By JONATHAN SNYDER
After a petition about the a project meant to light the Rivergreenway reached Mayor John Whicker’s desk, both he and Common Council member Scott Mentzer, who were mentioned in the petition, will meet with the signees at a later date to address their concerns.
The petition, also published as a Letter to the Editor in Friday’s News-Banner, states that there are concerns that the project seems to be happening “behind closed doors” and that no formal communication had been given to the affected property owners. Mentzer stated that he reached out to the signers of the petition to meet at a later time. Mentzer proposed a meeting Saturday morning, but due to conflicts, the petitioners could not meet that day.
Whicker and Mentzer said a results of a survey about potential park improvements — available on the Parks Department 5-Year Master Plan — states that lighting the Rivergreenway is “very important” to 101 people who took the survey. Fourty-seven people said the improvement is “important,” 20 said it was “somewhat important” and six said it was “not important.”
Whicker and Mentzer referenced a column publishing last September where Parks Department Superintendent Brandy Fiechter wrote: “Another piece of exciting news that came to us recently is that the Caylor Nickel Foundation has generously offered to pay for street lighting on River Road that will improve both the safety of the street and provide a source of light for the Rivergreenway Trail up to the city limits at the red bridge.”
Multiple mentions of the prospective project have been published in The News-Banner, dating back to 2021.
The city is preparing the legal right-of-way documentation to present to the petitioners in their meeting. An official date for the meeting has not yet been set.
jonathan@news-banner.com
