Of the nearly 30 individuals in attendance at Tuesday’s Perryville Board of Aldermen meeting, more than a third of them were on hand to voice opposition to the installation of sidewalks on North Parkview Street.
Perryville Mayor Ken Baer welcomed the feedback. Just prior to giving residents an opportunity for public comment, he explained the city’s policy.
“I’d like to take about two minutes, explain to you where we are as a city, concerning sidewalk policy and street policy,” Baer said. “First of all, cities are required by law, to develop a plan, and execute a plan, to make all public facilities handicap accessible, it’s required by law. Sidewalks are part of the plan for the city of Perryville that we’re implementing. No. 2, your Board of Aldermen, has voted, over the past five years, to install handicap (accessible) sidewalks on our streets as they were improved.”
Baer provided a few examples of recent sidewalk improvements (four years ago), Edgemont Road (three years ago), Grand Avenue (two years ago) and the Breezeway subdivision (Trade Winds Drive area).
“This year, Parkview is on that list, to be done this year,” Baer said. “The majority of your aldermen, and the mayor, believe this is the right thing to do, the right thing to provide better, safer, travelways for all our citizens, especially our handicapped, and our children and our elderly. We’d like you to stick with three minutes if you can, we’ll give you a little leeway there.”
Resident Evelyn Rehagan was the first to speak up.
“We have lived in our current address for 47 years,” she said. “Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to explain our opposition to sidewalks on our street.”
Rehagan explained how her family moved here in 1968 following a job transfer from the Missouri Department of Conservation and detailed her love of the city.
“We chose to stay here because we were impressed with Perryville, we appreciated the schools, churches, work ethic, lovingly cared for homes, common sense and general decency of the citizens,” Rehagan said. “Perryville represented the friendly, easy going, freedom-loving middle American town, ambitious and educated...We are here tonight because we are disheartened and disillusioned. I’ve been trying for days to organize my thoughts, my words, in an effort to make sense of the situation. I realized about midnight last night that I could not make sense of it, but it simply does not make sense.”
Hagen said her understanding is that homeowners wouldn’t be forced to have sidewalks installed in front of their property.
“Many of us were told, ‘If we did not want a sidewalk, we did not have to have a sidewalk,’” Rehagan said.
She then cited June 2019 and January 2020 articles in the Republic-Monitor which stated the city planned to allow residents to contract with the city regarding sidewalk options and a process for improving property if a sidewalk was not part of a homeowner’s plan.
“We have been told that a concrete street will be put in and a sidewalk would be installed,” Rehagan said. “The 2009 stimulus package emphasized sidewalks near schools, so I thought that was the reason, but I found concrete streets near schools with no sidewalks. West North Street, Zeno Street past Rosati Court and Chloe Street which are all less than a block from St. Vincent school have fairly new concrete streets, absolutely no sidewalks. We have been told for some reason that we must have sidewalks on both sides of our street. However, on Edwards and State Street, which lead directly to Perryville High School, there is only one sidewalk. Part of Schindler Road, which directly touches the front of the elementary school property, has only a partial sidewalk. Dowling Drive, south of Schindler Road, which adjoins (PCSD) property, has no sidewalks. Why all of a sudden is all the attention on our street? Hardly anyone parks in front of our houses. Three vehicles are the most that are normally parked on our street. Again, Edwards Street down from PHS is much narrower, has more foot traffic, has only one sidewalk and often has eight to nine vehicles parked on the street. As far as the walkers on our street are concerned, the maximum is property five or six per day, if that. We are only one block from the city walking trail. There is little traffic on our street.”
Rehagan notified the Board she spent between 7 and 8 a.m. monitoring the number of vehicles Monday, March 15. The count was 23 vehicles, with no kids and no adults walking. “Not exactly a danger zone,” she said.
Later, from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. on March 16, she reported 14 vehicles and no walkers.
“We are especially against wasting money for sidewalks on the principal of it all,” Rehagan said. “You probably have sort of grant for building sidewalks. Just the idea of a grant is upsetting. The word grant has been high-jacked as if that money just appears out of nowhere, like manna from heaven. The government has no money unless it first takes it from the taxpayers. We are absolutely sickened by the flagrant waste of taxpayer money that we see all over the country. There are so many other streets in town that have greater needs, but have been told that you don’t have the right of way. I’m sure a solution could be found if the homeowners wanted the sidewalks.”
Rehagan encouraged the city to spend money in areas where streets are narrow and sidewalks are needed.
“Better yet, build a strong barrier at the bypass, near the splash pad,” Rehagan said. “We are terrified that a texting or drunk driver will go off the road, crashing right into the area where the children are playing. The citizens of North Parkview are decent, law-abiding and responsible. We pay our taxes. We take great pride in our yards and work very hard to maintain our property. Don’t destroy our efforts. We ask that you reconsider the proposed project, correct the water problem, if needed, and redirect the sidewalks funds to areas in the city with more urgent needs.
