Several towns in our area are undertaking noteworthy community improvement projects. Down the road in Friend, for example, members of the Friend Historical Society have raised nearly $40,000 to restore the Warren Opera House to its original grandeur.In Pawnee City, the chamber of commerce has purchased more than 400 redbud and red maple trees over the past few years and given them to residents. Designated as the “Redbud Capital of Nebraska” by the Legislature, Pawnee City's goal is to plant a redbud tree on every home lot in hopes the project will expand and promote business as people visit to see the flowering trees each spring.
We want to hear from Times readers regarding their ideas for community enhancement projects. What community improvement project do you suggest? Regardless of how grand or modest your proposal may be, we want to hear your ideas and recommendations. The more, the merrier.
Bring back the flower beds on the main street medians. A kids group, like the jr. legion auxiliary, could do that if funds were donated.
ReplyDeleteI recommend the bars bring back the beer wars of the late '90s. Joe's and Eastside had 25 cent beers I think. When bars compete, we all win!
ReplyDeleteJust kidding.
Raise funds and refurbish one of the downtown buildings and turn it into a community fitness center. Small gym fees paid by families could generate funds for upkeep.
ReplyDeleteclean up or tear down the run-down buildings on the main street.
ReplyDeleteImpose higher city taxes on abandoned and delapidated properties until their owners clean them up. Use those funds for beautification projects.
ReplyDeleteThis may or may not fit here, but lets try it out. How about an assisted living/nursing home/senior citizen's center for Dorchester's elderly population. Even though I am not ready for such a place, I would think we would like to keep our most treasured citizens in the community. This would provide more opportunities for our youth to interact with our past, and would provide some meaningful employment for some citizens that drive to other communities to do the same. There are a good number of community owned centers such as this in existence, and maybe some grant seed money as well. Or perhaps there would be a corporation interested in the investment opportunity as they gear up for the baby boomers. Many times the expenses to care for many of our elderly comes in the form of medicare. Perhaps Dorchester could net some of these funds, to help take care of our own. Anyway, a go getter on the village board may be able to help, or they could form a committee to explore!!
ReplyDeleteI think that the community would benefit from a yard of the week during warm months. A sign could be placed in the winner's yard for the week.
ReplyDeletejr.
ReplyDeletedo you have a clue, how unrealistic
i guess anyone can comment on here
boy scout,
ReplyDeletethere was a project a few years ago to supply the elderly with low income affordable housing
once it was built the older people didnt want to give up their houses and the apartments went to others.
good try but no fly
you go corey
ReplyDeletemr. idea man
run for mayor
OK folks. Look at the times the three comments above were posted. I'm no rocket scientist, but it's clear that "Bobs Buddy" and "Anonymous" are one in the same. He/she is negative and offers nothing to the discussion. I'm not impressed.
ReplyDeletecynical richard-have you noticed something about this site..the articles that contain a little controversy are the ones people post to.
ReplyDeleteWe might read the other articles but the ones that people come back to check and post on are the ones with a little friendly argueing.
Who cares who posts what. I just come back to read what the next person is gonna write. kinda like our own little soap opera
So yap away whoever you are
Yap away, indeed.
ReplyDeleteWe only wish more of our readers would sign their comments with pen names so that we can distinguish one comment from another.
It's easy to do. Simply choose "other" after you've typed your comment and type your name -- any name.
(These readers do it the right way: Bob, Bob's Buddy, Cynical Richard, Brightside Betty, Small Town Gal, Cory Woerner, Ed Dvorak, Boy Scout, Jr., C.S.R., etc.)
I guess all is not lost if the other people have a better apartment to rent.
ReplyDeleteMost people who live in assisted living facilities, and care homes do not have a choice. There health demands that they have care that their family cannot consistently give. I think it would be great if they could get this very personal care from people they know, and in the community that they have lived in.
I'll keep trying, and I am not flying. I walk...have you ever tried flying an elderly lady across the street?
I guess all is not lost if the other people have a better apartment to rent.
