Cliff Kuykendall, co-owner of the downtown Taqueria Victoria, was another of four speakers in favor of the project. He said the existing sidewalks are unattractive and dangerous.

"We have the opportunity to replace the old sidewalks with ones that are safe and attractive," he said.

There was opposition to the timing of the project in a separate part of the meeting later.

Dale Zuck said the city is taxing the people too much and called on the council to put off such projects as the sidewalk improvements.

"We agree they are needed," he said. "But they're not going to go away."

Russell Pruitt with Citizens for Responsible Government questioned whether the timing is right for projects like sidewalks.

"I am concerned about the economy," he said. "When the council is spending the kind of money it is spending on projects, it's scary."

The only opposition on the council came from David Hagan.

"I'm for holding off on the project altogether because of the economy," he said. "I'm just trying to be a good steward of our limited resources."

The city doesn't have the money he requested to provide free health insurance for police officers and firefighters, but it has money for sidewalks, he said.

Council Member Tom Halepaska the city needs to go with the most expensive of the three options presented Tuesday. The council would catch more flak if it chose the cheaper project rather than one that would have to be done once and would last 100 years, he said.

His comments drew applause from the audience that nearly filled the Council Chamber.

The most expensive option will cost about $424,000 more than the least expensive option. But Lynn Short, the public works director, said it would be less prone to cracking and can be easily repaired.

• Print
• •
• Share
  • Share this item

    Send this to a friend

    Share on FaceBook

  • Grab the link

    Copy and paste the link:

  • Blog about it

    Blog about this page.

  • Close
• •
• 7 Comments
• •
• Favorite
• •
• Report error
  • Thank you for your submission.
    Error report or correction

    Contact name (optional) Contact phone/e-mail (optional)  

    
  • Close
• •