The future of Topeka’s downtown has a new blueprint.
Topeka City Council approved the city’s Downtown Master Plan 8-0 on Tuesday night. Council member Spencer Duncan and Mayor Michelle De La Isla weren t present.
Topeka’s Downtown Master Plan is a recruiting tool, city staff told The Topeka Capital-Journal. It proposes multiple investment strategies for each of the nine sections of downtown: Capitol, Civic, Historic Kansas Avenue, NOTO/River North, Office and Catalyst, River to Rail, River South, Tower and Van Buren.
“Public investment based on the last 10‐15 years of visioning is reaching its natural conclusion. And while private investment is still following that vision, the next vision for Downtown is unclear,” the master plan said. “Not because it has few visions, but because there are many visions.
She brought up the infestation to the property manager, but her complaints fell on deaf ears.
“I stopped cooking because every time I cooked more bugs came out,” she said in a video presentation by the Topeka Justice Unity & Ministry Project at its Nehemiah Action meeting on Monday night. “It made me feel dirty, and then they weren’t doing anything about it.”
The bug issues were made worse during the COVID-19 pandemic when everyone was quarantined to their homes.
Clingman said she was waiting for assistance before she could move out of the apartment. Presenters at Topeka JUMP’s meeting said they heard similar stories of tenants “trapped with nowhere else to go” due to a lack of affordable housing.
William Hendrix turned 20 on April 4. The candidate for Topeka City Council’s 3rd District was born in 2001 and is preparing to study at Washburn Tech.
Hendrix said he only recently decided to run for city council but said politics is his long-term goal.
“Most people might consider it odd that I care this much about the city, (asking me), ‘Why didn’t you just get out when you could?’” Hendrix said. “Topeka is my city. I am staking my life here.”
Hendrix graduated from Topeka High in 2019 and has spent his entire life in the city. Hendrix’s candidacy will force a primary election because he is the fourth person to file for the District 3 seat.
The CIP has two parts, projects scheduled for work between 2022-2026, and projects being considered for 2027-2031.
The CIP budgets for a variety of items, including body worn camera/taser equipment replacement, vehicle fleet replacement and streets projects. Concerns about the plan’s current status started when Jessica Lamendola, director of Administrative and Financial Services at the city of Topeka, presented the city’s fourth-quarter report.
The final pages on a quarterly report list upcoming projects the city has yet to complete, which is when council members began noticing some plans on the quarterly report were also listed on the CIP.
BLM Topeka calls for policy changes after Derek Chauvin verdict cjonline.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from cjonline.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.