Recently, I read an article in both the Racine County Eye and the Journal Times about the sale of 37 acres of land between Green Bay and Neumann Roads on the North side of Spring Street. This property, owned by the Racine Public Library had been viewed as a new Library branch for the Mt. Pleasant area. Last year the Racine Public Library had decided not to go forward with this new library branch and decided to sell the land.
When I heard about this, I spoke to a number of Village Trustees who agreed with me about the need and that they were “looking into it.” So, obviously, after doing all their research they must have concluded it was not a priority. Why, because now a developer is now purchasing the land for condominiums.
I was also told that building a new Fire Station was expensive. So, I invited Fire Chief Stedman for lunch to discuss alternatives. There are quite a few that hundreds of other communities are implementing around the country. But it did not appear that he was interested.
There is even a source of revenue to build a new Fire Station. Hint: Caledonia is paying Mt. Pleasant $5 million for the right to have sewer and water brought to their Village. Seems to me half of that $5 million would easily pay for that sewer and water construction and the other half would easily pay for the construction of a new Fire Station.
I have lived in the Indian Hills Subdivision for over 35 years. During this period, we have had poor response times regarding the local fire departments and rescue squads. Believe it or not, the Indian Hills subdivision is being served from the Franksville – Caledonia shared Fire Station on Hwy K. We simply need a new Fire Station in the North East quadrant of Mt Pleasant. But for some reason, this fundamental purpose of municipal government, to provide fundamental fire and medical transport safety protection, has eluded the citizens of this North East area of the Village. It is time this gets resolved.
There is more than Lake Park at risk of Fire Station mismanagement. I am hopeful, that citizens of Mt. Pleasant factor this information when you go to the election polls soon. This really comes down to some common sense decision-making, which we need more of.
Sincerely,
Rees Roberts