Dorchester Times: Online Poll Results: Street Paving, Blighted Homes Are Top Priorities Of Readers

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Online Poll Results: Street Paving, Blighted Homes Are Top Priorities Of Readers

It's official. Readers of the Dorchester Times want their paved streets. And they want something done about the abandoned homes in town.

Time and again, this has been the finding of surveys of Dorchester residents, formal and informal. The Times poll is just the latest confirmation.

By the time our online survey closed on Sunday, revealed nearly half (47%) of the 93 respondents said Dorchester's top priority over the next 12 months should be paving more of its streets.

Repair or removal of blighted homes came in as the second-most popular priority item, garnering 38% of the votes. Working to fill vacant buildings downtown by enticing new businesses came in third at 30%

A quarter of the voters wanted top priority to be creation of a 2020 plan with specific goals to accomplish over the next eight years.

In fourth place (30%) was repairing or removing blighted property, such as homes in severe disrepair.

It appears that a new baseball/softball diamond, as well as a swimming pool, are low on the priority list, garnering only 7% and 9% support, respectively.

The six volunteer staff members who operate the Dorchester Times agreed to not participate in any of our online surveys.

8 comments:

Gravel KingJuly 31, 2012 at 1:09 AM
OHHHHH HOW I HATE YOU DORCHESTER TIMES,,YOU"RE GOING TO SCREW UP ALL MY PLANS FOR DOMINATION
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Franklin Street DwellerJuly 31, 2012 at 9:12 AM
Yes to the 2020 plan and incentives to get more businesses in some of our empty main street buildings. No to paving. I want to see homes being renovated and built before we invest in paving.
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AnonymousJuly 31, 2012 at 10:04 AM
with the property tax revenue coming from the farmers coop, there's little reason we cant accomplish most of the actions on this list
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AnonymousJuly 31, 2012 at 1:20 PM
I'd just settle for a 24/7 convenience store...
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AnonymousJuly 31, 2012 at 9:45 PM
"Stronger Business District"??? Hello??....have you driven downtown Dorchester? And what incentives to get more businesses in the empty buildings? I think people should have thought about some incentives before our "business district" was non-existent.
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AnonymousAugust 22, 2012 at 5:11 PM
NOOOOOO TO PAVING. WHO NEEDS PAVING WHEN IT NEVER RAINS HERE ANYWAYS?
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Old School MamaAugust 26, 2012 at 12:06 PM
Just a comment on your latest poll about extra curricular activities.

How sad that 28% of those participating say that being part of teams and organizations do not matter. That is absolutely pathetic, and I say that as a parent of students who long ago graduated from DHS. I think our kids were much better back then, full of good character, ambition and visions for a better life. The 28% who say that belonging to a group with goals that are bigger than one's self are exactly what is wrong with our town, our region and our country today.

Some might say this apathy is caused by television, video games and music and movies. Others may say it is caused by the disintigration of the family and single mothers and abandoning fathers. Whatever you call it, it's white trash syndrome that is spreading. Stop it, stand up to it, by doing the right thing!
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Employer in Lincoln/DHS gradAugust 26, 2012 at 3:45 PM
I like options 1, 2 and 3.
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Dorchester: A Good Little Family Town

Dorchester, Nebraska (est. population 630) is located in northern Saline county. Close in proximity to Interstate 80, Dorchester is only 25 minutes from the state capital of Lincoln (est. population 250,000) and about 55 minutes from Omaha (metro population 725,000).

Dorchester's median resident age is 37 years. In 2005, Dorchester had a median family income of approximately $35,600. The median house value was about $63,000. About 95 percent of Dorchester residents commute to work via Interstate and highways.

The village has a quality public school, which received a $4.1 million expansion and modernization in 2008; it offers a small classrooms and individualized attention. Total enrollment of grades K-12 is around 230-250 students.

Ancestries of the Dorchester area are primarily German (42.4%), Czech (24.9%), Irish (12.5%), English (5.4%), and Dutch (4.9%).

Dorchester Historical Facts

* On July 4, 1871, the railroad reached Dorchester.
* Incorporated in 1881, Dorchester's population grew from 200 to 500 by 1882.
* In 1882, Dorchester had 90 buildings, 35 of which were businesses or public facilities. Brick buildings lined both sides of Washington Avenue for two blocks.
* Dorchester's longest-running newspaper was The Dorchester Star, which was published until the late 1940s.
* By 1889, Dorchester's population is said to have reached 800, while the town housed an opera house, a two-story brick schoolhouse with a bell tower, and four churches.
* By the 1910s, Dorchester had electricity, a water tower and a fire department.
* Dorchester's main arteries, Highways 6 and 33, were graveled in the 1940s.
* Dorchester's first irrigation well was drilled on Chris Weber's farm and rural electrification was finished following WWII.

A Village with History

Dorchester is one of the "alphabet towns" on the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad line built west from Lincoln. The town site was selected for its pleasant location in the northern part of Saline County, about eight miles west of Crete. This situation is an attractive one, being on the level prairie land, midway between the West Blue River and Turkey Creek. The first named stream is three miles north, and the latter about the same distance south from the town. Dorchester was platted in 1870 and incorporated in 1881. The name "Dorchester" came from either for a suburb of Boston by that name or a town in England. No one is sure. Two of the very first settlers were James Seely and Edward McIntyre, who both made Dorchester their permanent home.

Dorchester: In The Beginning

Here is a look at Dorchester around 1890, less than a decade after its official incorporation, as documented by Andreas' History of the State of Nebraska:
* POPULATION: "About 300, and is made up of a substantial and progressive class of citizens, who are moral and industrious. ... The town grew but very little until the year 1879, for the reason that Pleasant Hill, on Turkey Creek, a short distance south, was the county seat and naturally drew a trade for quite a large scope of country."
* BUSINESS: "The business and professional interests of the town are represented by three general merchandise stores, two drug, one grocery, one furniture, two hardware, and two millinery stores, one bank, two restaurants, two hotels, three livery stables, a post office, one newspaper office, two elevators, two lumber yards, two coal yards, two blacksmith shops, two lawyers and four physicians."
* SCHOOL: "The schoolhouse is a good one. The schoolhouse was built in 1872, since which time the public schools have been continually kept up. The present schoolhouse is 24' x 40' in size, two stories high. The school is graded and consists of three departments. The house is found too small, and arrangements will soon be made to increase its size."
* CHURCHES: "There are three substantial churches."
* HOMES: "The residence portion of the village is made up of neat houses of different styles of architecture, but none of them very large."
* NEWSPAPER: "The Dorchester Star, which was established August 21, 1881, by H. C. Bittenbender, who edited it until January 19, 1882, when he sold it to Ryerson & Bullock, the present proprietors. The Star is a bright weekly paper, five-column quarto, in size, and is Republican in politics."