CITY PLANNERS CONFIDENT IN TRANSPORTATION TRUST FUND

Even without crowds of residents offering suggestions for new road projects under an extension of the Transportation Trust Fund, city planners are confident that the process is working.

The Transportation Trust Fund was designed to collect revenue from a half-cent sales tax approved in 1995. The revenue funds are then used to pay for a list of 20 major street improvements and repairs in the city.

Vision 2000 and city staff are hosting a series of meetings for residents to come and offers suggestions for future road improvements and comments about proposed projects. Three people showed up to the second meeting Tuesday night at City Hall.

Other meetings are tonight at the Osage Community Centre and Thursday at Westminster Presbyterian Church.

The process of holding public meetings and getting input is working, said Charles Haubold, chairman of the city's Planning and Zoning Commission.

"We are always looking for new ideas," he said. "And we'll take all the ones we hear."

Even if that means only a few people come to voice their opinions. "We would be happy with a greater turnout," Haubold said. But the people who come have opinions and share them, he said.

The commission is recommending to the Cape Girardeau City Council that the current Transportation Trust Fund be extended for another five years. That would mean an election for voters to decide whether or not to continue the half-cent sales tax that funds the road improvement projects.

Voters will likely be asked to decide the issue in August. The current funding ends Dec. 31.

In making its recommendation, the commission has listed five general street improvement projects and eight specific projects, like extending Silver Springs Road and widening parts of Broadway and Independence streets.

Once the public meetings end, the city will also address civic clubs and organizations to outline the need for the tax extension and what projects are being proposed, said Tracey Glenn, public information officer for the city.

And even if people don't attend the meetings, the suggested projects represent a good starting point because the list came from the original Transportation Trust Fund meetings in 1995, said Kent Bratton, city planner.

"People aren't ignorant about the project, it's a continual topic of conversation," he said.