Opinion
Letters to the Editor: Bond Open House Critique and Safety Concerns
Dear Editor,
After reading the most recent Lehi Free Press, I would like to provide two points of clarification. First, the City missed a valuable opportunity to appropriately educate and engage the public as part of the Park Open House. The story covering this event included a reference that the Mayor, various City Council members and city staff were at the meeting to answer questions from attendees. Having attended the meeting, it occurred to me none of these individuals were identified in any way for the public to know who they were or what their purpose was at the meeting.
None of the aforementioned individuals spoke with me or my wife, or asked if we had questions. Additionally, most of the renderings were not labeled, and it was unclear what park they were related to. This left the impression of pretty pictures but not much in the way of useful information. As is usually the case with these types of open house style meetings, I would recommend in the future that each person representing the city wear a badge with their name and title and that displays be labeled and organized to more effectively convey pertinent information.
My second clarification involves the story surrounding safety concerns involving 1200 East. The story extensively discusses the steep (16%) existing grade as being a safety concern, particularly with winter driving conditions being close at hand. At the conclusion of the article it says a City Council member indicated that road studies are being done on how to improve traffic flow but work will not happen as “we are just running out of time.” This statement misdirects attention away from the primary issue behind the safety concern, namely the steep grades, which will remain irrespective of the traffic flow on the road.
The City Engineering Department and Administration made a decision not that many years ago that improving the grades was not worth the cost estimated at just over $1 million. Admittedly that is a lot of money, but when considering the ever growing safety risk to the traveling public it starts to look like a small price to pay in comparison to the benefit of $21 million for one proposed park.
Sincerely,
Kyle Comer
Lehi, Utah
