Open House Survey Results Part Five: Random Citizen Comments

Here are all of the comments that citizens wrote on their survey forms.

Re: Reserving and encouraging more sites for retirement-oriented housing developments would require development of commercial services in, close proximity. Lack of sidewalks on North 11th Street, between Water Street and Burns Avenue (Oak Street)
Re: More retail stores, shopping centers, etc., fill center before going west. Make it more pleasant for pedestrians—fix sidewalks, plant trees, hang flower baskets in summer, ease vehicular flow, etc. DON’T CLOSE SMALL SCHOOLS

It seems that the caliber of students accepted by IUP has decreased, and they have become more prone to crime and unsavory activities. Traffic has become heavier and people are much more aggressive in the past two to three years. There should be more monitoring of, and penalties for, aggressive driving. I’m afraid to ride my bike in town. Young families should be encouraged to stay in the area. Sure, you can have retirement communities, but the young people will be around longer if they have good jobs, safe neighborhoods, and low cost of living.
If the Borough plans to replace the existing jail with a parking garage, I would love to see an entrance to the library from the garage and some free spots dedicated to library patrons. It would be wonderful for the elderly and handicapped to have easy access to this wonderful resource.

Re: Issues of concern – All issues are “concerns.” These items are interrelated. Examples – more paved surfaces cause runoff problems. Improve some issues, and crime is lessened. We should have regional policing. Making Indiana more pedestrian/bike-friendly helps with traffic congestion.

Re: Potential for neighborhood school closings – Is it needed? Re: Reserving and encouraging more sites for business parks, etc. – Where do you have the space? Working with White Township should be a high priority.

Get rid of metered parking. Make parking free in the downtown, or at least cut it back to 5 p.m. again. Have the police department cut back on looking for people walking home from the bars intoxicated if someone is accosting them. Too many are harassed by the police department. Have them concentrate only on DUIs, except in extreme cases. Encourage new businesses to use existing structures before building a new building in an open space; avoiding “urban blight” offer tax incentives.

Source water protection – Since the Borough’s drinking water supply is located in the Township and is a surface water supply, is there a plan to handle any incidents?
Tear down existing structures to make way for new development. Build high-rise complex for 50-plus residents in the downtown area.

Centralize student housing near the IUP campus. Re: Encourage more retail stores, shopping centers, etc. west of the downtown, but not past the tracks. I would like to suggest any changes that will encourage pedestrian travel (bike lanes, sidewalks, trails, connections to major recreation areas – White Township Recreation Center, Mack Park, Hoodlebug Trail, White’s Woods Nature Center). White’s Wood s is an invaluable asset to this community. A sizeable portion of it lies in the Borough. The Borough needs to flight for its health and future.

Concerns: Light pollution, especially from County buildings. Noise pollution (trucks, buses, etc. on residential streets). Air pollution (idling buses) – Unfortunately, the Borough cannot do anything on its own about the County-s coal-fired power plants.

I would be strongly against increasing property taxes.

We definitely have been affected by the college students and rentals. We moved, for this reason, from Church Street to Klondyke to get away from the noise. It was not a good place to continue to raise our family. We would have loved to stay near the heart of town, except for the students. We love living in the Borough, and like being able to walk downtown. More businesses need to open later in the evening so we can walk downtown after dinner and get ice cream or something. Everything shuts down at night and on Sundays (when we would go downtown).

Keep residential areas residential and college with college; lower taxes.

Make businesses hire more of the general public.

Promote IUP safety when crossing in front of traffic. Add stop light to 6th and Carter.
I find it odd that student population in the Borough schools has declined and school taxes have increased. It is a smart idea to close some schools with declining enrollment. Will net result be smaller school budget?

I am glad to see this approach – a true community involves people working together toward a common result. That, to varying degrees, benefits everybody. Preparing for the future and becoming a destination. Welcome people. Make it a town that people look forward to coming to. Capitalize more on areas of interest to people outside of Indiana (Jimmy Stewart Museum, other events of interest).

Merging White Township and the Borough into one city, shared municipal services.

While I prefer a restaurant to a vacant storefront, really, we need a greater variety of independent stores in the downtown (hardware, music, specialty stores that capitalize on the largely untapped student market.

Require IUP to assume costs it creates for the Borough. Seek reimbursement from White Township for its use of Borough services. Impose street rules of operation on downtown bars, including payments for use of police.

Downtown retail businesses fuel Borough development. Don’t lose sight of that.

The flood zone along Marsh Run needs immediate attention. New sidewalks for Philadelphia Street are not a priority.

Would like to see trees planted on Chestnut Street, between Third and Fourth Streets.

Due to declining student population – Closing two elementary schools, turning the junior high school into a middle school (5th, 6th, 7th, 8th grades) and the senior high would consist of 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th grades. This would be better for the sports programs. And put a halt to raising our property taxes.