Date:

April 29, 2004

For More Information Contact:

Russ Bayer, (402) 475-7445

Interim SRT Committee Report 477K - PDF

Mayor Coleen J. Seng’s Advisory Committee for Streets Roads and Trails announced today that it is asking the community to help choose the way the City should fund future street improvements and construction. The Committee will sponsor five forums in coming weeks to be held throughout the City where citizens can learn about funding options and express their preferences. Brad Korell, Jan Gauger, Russ Bayer and Dan Marvin are the chairpersons of the Committee.

"Whether or not Lincoln can maintain our outstanding quality of life in the future is what drove the committee on the question of how to fund new infrastructure," Bayer said. "Our ability to provide good jobs with good wages and affordable housing while easing traffic congestion and maintaining our fast emergency responses will be jeopardized if we do not act. And if we do act now while interest rates are low, we can ensure Lincoln’s future while saving taxpayer dollars."

"Lincoln has arrived at the same crossroads many communities reach as they face their future with open eyes," said Mayor Seng. "Will we move forward and find progressive solutions to our challenges? It is a bigger question than Lincoln’s elected officials and local leaders can address without reaching out to our community. We must decide together how we are going to build Lincoln’s future."

Mayor Seng was joined at Thursday’s news conference by Jim Fram, President of the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce; Mark Munger, President, Lincoln Central Labor Union; Lincoln businessman Richard Meginnis; Jennifer Brinkman, neighborhood association president; Robert Hampton, a local builder; Terry Uland, Executive Director of Neighborhoods, Inc.; and Charlie Claus, executive vice president of the Lincoln Independent Business Association (LIBA).

The five "community solution forums" where funding for the $138 million gap in street funding will be discussed will be held in each of the four City Council districts and a fifth forum meeting will be held downtown. The dates and locations of the forums are:

• May 13 (Thursday), Gere Branch Library, 7 to 9 p.m.
• May 18 (Tuesday), Anderson Branch Library, 7 to 9 p.m.
• May 25 (Tuesday), Eiseley Branch Library, 7 to 9 p.m.
• June 1 (Tuesday), Bennett Martin Public Library Auditorium, noon to 2 p.m.
• June 3 (Thursday), Walt Branch Library, 7 to 9 p.m.

"The Committee believes that the community should help decide our future," said co-chair Jan Gauger. "We believe that the infrastructure question is a monumental decision that affects every single resident of not only Lincoln, but all of Lancaster County, and the surrounding region."

"Our goal is ensure that every person who wants to contribute their ideas has the opportunity to do so," said co-chair Dan Marvin.