CITIZENS: PAVE GRAVEL STREETS

Paul Brown thought he had found the perfect spot to build a house. The rustic wooded lot right in the middle of Cape Girardeau offered both scenery and city services.

But six years later, Brown can't even get cable television because his street, Jasmine, isn't paved. His neighbors on Flad and Magnolia and Dixie worry about getting stuck in the mud along their gravel streets. A block away, traffic buzzes by on Lexington Avenue.

Brown was among 11 people who attended the final Vision 2000 transportation meeting Saturday at Red Star Baptist Church. Several people said paving gravel streets should be a city priority.

"Sometimes I feel like I live in Burfordville or something," Brown said. "Not that there's anything wrong with Burfordville, but when you live in Cape Girardeau and pay taxes here, you expect something in return."

In making his recommendation Saturday, Brown predicted the city would save money by paving streets, adding that dumping loads of gravel and grading on a regular basis must cost lots of money.

Saturday's meeting was the last of 11 neighborhood meetings held by Vision 2000 to discuss transportation needs and funding sources for Cape Girardeau.

More than 100 people attended the meetings. Several people attended more than one meeting.

A town hall meeting will be held Monday, May 22, at 7 p.m. at the former Port Cape West restaurant at West Park Mall to announce the priorities for street projects collected at the neighborhood meetings.

Melvin Gateley of the Vision 2000 panel said live entertainment, refreshments and door prizes will be part of the evening's activities May 22.

Vision 2000 will forward its list of priorities to the city's Planning and Zoning Commission, which meets May 24. At that meeting, Gateley, a city councilman, said, priorities from Vision 2000, the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce and the Planning and Zoning Commission will be reviewed. The commission is expected to make a final recommendation to the city council June 5.

Other suggestions from the meeting Saturday:

-- Make Broadway and Independence one way. Traffic would travel east on Independence and west on Broadway.

-- Review truck routes and weight limits for trucks in the city. Trucks cause lots of wear and tear on streets.

-- Assign an employee at city hall to help people through the maze of city requirements and departments.

-- Add sidewalks and sidings on Big Bend Road to increase safety for pedestrians.