Yes, the west side of Bend is special. It deserves more than the east, south or north sides of Bend.
Why?
Well, that's what the city believes, so it must be.
The first section of rebuilt Reed Market opened recently and you won't find any of that gentrification you see in the plans for Galveston.
In the years of planning for Reed Market, citizens gave their input and wanted what the city built on Mt. Washington on Bend's west side.
Oh yes, city engineers said, we'll do that.
Well, there is no landscaping, no promised roundabouts, particularly at Fargo Lane, and no answers as to why not.
It appears the city wants to go as cheap as possible on Reed Market so that it can free up some of that $30 million bond money to use on the west side for beautification.
Make no mistake, there is no urgency to doing anything to Galveston by the city.
There are far more urgent public safety issues like putting in roundabouts at deadly intersection like Wilson and 15th or Bear Creek and Pettigrew.
Or, the city could fix the potholes throughout the city before bad weather delays fixing these same potholes for another year.
If the Galveston businesses want to fix their stretch of the street that will profit them and real estate agents, then form a "local improvement district" and pay for it yourselves.
Do not expect the rest of the city's taxpayers to pay for your makeover.
Of course, the west side businesses will win again, but then they'll want their cake and eat it too.
When the city closed a key intersection on Galveston to make road improvements to benefit the west side, these Galveston businesses whined and whined until the city caved and reopened the road.
What will happen when the beautification project on Galveston begins?
How can the city remake the street without affecting any businesses for any period of time?
I can hear the whining now.
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