INFORMATION #1 08-01-1994 - Laserfiche WebLink

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7/13/94 page 2 Also, in regard to obtaining the attention of city officials, regarding this problem, we contacted the mayor of Elk River via letter approximately seven to ten years ago regarding this probiem. He wrote back to us saying that he referred the letter to Phil Hals. Mr. Hals called us to talk about the situation at that time. His position at the time was that the resurfacing of roads was up to the "powers that be" in Elk River and he basically could only recommend that the road be resurfaced, and having the final "OK" on any of these projects was not up to him. We feel that this action by Mr. Hinkle and Mr. Hals was done to appease us at the time, since there was no intention of correcting the road situation and it would however, look like they were concerned. It should be noted however that the Elk River newspaper at the time was reporting on road projects that should be completed because of great need. It was Mr. Hals, quoted in the paper at that time who recommended that Edison street should be resurfaced by 1985 (or it could be 86-87, so long ago that we no longer can remember). We have been residents of this Elk River neighborhood for seventeen years. We have seen our taxes quadruple (and more) in that time going from $400 per year to $1800 per year, approximately. We have voted fQ[ every referendum the schools have put forth to better our community's lifestyle. We support the building efforts by the City Council in their improvement of the downtown areas and the new mall sites. We feel however, that we have used the the community resources very little. Our children attended schools other that the # 728 until they entered the 7th grade, but we voted for school bond issues anyway. We use the city street services only in the capacity of snowplowing in the winter. We have noted in today's Elk River paper that there is a movement within Sherburne county to develop a park system of pathways for walking, biking and roller blading. We would support this action as well. We aooreciate everything that the local governments do to oromote the betterment of the community however. and we feel attention should be oaid to this issue as we have been oatient long enough. The other Elk River streets in all new developments look much better that ours. We are not stupid in the ways of finance as one of us is a school principal and the other is a teacher, both understanding budgetary limitations. But as we said above we have paid our taxes, and have been patient. We are not the only ones who want improvements to this street either, but everyone is busy and does not take the time to write. Many of the residents of this development have expressed similar concern. Our question is when will it be our turn? Please do not ignore this letter. or oass it on to Mr. Hals who will call us and say the same as he did manv years. a90. Please do something about this. Thank you. Art and Debbie Johnson W01AJ~ cc: Mayor Hank Duitsman Phil Hals