ReplyDeleteMost people who live in assisted living facilities, and care homes do not have a choice. There health demands that they have care that their family cannot consistently give. I think it would be great if they could get this very personal care from people they know, and in the community that they have lived in.
I'll keep trying, and I am not flying. I walk...have you ever tried flying an elderly lady across the street?
cynical richard,
ReplyDeletei have a cousin named richard.
want to know his nicname???
i bet yours is the same
It's hard to be insulted by someone who can't even spell "nickname".....
ReplyDeleteHere's an idea: MOW THE PARK! FIX THE PARK BATHROOMS! I'm told the town has four employees to mow and maintain city grounds. Unfortunately, tonight (June 15) the park was a jungle despite that the weekend is here and there were eight families grilling at the shelter. Unacceptable. Start mowing or get rid of the employees. It's that simple.
ReplyDelete90's grad
ReplyDeleteYou are misinformed. It's 3 summer employees that work when it's not raining or wet. So because it was raining Wed. & Thurs. and wet on Fri. none of them worked. I haven't checked, but I doubt it was a jungle in less than a week.
I thought there were two part-timers and two full-timers working for the city. Regardless, I asked four residents from town and one from out-of-town, all of who were also at the park, if they thought the conditions of the park were unacceptable Friday (unmowed grass, curse words spray painted in the kids' slide, broken restrooms and vine weeds in the play area.) They agreed that the conditions were poor.
ReplyDeleteAll I'm saying is that the park should be a priority. However, kudos on the new street signs at the corners. If the city workers were busy putting those up, maybe I can overlook the conditions park this weekend.
By the way, my vote is for a "main street median improvement club", perhaps coordinated by DACA. If you get the kids out helping, they'll take pride in the town, be less tempted to vandalize and they will report those who do.
ReplyDeleteIn response to 90s grad: I would love to have someone step forward & form a "main street median improvement club" and DACA would probably pay for supplies & plants (a vote would need to be taken) but the 8 DACA members that regularly attend the meetings can't possibly take on any more community service. I would like nothing better than to have kids help with such a project, but we can't get their parents to be involved I doubt the kids would volunteer. I've been wrong before, prove me wrong on this one.
ReplyDeleteIn response to 90s grad's complaint after the article on Charles Havlat: Why put your comment at that site? (Very inappropriate) Maybe you can be in charge of reporting the condition of the park personally to the village hall every day. As I said before it rained Wed. and Thur. and there was only 1 full-time employee working on Fri. Oh, by the way, how tall are you? I went by there this morning and the grass was maybe up to my ankle. Before you criticize, maybe you should get the facts.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous must be related to a city employee.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, it rained only on Wednesday. I was mowing and gardening Thursday night. Get the facts. Or try getting outside and doing something else than typing b----y remarks on the computer. (Speaking of inappropriate, try improving your personal ediquette!)
I was at the city park on the night of the 15th, I am 5ft 5inches and yes the WEEDS went to my knees and the grass went just pass my ankles. City workers, on the Fridays please make the city park a priority to mow.
ReplyDelete90s grad
ReplyDeleteIt rained .60 Thursday morning between 6:30 and 7:30 am. You're right. I'm Ed's wife and what kind of b----y remarks did I make. Not any worse than yours. As for the bathrooms they were checked and cleaned on Thursday. They were working then and again this afternoon. If they weren't working on Friday some good samaritan must have fixed them. Another solution you could have called Ed so he could have fixed them. We were home after 7:30. Caller ID didn't record any calls.cewan
90s grad
ReplyDeleteWhy don't you reveal who you are? I did. Now it's your turn. If you think you can do better on the village board, I like to see your name on the ballot.
Carol Olson, DACA President:
ReplyDeleteThank you for the positive work you've done to improve Dorchester.
Village Dweller: how about helping Carol get more volunteers? Can the Dorchester Times have a DACA volunteer sign-up box? We need the manpower to make Dorchester beautiful again.
