Kudos to the City Council

Published 9:30 am Wednesday, June 25, 2008

The Albert Lea City Council made a decision Monday to build a sidewalk along Minnesota Highway 13, connecting the sidewalk that ends at Clark Street with Shoff Park and St. John’s Lutheran Home.

It is the right decision because it was good for the general public and the development of the west side of Albert Lea. Many people walk and cycle in that area, and the demand will continue to grow as the interest in healthier lifestyles and healthier communities increases.

Children need the means to walk to the schools without being in the streets or highways. Senior citizens desire outdoor exercise like everyone else and can get that on walks to the merchants at the junction of Highway 13 and Main Street.

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Moreover, standing at Higbie Gardens in Shoff Park, it has always struck us as unusual that the people at St. John’s Lutheran Home had no wheelchair-friendly walkway to visit the beautiful flowers, which we would imagine to be a lovely social spot for them to visit with friends and family.

It is easy for any council, committee or board to fail to keep in mind the public interest when hearing the stories of a few, private interests. The City Council steered in the right direction Monday.

Homeowners who will be assessed for the cost of the sidewalk — and any Albert Lea property owners without sidewalks, for that matter — merely have caught a break all these years when compared to the longtime property owners who have duly maintained sidewalks and happily shared them with the general public.

If anything, people without sidewalks who are faced with installation should place the blame on the past city leaders who failed to require house builders to install sidewalks. Did they think no one would need to walk anymore and children should play in the streets? It was a lack of vision.

Additionally, we urge the City Council for next year to consider an additional leg of sidewalk along Highway 13 from St. John’s Lutheran Home to the new boat ramp on the corner of Freeborn County Road 101. We witness many walkers and young bikers using the shoulders of the highway. Many fishermen along the western shore of Fountain Lake would benefit, too.