Thursday, December 11, 2008

Reader Suggests Oldtown Neglected

An anonymous commenter responded to my previous article about the TIF Tiff and suggested that our Oldtown Laurel neighborhood is being neglected by the city.

Anonymous wrote: "A million bucks for a pool, 20 million for the mall, and not a cent for old town! The police station moves, the Leader moves, it's like the city doesn't care about us."

This comment got some attention at Laurel City Hall and Mayor Moe asked his staff to compile a list of the recent investment projects in Oldtown. I hesitate to post the list because it's an embarrassment of riches and I really don't want to start a squabble with other neighborhoods.
But since you asked here is the Mayor's list of appox. $8.9 million dollars worth of Oldtown projects:

Parks and Recreation Projects
Pool Renovations, 2003-2006, $613,000.
Armory Renovations, 2004-2006, $200,000.
McCullough Field Renovations and enhancements, 2005-2008, $592,000.
Riverfront Park Playground, 2006, $40,000.
Riverfront Park Pavilions, 2005, $20,000.
Riverfront Park Bathroom, 2008, $12,000.
Emancipation Park Playground, 2007, $50,000.

Scheduled Parks and Rec Projects
Riverfront Park Extension, 2009, $100,000.
McCullough Field Pavilion, 2009, $20,000.
Mill Dam Ruins Renovation, 2009-2010, $325,000.
Riverfront Park Interpretive Signs , 2009, $22,000.
Armory Renovations, 2009-2010, $375,000.

Public Works Projects (Total approx. $5.5M from 2003-2008)
Repaved all of Main Street from the MARC Station to 7th Street
New brick pavers for the sidewalks from the MARC Station to 7th Street.
Route 1 SB & NB completely reconstructed and new sidewalks from the County line to Rt 198.
Various additional street improvements and repaving on Montgomery and 8th Streets
Installed 229 traditional lampposts on Main Street and Rt 1. ($750K!)

You gotta love living in a town where a blog comment is made on Tuesday night and the Mayor provides a detailed response on Thursday.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

You really have to wonder why someone would make these comments and not leave their name. I know the City would have contacted them personally and responded to any of their concerns and needs. Next time they should call City Hall and find out what a great City they do live in.

Anonymous said...

what did any of these do for the economic development of Main St.? nothing!!

One thing the City is doing is lessening the traffic in old town as they neglect and abandon it by moving the LPD away from there and making the area less safe for the people and businesses... what a joke...

Mike; I'm sure the people who are deserting us will tell us what great jobs they're doing!!! I'm sure the captain of the Titanic thought he was doing a great job to!!!

Anonymous said...

The cities doing a great job! I think the employees are great and if you don't love Laurel and just want to criticize it you should move. Nobody needs you.