Remember 15 or so years ago when the same group of ladies would care for our medians? We could also have a great park. We already have the great equiptment! ...the green grass of the Saline County Museum?Dorchester was once aesthetically pleasing and, sad to say, is not so good-looking anymore.
We need leadership. This blog is leadership and should team up with DACA, the organization that implements many of the improvements we speak of here.
P.S. CITY: the park is looking a little shabby. I don't care when it rained, grass does not grow a foot in two days.
dont worry pat,
ReplyDeleteyou have to be able to spell to get your name on the ballot, and this guy has no clue
vandalism has been a problem in the park for many years
ReplyDeleteit is hard to deal with heredity
You GO PAT!!
ReplyDeleteI am sick to death of the b-----g about individuals on this site. Quit complaining about the CITY EMPLOYEES. We all know who they are.
If you have a complaint---get off you a-- and go to a city council meeting. If you can't be bothered to do that---then quit complaining about them on this site (or they need to quit being posted).
And before you ask------------NO I'm not a city employee or a relative of a city employee.
Anonymous:
ReplyDeletePlease note that we edited the expletives in your comments. We will not do that again. Next time, comments with expletives simply will not be posted. We allow a lot of expressive freedom on this site, but we will not tolerate the cussing. Sorry.
Boy........some people can't take cricism very well.....even when its not aimed directly at them. I didnt see the park this weekend.....some of us have to work.....but I have a feeling it was in bad condition ..... not every one complains just to complain. That's the job of city workers........
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree, the park is getting shabby. Josh's wife is in the hospital having their baby so he isn't working. Bob is out of town. That leaves the other part-timer and I don't know why he didn't work yesterday. Marvin and Ed are busy doing other things that needs to be done. It's not as bad as it use to be, but vandalism is still a problem. One day the bathrooms were vandalized three times in one day.
ReplyDeleteI apologize about the city park comment. I did not realize that a few of the city employees have been unavailable. Special circumstances. Hopefully it is a rare occurence.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised that a town of approx. 600 has a vandalism problem.
As for the expletives, we are all mature adults. When we get upset, we express ourselves in a mature manner. Anonymous, you only hurt your argument if you argue like a child. Let's act like adults here.
First I’d like to say to Pat Dvorak that if I was in her shoes and my husband worked for the city, I would jump to his defense too. However, that being said, no one can deny that there are some issues with the upkeep of this town. I don’t want to bad-mouth the city employees, but when I can’t even drive on East Depot (past the county shop) without nearly losing a wheel in the gigantic ruts, then I have a right to complain. Ever since the 6 inch rain we had a month or two ago, there have been deep water ditches across the road and they have only worsened since the last rain. Tell me why that continues to be ignored? I don’t know, perhaps the city thinks the county is responsible for that road since their shop is there. Either way, someone needs to take care of it before the next big rain washes the whole darn road out. Once again, my apologies for complaining about the city employees, I wouldn’t want their job, but if that road is their responsibility then they need to do the job they’re paid to do.
ReplyDeleteI only reveal my identity on Paris Hilton's website in hopes she'll write me back.
ReplyDeleteHey Smalltown Gal. Those ruts are another reason we need paved streets here in town. Think of all the money (on employee wages and materials) that could have been saved on gravel road repair had we paved 30 yrs ago!!!! Just a thought.
ReplyDeletethis blog site has added so many postitves to the village of dorchester.
ReplyDeletethe owners of this blog sit ought to be thanked for their work in bringing so many ideas and positive comments from people.
keep up the good work
Thanks to whoever fixed the ruts on East Depot. It didn't go unnoticed.
ReplyDeleteIn response to hometown lady. I, like you, use to think we didn't have to worry about vandalism like larger towns. But, I was wrong. Yesterday it was brought to the city's attention that there was a message spray-painted on the roof of the shelter and elsewhere. That happened about 3 weeks ago. Also, there was graffiti (don't know if that is spelled right) in the bathrooms. Ed took pictures, but due to the content of the graffiti, it can't be posted. I hope we can find out who did it and make them clean it up to set an example.
ReplyDelete