I Wish That the City of Howard would--------

[Lookatmeknow!!]

I saw that, too.  I was wondering the same thing.  I personally think the city needs to worry about all the abandon buildings around town, and also about structures that have burned down and the mess is still there.  Can't the city do anything about this?  I was just wondering.

[flo]

I read in the local paper that the city is pumping water out of a  building that belongs to a person,not the city. WHY are we doing this? The person who owns this building should have to do this. We as tax payers don't want our taxes raised to pay for other peoples stuff they should be doing.

Just what I was thinking when I read it.  Why would they have to raise our taxes to pump out that water? I say pump it and send the owner a bill.  If he doesn't pay, take him to court.

[Diane Amberg]

That's what Newark does too. High weeds, side walk repair and such, the owner gets period of time to have it fixed, then the city will do it and send a bill.

[sixdogsmom]

We used to have a hot-shot columnist in Wichita who took complaints and saw that they were enforced, sometimes to the detriment of the property owner. A typical response to a complaint for a house that was an eyesore/ needed repairs, or need attention to the lawn was a formal complaint to the city and if the owner was elderly, contacting their family and sending the owner to a care home. After which the property would be razed. I thought this was terrible, and no help at all except to the complaintant, or the columnist. I complained to the newspaper editor. It was not long before those types of complaints were no longer high lighted in that column. There could have been real help found other than the owner losing their home. I too hate to see messy property but try to remember that if I keep my own door step clean, I probably won't have much time to worry about someone elses. I suspect that there are many places that it would not make a difference if a levy were made, the taxes just would not be paid, and the city would have yet another piece of property to mow.

[lsmith]

Park City had a Compliancte officer too. BTK

[W. Gray]

From all indications, he was a pretty good one too.

[sixdogsmom]

Oh Boooooo! 

[W. Gray]

The city council voted 3-0 to replace the 24 decorative concrete light poles on Wabash with steel posts.

They had three choices according to the Flint Hills Express:

Westar would put up wooden poles at no charge,
The city could take the concrete posts over from Westar to own and maintain
Or, Westar could replace with steel poles.

The additional charges were $5.36 per pole per month or pay a one-time differential fee of $1,905. That sounds a lot cheaper than originally thought

Westar will replace four poles in the two hundred block of north Wabash as soon as possible and do the others when they find time. These four must be the ones that are in the worst shape.