Kearney sidewalk plan hits dead end when residents resist

A Kearney Courier article talks about the difficulties the city council has encountered while trying to convince area residents to add sidewalks to their streets:

Mayor Bill Dane had asked the Kearney aldermen to canvas their wards for opinions on new sidewalk locations after the city recently solicited estimates from Turner and Michael Construction for three new stretches of sidewalks in Kearney. Spencer said she expected 50 percent of the people she spoke with to be opposed to sidewalk construction on their property, but it turned out to be 60 percent.

In response to the lack of support for new sidewalks in these areas, at the Monday, Nov. 18, Board of Alderman meeting Dane said the discussion would be discontinued.

“If the community doesn’t want sidewalks there, then we’re not going to put sidewalks in,” Dane said.

Spencer spoke with residents on Regency Drive between 19th Street and Shadowbrook Drive, where a sidewalk was being considered for the east side of the street.

“The reasons were anywhere from mature landscaping they had in the area where the sidewalks would go — which I understand, a big tree that size, it’s a thousand dollars,” Spencer said. “They also talked about liability, and they talked about the amount of involved because then they’re responsible if there’s an ice storm or snow or keeping the leaves, which can be slippery, off the sidewalk.”

Spencer said one resident didn’t want kids cutting through his yard, even on a sidewalk.

“Everyone always wants improvements, but not where they are,” Spencer said.

Spencer said three of the people she spoke with were enthusiastic about sidewalks being placed on their property and the benefits they could bring to their neighborhoods.

“People that I talked to thought it was a great idea as long as it was in somebody else’s yard,” Alderman Jeff Couchman said. “They thought that most of the kids would probably still walk out in the street anyway.”

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