Fixing Merle Hay Road
I’m in complete agreement that the medians need to be cleaned up (“Our View,” Nov. 11), but it is the responsibility of Iowa Department of Transportation, not the cities of Des Moines and Urbandale, as your staff suggested. It is State Highway 28, an entrance/exit to/from I-80, that continues to Hickman Road, where it turns west to 63rd Street and then south to Norwalk. Within Des Moines and a section of Urbandale, it is known as Merle Hay Road, but it is still Highway 28.
Through the guidance of the city of Des Moines, Polk County, the Mall and developers, the Merle Hay Neighborhood Association is proud of the progress being made. Residents have borrowed more than $9 million from Neighborhood Finance Corporation to make improvements to their home or to buy a home in the area.
The “public and private investments” that the Cityview staff proposed in the article are already happening, but it takes time! Support the community and perseverance.
Jo Ann Hanover, Chair
Merle Hay Revitalization Planning Committee
[Editor’s note: Good luck waiting for the State. I’d fire up the weed whacker.]
Reducing government expenses
Iowa House Speaker Elect Kraig Paulsen and other Republicans think that the state employee pay increase is excessive and should not be implemented. The first year of the two-year agreement, the increase will be 2 percent, then 1 percent the year after. These pay increases are not excessive and are very affordable for the state considering the nice surplus that Chet Culver is leaving the Republicans to fight over.
If Speaker-Elect Paulsen is serious about reducing government expenses, he should promote a repeal of the latest pay increase for legislators. In 2007, their base pay went from $21,000 to $25,000 annually, which is a 16 percent increase. Will he do it? It’s doubtful. Like all politicians, cuts are good for everybody else, but not in his back yard.
Gary Thelen
West Des Moines
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