`HAZARD' SPURS REQUEST TO HOSPITAL

The city of Cape Girardeau will ask Southeast Missouri Hospital to help fund construction work on a portion of Lacey Street near its intersection with Sunset Avenue.

At Monday's City Council meeting, Councilman Doug Richards called the section of Lacey a "traffic hazard" because of poor sight distance at its intersection with Sunset. The streets border Southeast Hospital property, and Richards contended that the hazard didn't exist until the hospital extended Lacey to Sunset.

"I hate to see us pay for it since they caused the problem," he said.

Mayor Gene Rhodes also said he didn't think the city should be responsible for paying to improve Lacey.

But other council members said the city approved the plans to extend the street and thus absolved the hospital of responsibility for improving its safety after a safety problem was discovered.

"How can we force the hospital to pay for it?" said Councilman David Barklage. "It is a city problem because it's a city street.

"The hospital would've designed it differently if the city wouldn't have approved it."

The council unanimously approved a motion by Barklage that the city staff ask Southeast to fund the street, but he said that if the hospital refuses, the street should still be improved. City Manager J. Ronald Fischer said plans already have been made to do the work.

But City Engineer J. Kensey Russell told the council that the intersection might not be as "hazardous as it would appear," based on measured sight distance.

Councilman Al Spradling III said: "I drive there every day and I don't really see the problem with it."

In other business, Kevin Schumacher, who owns Pinewood Mobile Home Park on South West End Boulevard, asked the council to change the city's yard-mowing regulations.

Schumacher said he filed a complaint in April with the police department against the owner of property that borders the mobile home park. He said the property, owned by VIP Industries, hasn't been mowed all spring.

"If it takes two months and nothing has been done, there's a problem with the ordinance," Schumacher said.

But Cape Girardeau Police Chief Howard "Butch" Boyd said that the delay likely is due to the recent wet weather, which has made it difficult for city crews to mow property that owners refuse to cut.

He said it normally takes about three weeks for property to be mowed from the time the land owner is first notified.

Fischer said the city sends at least one letter to property owners with grass or weed problems. If the problems aren't resolved, the matter goes to court and, ultimately a fine is paid and the city mows the property if necessary.

Boyd said the police department receives 12 to 15 such complaints daily during the spring. He said he was unaware of Schumacher's.

"We try to go to the property owners and nine times out of 10, when you talk to the property owner, that takes care of it," he said.

The council took no action to change the grass-mowing law.

In other business, residents of Charles Street objected to a resolution declaring it necessary to pave their street at a cost not to exceed $20 per front foot. The resolution was the result of a petition signed by a majority of the property owners on the street who said they would pay for the street.

But some of the residents contended Monday that their signatures on the petition weren't represented accurately. They said they signed the petition only because they were told by the person circulating it that the cost of the improvements likely wouldn't exceed $12 or $13 per front foot.

A public hearing on the proposal is scheduled for the council's June 17 meeting.

The council also directed the city staff to draft a law banning smoking in Cape Girardeau grocery stores. The council will consider adoption of the ordinance at the June 17 meeting.