At the city meeting last Feb. 27 to discuss the proposed 32nd Street bridge/overpass, Cathy Metz said that several years ago there were several different proposals for the crossing. She stated that back then, the property owners at the northeast corner of the bridge refused the sell their property to the city.
But the property owners openly offered their property to the city for a crossing and a riverside city park. This included three building sites and a few hundred feet of river frontage.
Metz also stated at the meeting that an underpass was not possible. Now the underpass is being reconsidered as a possibility with what looks like ample head room. (Raise it a little higher from river level if need be).
If the city had purchased this property back then, likely millions of our taxpayer dollars could have been saved and we could have had a riverside park as well. But city staff jacked around the property owners for about two years until the owners finally rescinded their offer to sell to the city.
As I recall, Mayor Melissa Youssef stated one of her goals as mayor was to restore trust in city government. How is trust possible when Parks and Rec staff lie about such things and get away with it?
Tim WolfDurango
