City streets and sidewalks to get fall makeover

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Some much-anticipated repairs to city streets and sidewalks are on the way with Greencastle officials approving the measure on Monday.

Members of the Board of Public Works voted during a special meeting to spend $68,222 for Spiker Excavating to repair and replace a number of sidewalks in town, beginning this fall.

They also signed off on a contract with Wabash Valley Asphalt to lay new asphalt on several streets at a cost of $109,580. That work is also scheduled to begin soon, depending on the weather.

City officials acknowledged that these repairs are very much needed and they are glad to be able to get them done this year.

City Street Commissioner Brad Phillips said the resurfacing could take a couple weeks to complete.

The following streets were listed in the contract to be resurfaced:

* Seminary -- from Locust to Indiana

* Howard Street -- from Locust to Crown

* Howard Street -- from Crown to Maple

* Howard Street -- from Maple to Main

* Northwood Blvd. -- Highwood to Franklin

* Depot Street -- Madison to Jackson

Portions of the following sidewalks were listed in the contract to be repaired and replaced (Note: only portions of the sidewalks will be replaced): North College Avenue, Franklin Street, Locust Street, Bloomington Street, Washington Street, Market, West Poplar, Jackson Street, North Indiana, East Walnut, Hanna, Greenwood Avenue and Seminary Street.

In some cases, only the portion of sidewalk in front of a single residence will be replaced. In other cases, a handicapped accessible ramp is being installed.

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  • If these roads are going to end up like Manhattan Rd., don't do it, save our money! Manhattan Rd. feels rougher, and it is just as bumpy as it was before the resurfacing. Also a weird lump down the center of the road.

    -- Posted by hoop2077 on Tue, Oct 7, 2008, at 12:06 AM
  • Can anyone answer the question, Why is it only Spiker Excavating, plumbing, electrical and whatever else he does gets the job? If he's the only one to bid, then great, but he does all of the cities work. Just wondering!

    -- Posted by whodouthinkur on Tue, Oct 7, 2008, at 8:19 AM
  • Has anyone from the city been down Woodhaven?? It the most embarrising street in the city!!

    -- Posted by Blue6 on Tue, Oct 7, 2008, at 8:20 AM
  • Hey hoop2077, have you actually driven down the Manhattan Road since they sealed part of it? It's smoother than it has been in quite awhile, and that "lump" your talking about is barely noticable, even on a motorcycle.

    -- Posted by ZRXguy on Tue, Oct 7, 2008, at 9:09 AM
  • Just as an intrested resident, I would like to know who eles gave bids on this job. I too question why Spiker seems to be the only business the city/county deals with. If they are the lowest bid, great, but since I have not heard who has bid or what their bids are, I feel I need to question this.

    -- Posted by secondthought on Tue, Oct 7, 2008, at 10:19 AM
  • For those of you wondering about the bidding, you should attend a city council meeting. They are open to the public, and you would be able to ask these questions since you seem to be so interested.

    It seems lately that no matter what good news is found in the paper or news, people find the one thing to complain about or pick at and focus on that. No wonder the world is the way it is. We have no one to blame but ourselves.

    -- Posted by MsBehaving on Tue, Oct 7, 2008, at 1:13 PM
  • Very good point MsBehaving, I think all of this info is public record as well, so if secondthought, or whodouthinkur, or anyone, was really interested in how the "system" works, instead of just interested in making mis-informed comments, it would be pretty easy to follow up on.

    Also, in this age of "you get what you pay for", do we really want to go with the lowest bidder all the time?

    -- Posted by ThinkPeopleThink on Tue, Oct 7, 2008, at 1:35 PM
  • Nobody's saying you have to go with the cheapest! I'm just asking why is it only Spiker? Is that such a hard question to ask. And if you are going to attend every meeting in the county then go ahead, and you can answer my question for me. Why are you so defensive about a simple question? Nobody's picking, or complaining or focusing on one thing. Just a very basic, simple question. That's all. It takes alot of energy to read between the lines. Which is what I think you're doing. Don't think so hard. Just wondering who else bid on these projects! If there were additional bids, I guess the banner decided not to include that information. Besides, what's so mis-informed in my question, it's not a statement! It's just that........a question! Boy you two seem to have everyone else figured out in this county. Jeeeeeeeezzzzzzzz. Can no-one just answer a simple question?

    -- Posted by whodouthinkur on Wed, Oct 8, 2008, at 10:26 AM
  • I don't always have the time to check the public records, I asked the question here because I thought someone would have the answer. I'm not trying to be mean, I just wanted to know. Maybe my questions are not the same as yours, but I don't attack you. If anyone out there has the answer, please let me know. As to ThinkPeopleThink and MsBehaving, I'm sorry you misunderstood why I asked the question. But I will contuine to ask questions I'm intrested in finding out the answers to. Sometimes the story raises more questions than it answers.

    -- Posted by secondthought on Wed, Oct 8, 2008, at 10:38 AM
  • OK, here are some answers that took 3 phone calls and 5 minutes of conversation:

    1)M&D Construction from Bainbridge also submitted a bid. Theirs was over $110,000.00.

    2)Spiker has done the City Sidewalk projects for several years. Every time they were the low bidder. The city is very happy with the work that they have done.

    3)Spiker is located in Greencastle. The citys money is spent locally, which I think is a good decision on the citys part.

    4) Spiker supports over 15 employees through their payroll. That's 15 people earning a living, paying taxes, enrolling their children in local schools, spending their money in local shops, buying gas at local stations. I would imagine some of the money paid by the city for these sidewalk improvements goes to pay these employees.

    So, your questions have been answered. I don't have time to always check the public record either. But i can squeeze out 5 minutes from time to time. It is pretty easy to raise questions and maybe imply some sort of "conspiracy" and stay hidden behind the anonimity of the internet.

    Maybe we should say thanks to the city for keeping our tax money local! I know I do.

    -- Posted by ThinkPeopleThink on Thu, Oct 9, 2008, at 5:27 AM
  • Public records.... lets hope none of these locations are by your schools or where your children play. Keep an eye on your kids.

    http://www.insor.org/insasoweb/initAdvancedSearchForm.do

    -- Posted by flygal026 on Thu, Oct 9, 2008, at 5:53 AM
  • flygal026..........so true!!!!!!!

    -- Posted by whodouthinkur on Thu, Oct 9, 2008, at 2:25 PM
  • thinkpeoplethink....you are truly amazing. IT's a shame that the rest of us are so stupid! Thanks again.

    -- Posted by whodouthinkur on Thu, Oct 9, 2008, at 2:26 PM
  • Well, you are certainly welcome, whodouthinkur.

    But don't be so hard on yourself.

    And I'm not really amazing, just informed.

    -- Posted by ThinkPeopleThink on Thu, Oct 9, 2008, at 4:38 PM
  • Maybe the city should consider putting the FIRST set of sidewalks on Sunset Drive (which has been in the city limits for many, many years now) before they replace existing sidewalks. According to the previous mayor these sidewalks have been on the city's list of "things to do" for the past 10-12 years...now that mayor is gone and we are still without sidewalks(but many others have been put into place or replaced)...I don't know about you, but I don't want those type of "truths" from my State Representative!

    -- Posted by mkycrzy1971 on Fri, Oct 10, 2008, at 8:13 PM
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