Sunday, January 04, 2004

my Nevada City wishlist

FYI for nonlocals - "Nevada City" is a misnomer now; once this was the 4th largest city in California, but that was back in Gold Rush days. Now we fall into the "quaint hamlet" category.

Here's what I'd like to see, in no particular order:
  1. More people turning their garages into second units - we need more cheap housing in town, and it needs to be integrated, and not everybody needs a full size house. What incentives could we provide?
  2. Recognition that not all "improvements" are...
  3. Shade trees. Downtown is woefully devoid of shade, and it's miserable walking up Broad St on late summer day with sun blasting into your face. If Grass Valley has planted shade trees; why can't we? We could plant them in little peninsulas between parking places, also on the corners of the %^&*( overpass, also at the edges of the Brewery parking lot. It would make for a much more pleasant downtown in summertime.
  4. A town website and perhaps also emailing list. There's really no excuse anymore, for not disseminating city meeting agendas in a way that's convenient for citizens. Public Servant - S, e, r, v, a, n, t.
  5. Make it possible to report problems, and receive responses to problem reports, via email.
  6. A "suggestion box" on the website, to collect the items on all residents' wishlists?
  7. And, of course, a City Hall weblog to report news on things like the water quality problem, water bills due, changes in office hours, etc.
#1 might be thorny, but the rest are no-brainers. Which of the candidates for Nevada City Council will pledge to enact them?

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