Residents of Kyle have gained valuable additional time to think about road fixes with the council’s no vote last week on a bond package. No votes regarding bond elections will be held before next May’s city elections when two new council members will be selected for three-year terms.
The delay is much needed. There is too much distrust and negativity in our community; a cooling off period is appropriate. Our leaders need to look at the totality of transportation problems and less at the provincial arguments that lead to loud dissent. A bond election in November would be overshadowed by the Presidential contest, therefore overshadowed by Tea Party fanatics and highly partisan outside interests.
More planning and studies need to be in the works. Road proposals must be addressed dispassionately before a bond election should be called.
Kyle needs a realistic way to move eastbound and northbound traffic through the city without traveling down Center Street. Despite downtown street improvements during the past decade, there are fewer businesses here in existence now than 50 years ago. Front Street is in worse condition today than it was when the drought of the 1950s brought the town to its knees.
The traffic-flow problem is compounded by current plans for Burleson Street – part of a highway system that has existed for more than 100 years – to be partially turned one way. This change bars anyone who lives in Old Town, Hometown Kyle, Silverado or Spring Branch from easily driving to the shopping mall on Marketplace without taking a convoluted route that doubles the distance and exacerbates the irritation of a sizable portion of the town’s population.
Most residents glory in the completion of Dacy Lane on the eastside. It turned a century-old eyesore into an attractive boulevard, offering much relief to eastside residents. Vast improvements to Bunton Lane and Lehman Road must be undertaken. They won’t be cheap, chiefly because of serious flooding problems.
The best solutions need to be presented between now and the May city elections. A sensible plan can be developed that allows the central and western parts of town to get to shopping destinations. Kyle residents have got to learn to scratch each others’ backs to lessen the “itch” of internal improvements. No one part of Kyle can expect infrastructure improvements unless they are more evenly distributed.
Sure, equity is partly in the eye of the beholder. But there are 30,000 residents in Kyle now, not 3,000. Compromise is not as easy to achieve. The city can’t afford to make all suggested improvements. Instead of a new police station, the city should use the city-owned building adjacent to City Hall. It is paid for from a time – not so long ago – when some city leaders thought we were rolling in dough.
Kyle can’t afford a recreation center right now. Back when we thought we were rich, we paid a sizable amount for plans for such a luxury, but that “time” is not now.
But there is time to study proposals to fix traffic problems. Only by fixing traffic can we hope to have the tax base to support other projects, including the recreation center and the new police station.
We need to be realistic and not reach “for pie in the sky.” Let’s get to work on a solution!
