BURGESS ROAD - 3 YEARS LATER

Burgess Road - ground zero.  Why is Burgess Road significant to the people of District 2.  Burgess Rd., running between North Davis Highway and Lanier Street is a narrow street with deep ditches on either side. It is a 70 year old rural road in a highly urbanize environment. The residents who walk, bike and drive down Burgess complain of the dangerous conditions, primarily from speeding cars, garbage cans that line the streets on trash pick-up day, the antiquated drainage system which in some areas are just trenches the city dug to drain water off of Mona Street and Mathis Court.

Burgess Road is not a sexy street - not the sort of project that politicians will get a lot of mileage out of if it is reconstructed with drainage and sidewalks. For the most part it is lined with deteriorating houses, apartments, empty lots that use to house trailer courts. While there are plenty of people who live on Burgess - the number of registered votes won't make a difference in the outcome of an election. Still for all of its lack of appeal there is an attractive element to Burgess  - the beautiful trees. 

So, where are we 3 years after four way stops were  installed at Sanders Street and Burgess Rd?
Well, the residents who live on Burgess and Sanders street love the 4 way stop.  The many wrecks that were a weekly occurrence are no longer.  People are not dying.  But, the road is still dangerous for the many school children who walk the road to get to Workman Middle, Holm Elementary and Washington.  The cars still speed and ignore the interactive speed signs. During an 18 month period after the interactive speed signs went up the PPD wrote 285 speeding tickets. Even so the City Council and the Mayor's Office still turn a blind eye and  a deaf ear to the pleas of residents and parents to fix Burgess Road.  The City has the money to fix Burgess Rd., - it always has.  But, Burgess Road isn't sexy and it isn't downtown. And, besides spending money on wants vs. needs seem to be standard fair for the the City.

I have purposed that the City Council, with or without the Mayor's approval, adopted a "Burgess Road Safe Route to School" project and set aside LOST (Local Option Sales Tax) or Penny's for Progress funds over a 3 to 4 years period - allocated just for Burgess Road until we have the $1.4 million it will take to put in new drainage and sidewalks.  The county has already set aside $350,000.00 for their share of the project.  Commissioner Robinson has already gotten sidewalks on Sanders Street for kids to walk safely to school.  This is a sensible and modest plan.  If we can pay 2 million plus for the  5 or 6 block extravagant Main Street Construction Project that is now the subject of a grand jury investigation, we can do Burgess Road.

On September 22, 2014 the City Council will hold a workshop around 4:00pm at City Hall to discuss the future use of LOST funds.  It is my hope that Mayor Hayward will lend his support to the Burgess Road project.  He has stood in the ditches and walked the dangerous route. He knows first hand - will he and the council turn their backs on the poor and disenfranchised, or will they.... hummm we'll see.