Chamber OKs two Leadership Cape ideas

The Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce board of directors endorsed the implementation of two Leadership Cape projects at its Tuesday meeting.

The two projects, Complete the Streets and the Self-Guided Audio Tour, will now be forwarded to the city of Cape Girardeau and the Convention and Visitors Bureau for consideration.

"The leadership class continues to come up with good ideas," said chamber president John Mehner. "The driving tour is something we've been talking about for a while, and the other group did a great job of researching what would work and where to put the bike lanes."

Complete the Streets, which focuses on bicycle safety, was presented by the first of two Cape Leadership groups and includes the striping of bicycle lanes and adding of appropriate signage to help ensure bicyclists' safety on six streets in Cape Girardeau. The plan would cost $34,000 and require no construction.

"We wanted a project that could be done," said Eric Redinger, a member of the Leadership Cape group that proposed the plan. "We are missing safe travel in many places of Cape. The streets are made for all users. Really, there needs to be regular lanes for all travelers, not just motorists."

The plan, Redinger said, would be an extension of the Cape La Croix Trail and make sections of Sprigg Street, Lexington Avenue, Cape Rock Drive, Hopper Drive, East Rodney Drive and Independence Street bicycle friendly. The streets in the proposal are currently wide enough to accommodate the lanes and have no on-street parking.

"I think it is a very well-received plan because it's very realistic," Redinger said. "We want to lend to the beautification of Cape and also lend to the property values of Cape."

The audio tour, which the Convention and Visitors Bureau has been planning for the past year, was designed by another Leadership Cape group in an effort to assist in bringing the project to reality. The tour allows visitors and residents to use oral histories of Cape Girardeau's historical sites.

"It's very new," said Sarah Vickery of the Convention and Visitors Bureau and member of the second Leadership Cape group. "We don't know if it will be on a CD or an iPod or what it will be on yet."

Vickery said the tour could appeal to residents as well as visitors.

"There are many historical places in Cape people miss," Vickery said. "We don't want them to miss these historical facts and places anymore."

The Leadership Cape class must go through seven months of training before presenting their ideas to the city, and presentations are made during First Friday Coffee at the Show Me Center. Past ideas generated through the Leadership Cape program have resulted in the creation of a community calendar, a skateboard park and a volunteer center.

jsamons@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 245