Mike Sylvester had this to say over at Fort Wayne Politics today.
I live in the area that was annexed by the City of Fort Wayne as part of the “Pine Valley” annexation of 2003.
I pay city property taxes; however, my area is lacking one of the basic amenities that one would expect if one were part of the City of Fort Wayne; namely sidewalks.
I have noticed that some areas of Fort Wayne are relatively “friendly” to pedestrians and bicyclists. For example, I grew up in Walden (6128 Vance Avenue), a neighborhood near Georgetown Square. I rode my bike everywhere when I was between the ages of 9 and 15 (Then I got a car). There were a lot of sidewalks and on those main roads with no sidewalks there was enough space where one could walk or ride a bicycle without feeling I was risking my life.
That is not the case where I live now.
I think that it should be the responsibility of the City of Fort Wayne to add a certain number of sidewalks when they annex new areas; unfortunately, that is not the case.
Welcome to reality, Mike. I’ve been a resident of the Socialist Republic of Fort Wayne since January 2006. My neighborhood was built around 1952, and has no sidewalks. We have a chip and seal street, septic tanks and well water. Property taxes have more than doubled, and we now pay almost $4 a month for storm sewer maintenance, even though there is no city-owned or operated storm sewer in our addition.
We’re also forced to use the city’s garbage removal, even if we don’t need it. They don’t plow the streets unless there’s 3-4 inches of snow. The county came plowed when there was 1 inch. We were promised street lights as part of the annexation, but instead only received three, one at each entrance.
Fort Wayne – Room for Dreams Dreaming of actually getting what I pay for, (someday).
AWB
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Dan:
Hell, why you petition your councilman to rip up OUR sidewalks on the S/E side and transplant them to YOUR area…everyone KNOWS the “ghettoized 3rd world-throwbacks” here don’t even have a f$cking CLUE as to what a sidewalk is for.
That’s why ALL of them walk in the middle of our damn STREETS!
Why let a good sidewalk go to waste?
Just a thought to save money for the city…lol!
B.G.
That’s not funny.
Pine Valley is like a 45 year old neighborhood and it still doesn’t have sidewalks? Why didn’t you complain before you moved in??
We received new sidewalks and streets in 2000 with the Barretts Law and my cost was only 900.00! I was whining about that but My old Dad said it was a great deal for how nice it still is!