We recently discovered that our Public Works Department has decided that it is necessary for Lakeland to have a shared bike path from Turtle Rock Drive to Glendale Street installed on the east side of New Jersey Road.
This will result in the confiscation of several feet of peoples' property who border New Jersey Road. Along with this plan, utility and power pole placement will be an issue.
Now for the good part, across on the west side of New Jersey Road, is a perfectly good sidewalk that could be widened for this improvement, which our city leaders have deemed to be of utmost importance.
This sidewalk goes straight all the way to Glendale. No one's property would be involved. There is plenty of room to widen. But, no, taking land from the homeowners makes more sense.
Why the city would even consider doing this project is unexplainable. We have plenty of sidewalk in this area. We see few bikes go through here so this is an improvement for the few, not the many.
This is similar to the thousands of dollars spent for the bike path running from Edgewood to Crystal Lake. You can go any day and at any time and hardly ever see anyone on it. Again, our tax dollars at work.
If we have extra money to throw away, give our teachers a raise; make sure our police and fire departments have all the personnel and equipment they need; make sure our schools are maintained and classrooms adequately supplied; make sure our streets are paved and maintained.
We believe there are many necessities that our city requires and this kind of misuse of tax dollars is inappropriate. We've got enough parks, paths and trails. Pay attention to our infrastructure and the necessities of our city.
Robert and Sandra Putnam, Lakeland