PAVING JASMINE

It is no accident that revenue from Cape Girardeau's transportation sales tax flows into a dedicated trust fund. Trust was a key issue in the transportation tax's overwhelming approval. Trust remains an essential component today as improvements proceed.

A list of 20 road and bridge projects was approved -- in order of priority -- last August, and the city has diligently followed the list.

That trust has eroded for residents of Jasmine Street. The city should repair that trust before the bad feelings spread. Jasmine Street should be returned to the paving schedule.

When is a street not a street? When it is an undedicated roadway that was never included in a resolution making it a street, residents of Jasmine recently learned. The short, gravel roadway is just a block from the solid pavement of Lexington Avenue.

As part of the transportation sales tax campaign, the city pledged to pave 3.5 miles of gravel streets as its first priority. Jasmine Street was included on that list. Residents were interviewed by the Southeast Missourian on several occasions, touting the benefits of the sales tax.

Earlier this month, the city belatedly determined that Jasmine Street was more of a glorified driveway than a street. It was quietly removed from the pavement schedule. Residents weren't officially notified of the change.

Considerable finger pointing has ensued, and some tempers have flared. The city and homeowners would be wise to push the issue of blame aside. It really doesn't matter who is to blame, and it seems that misunderstandings occurred on both sides.

-- Yes, the project was included on several city documents listing streets that would be paved.

-- Yes, property owners signed license and indemnity agreements with the city to build their driveways, which city officials said confirms Jasmine Street is not a street. But it is a fact the city mistakenly overlooked as Jasmine Street was included on the list of streets to be paved.

The city has done a good job following through on the plan approved by voters. Eliminating or delaying the paving of Jasmine Street is not worth damaging the public's perception. Voters approved the tax with Jasmine Street on the list, whether it belonged there or not. Since voters approved it, the street should be paved.

City officials worry that if Jasmine Street is paved, landowners of other unmaintained right-of-ways will demand the same satisfaction. The difference is those roadways weren't included on a sale-tax priority list.

It isn't fair to tell Jasmine Street residents to wait until the year 2000 to see if any sales tax money is left over to do the paving. The city estimated that paving the 3.5 miles of gravel streets, including Jasmine Street, would cost $1.1 million. The cost of the Jasmine Street paving was included in the ballot issue, so the money already has been approved. In fact, Cape Girardeau has raked in more transportation sales-tax money than expected during the first quarter of this year. The $457,000 collected reflected a 4.7 percent growth in taxable sales in contrast to forecasted growth of 3 percent.

If the street is worth paving in 2000, it is worth paving now. Residents should qualify for the $10-per-foot paving fee extended to other property owners on gravel streets.

A squabble over the Henderson-New Madrid Street intersection -- also on the sales tax priority list -- last October reflects the importance of citizen trust in the overall road improvement project. Southeast Missouri State University officials wanted the intersection work speeded up so that the road could be improved by fall when the new business building opened. But the council rightly balked, because the project was listed as No. 19 out of 20 priorities. Councilmen didn't want to blemish public trust.

A compromise was reached in which the University Foundation lent the city the money to complete the project now, with the money to be repaid by the city in four years when work would have been done on the No. 19 priority. It allowed the timetable to be advanced without compromising voter trust.

A city must live by rules, but those rules affect people. Sometimes it is better to bend than to break assurances. This is one occasion that city leaders should bend and return Jasmine Street to the 1996 paving schedule.