A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S LIST OF OUR AREA'S PROMISING ASSETS

Governments, especially at the federal and state levels, place countless obstacles in the path of progressive business people, the sort of risk-takers who fire the engines of our economy. Those obstacles include taxes, which seem everywhere on the rise, and excessive regulation, whether in the name of protecting the environment, or enforcing workplace rules, or whatever. We're aware that reasonable rules and regulations are necessary, and government is ordinarily one of the biggest spenders where infrastructure investments are concerned.

Still, with all the government-mandated hurdles standing in the way of progress, it's heartening to see so much new construction under way in the greater Cape Girardeau area. Let's review a partial listing.

There's the southwest Cape Girardeau sewer trunk line, a $1 million-plus project that's cutting into the hillside west of South Kingshighway at its intersection with Southern Expressway (Highway 74). Bloomsdale Excavating is the contractor. This is an important part of needed infrastructure for the city of Cape Girardeau, and for our sustained growth to the west and southwest.

Likewise, one sees welcome progress with the long-awaited Lexington Street development on the north side of town. A dead-end stretch of Lexington was paved from Carolina to Flad avenues last year; from that short stretch, this vital arterial project is now being extended west to its intersection with Route W.

That stretch of soon-to-be-completed pavement, which will put Lexington within a stone's throw of its new connection with North Kingshighway, will be followed by the construction of an entirely new intersection (including traffic signals) connecting Lexington with Mt. Auburn Road at Kingshighway. This will include a new bridge across Cape LaCroix Creek. Completion of this project, which may begin later this year, should be by mid-to-late 1992.

As the Lexington arterial project becomes a tangible reality, many citizens who earlier perhaps did not grasp its importance to our community will come to appreciate what all the squabbling was about last year. Completion of this arterial to its eastern connection with Highway 177 must remain one of our city's highest priorities. It would be hard to overstate Lexington's importance.

Much of our area's new construction involves the fiercely competitive restaurant trade. Restaurant magnate Dennis Stockard has followed his hugely successful Shoney's and Captain D's with a marvelous renovation of the priceless old Royal N'Orleans and a managing investment in downtown's unique Broussard's cajun restaurant. But that seems just a beginning for this enterprising entrepreneur. Nearing completion, with a tentative opening expected in 30 or 40 days, is Stockard's El Chico's restaurant, in a West Park Mall perimiter lot along Mt. Auburn Road. Cruise less than a mile eastward, and you'll see the sturdy brick walls of Stockard's Applebee's restaurant as they take shape. Applebee's bills itself as sort of a smaller, "neighborhood" version of a TGI Friday's. You'll like it.

Health care industry pioneer Earl Norman and his Health Services Corporation of America are expressing lots of confidence in Cape's future with his exciting plans for a major new office/professional/retail development. It will surround the current HSCA offices west of the mall along Mt. Auburn Road. This $7 million project is highly promising and will further complement the existing medical/office/retail/restaurant mix of the neighborhood.

Then there's the new Taco Bell being built on another mall perimiter lot, along Route K. Or go south to Nash Road, to the newly extended city limits of Scott City, and you can take in the huge new Truck Plaza and Milestone Restaurant recently completed by the Rhodes Companies. At the nearby SEMO Regional Port Authority, a $1.5 million Phase One project is under construction to bring rail into the port.

The ever-enterprising Drury interests are, of course, in the middle of much of this progress for Cape Girardeau. Drive westward across I-55, and take a look at where the Siemers family used to graze their dairy cattle, and you'll be amazed at all that's going on. Welcome to the Cape West Business Park, soon to be one of Cape's most prestigious adresses.

A construction trailer occupies the site of the new Wal-Mart Supercenter at the corner of Route K and Siemers Drive. A visit to the vicinity Saturday afternoon revealed no fewer than seven tractors, bulldozers and large earthmovers at work on site preparation. Immediately south of the new Wal-Mart is the choice of one of Southeast Missouri's finest corporate citizens, Bluff City Beer, for a new office/warehouse development (announced elsewhere in our Business section today). Congratulations to Joda Bess and to all the Bess family for this major step forward.

Come back east across the interstate and take a look at Doctors' Park, which always seems to be expanding. This anchor development of the vital health care industry is now beginning an eastward expansion along Blattner Drive with the nearly completed building of the Neurological Associates of Cape Girardeau, just down from Dr. Walt Schroeder's office (completed last year).

Continue east over to Bloomfield Road, at its intersection with Silver Springs, and on the southeast corner you'll find the Community Counseling Center's fine new building, on which the steel superstructure is in place.

Downtown should not be ignored. The enterprising merchants in the older part of our town recently announced plans for a major new pavilion on the southern edge of Main Street to go with all the other progress this charming area has seen in recent years.

Our neighbors in Jackson have the new highway, a natural corridor for development, and the newly announced strip center being built by the Les Maevers family. The newly completed and soon-to-open Department of Conservation Nature Center in Cape County Park will knock you eyes out when you get a look at it in a few days. What an asset for our whole area. Don't forget the new Bent Creek golf course, nor underestimate its capacity to draw people to live in our county.

Is the grass greener elsewhere? Perhaps. Our neighbors in Paducah and Marion and yes, Springfield, Mo. have attributes that make them attractive, but I wouldn't trade places. We're all fortunate to live in greater Cape Girardeau. Judging from current investment of hard dollars, there's much more to come.