An inside source at City Hall told us that the City is looking at some additional properties for another round of annexation. Maybe if they keep at it they will soon have all the properties that currently receive water and sewer service from the City of Havre. I am sure they have their eye ultimately on the additional tax revenue more annexation will bring but do they have the staff and equipment to take care of the extra responsibilities that come with annexation? More streets to maintain, more infrastructure to upgrade, and even the simple things like sending out those weed notices will need an increase in man power.
I wonder if the newly annexed property in this picture has gotten his weed notice yet? Further pondering has me also wondering if commercial eyesores like this second picture are also going to be on the list of blighted properties when the council goes after the landlords with its proposed landlord ordinance?
One picture is the tourists welcome to Havre from the east end and the other is the first thing you see traveling from the west.
I think they've done enough for now, maybe down the road. Great blog by the way.
ReplyDeleteI just hated Havre when I first came here. Thought it was such a dumpy town. I was embarrassed that traffic thru here saw all the eyesores on HWY 2 and Havre's downtown was such a disgrace. But in recent years many improvements have happened and I've grown to like it. Remember when the old Gandolph's just fell down. That was a blessing. And they tore down the eyesore Corner Bar and replaced it with a new, nicer business. And the big empty lot that used to be Rocky Mtn Packing is certainly an improvement. There have been several improvements to the drive thru town and maybe part of it is that I am more used to it, but at least I'm not ashamed of it anymore. There are lots of new businesses and they do a great job of beautifying their properties. I like the flower beds at Lotton Construction when you come into town...the weeds in the empty lots on the road to the elevators could use a little help but at least something is growing there and it's not full of junk cars.
ReplyDeleteThere have been lots of new businesses opened on the main street in the last 15 years and many of them in new buildings. The Wendy's and the auto parts stores come to mind. The park on first street is nice...the bison sculpture is great and it's a nice gathering place in the summer months for the farmer's market and other venues. The buildings up near Holiday Village are new and modern although I will forever miss the Baltrush construction sign that looked like tonka toys as you came over the hill. It's too bad that wasn't saved. Yes, there is room for improvement...just as in neighborhoods, some people just take better care of their stuff and have more pride of ownership. But there have been some changes for the better all over town.
I loved the picture of the little well house. Couldn't for the life of me figure out where that apt building was but knew I saw it on a daily basis...then the next day spotted it as I was pulling out of Zip Trip with my morning coffee! Yes, that's definitely an eyesore the city should take care of. I thought it was a storage shed for the apt building so thanks for pointing that out. And I did notice that those "junker cars" down by the atrium and the ones parked in angle spaces backwards on 3rd St have been replaced. maybe they took the comment to heart about selling those junk cars to pay for the sidewalk-ha!
I think the streets need the money and not the sidewalks. There are two potholes at the 4-way stop by Zip Trip that you could lose a small car in...and with winter coming on they will only get worse. I was disgusted again this fall to see them out painting the lines on the streets...just in time for the snow to cover it up??? Wonder why they waste money on those kind of projects and don't keep storm drains free of leaves and debris or fix the potholes.
I was hoping they'd get infrastructure money to fix some of these things...seems like they pave a street and then about 6 or 8 houses on that street have to have the sewer lines dug up so the new paving is in just as bad a shape as it ever was. Third Ave was a perfect example of that! It would be great if they hired people in the summer to work with city crews on things like replacing sewer mains instead of mowing parks. I suppose the unions wouldn't approve of that. But I do think that Havre has made a lot of improvements and is doing a much better job of moving forward than in the past. I hope annexation gives them more money to keep moving forward.