Public projects need public funds

Wait, now let me see if I’ve got this right. You want the folks over on North Chancery Street to fork over a part of their land for free as a right-of-way for an expanded road and then you want them, in addition to giving away their land, to pay about $10,000 a head to build the road which is running through their front yards? In the words of the late, great Red Foxx – ‘Are you crazy’?

Of all the things I’ve heard come out of the mouths of government here, that has to be the silliest proposal yet, asking the folks of North Chancery Street to pay to broaden the access way to Wal-Mart. All of this after the arrival of the retail giant at the intersection of North Chancery and the Bypass basically ruined the neighborhood as far as it being a residential area due to the greatly increased traffic which travels 24-7 up and down North Chancery. Have you not noticed the ‘for sale’ signs which line North Chancery now? It’s because it’s tough to live on one of the busiest roads in the county.

The reasoning offered for requiring the residents to pitch in $10,000 apiece is that it would increase the worth of their land. Frankly, I kind of doubt updating the road will do that much to increase the worth of the land and only folks who are already rich can afford to speculate that their investment will have a return.

Actually, I don’t really buy the Wal-Mart bump theory where land around Wal-Mart is worth more. All you have to do is look across the street to the ghost town which once was Ryan’s and Jack in the Box. Call me crazy, but it doesn’t look like to me the corner is that great for business. Therefore, using this same logic, I doubt land located back towards town and over the hill on North Chancery from Wal-Mart is going to seem that interesting to commercial developers. If you can’t keep a business afloat located in the shadow of Wal-Mart, what makes you think businesses on a side street not even in the view of Wal-Mart will work?

What is happening is that this twist in the law is being misused to avoid using public funds to do a public project, all of this at a time when we’re talking about fixing up Morford Street in what will be the biggest waste of money in city history. You can clip that prediction out and put it on your refrigerator along with the prediction, just as with the first phase, the project will go way over budget and over schedule and will cause undue hardship to the downtown businesses who already suffered through the first phase.

The law which they’re trying to use on North Chancery to make that street’s residents foot the bill was meant for special access areas like subdivisions and shopping centers where there is a narrow number of people who will benefit while the public at-large derives no benefit. In the case of North Chancery, the public at-large would be the beneficiary by having a clearer access to Wal-Mart while the residents’ only benefit would be more traffic running through their front yards and perhaps a slight bump in their property values.

Hey, if you want to tax the beneficiaries, let Wal-Mart help pay for the costs since it will most directly profit from such a project. Let them rename the road the Sam Walton Parkway.

Bottom line, it’s public access with a public benefit. If the project is going to be done, it should be a publicly funded project.

Duane Sherrill is a reporter for the Standard. He can be reached at 473-2191 or by e-mail at [email protected].