Curmudgeon looked at the numbers – more than 25,000 page
views since January! Thank you, Dear Readers. Love me, hate me, don’t ignore me!
Let’s backtrack to the Oct. 2 Copperas Cove city council meeting
for a moment and then maybe jump into Election Central. Depending on how long I
go with this.
The history-making vote by the Copperas Cove city council went
down on October 2, and it went about like Curmudgeon expected. I always
wondered who would ultimately be for it. It was abundantly clear how some
councilmen felt – especially James Pierce Jr., Jay Manning, and Charlie Youngs
who were against it, and councilmen David Morris and Kirby Lack, who were for
it. Dapper-
Dan Yancey was abundantly silent from the dais on the matter until
it came time to discuss and vote, and Mark-E-Marc Payne would murmur about the uncertainties
of it all.
There is still a LOT of backlash going on, on social media
and elsewhere about the vote by citizens are upset that the vote didn’t go
their way. Because everyone needs to get
their way and be listened to or “we won’t be your friends no more.” (sorry,
snark leak)
The story is not over on the Business 190 median project.
There WAS a lot of uncertainty prior to the vote on Oct 2., and
even now the decision on the amended plan rests with the Killeen Temple Metropolitan
Planning Organization, and if that group believes the amendment is still in
keeping with the original intentions of the project.
The changes will keep three lanes in each direction, keep the
sidewalk, and have a dedicated bike lane that is separate from the sidewalk.
So, who is on that policy board? Is it a deep, dark secret?
Nawww…. It amazes Curmudgeon how people do not look for information that is
easily accessible. But instead ask their friends instead of going to the source.
It’s a matter of public record on the KTMPO website. Here is
the KTMPO policy board:
Mayor Frank Seffrood (Copperas Cove), Chair
Mayor Tim Davis (Temple), Vice Chair
Judge John Firth (Coryell County Judge)
Councilmenber Susan Long (Temple)
Mayor Spencer Smith (Harker Heights)
Mayor Jose Segarra (City of Killeen)
Mayor Tammy Cockrum (Rogers)
Tim Brown (Bell County commissioner precinct 2)
Mark Rainwater (Lampasas County commissioner precinct 4)
Mayor Marian Grayson (Belton)
Councilmember Gregory Johnson (Killeen)
Councilmember Butch Menking (Killeen)
Carol Warlick (General Manager, Hill Country Transit
District)
Elias Rmeili (District Engineer, TxDOT Brownwood District)
Stan Swiatek (District Engineer, TxDOT Waco District)
Why so many Killeen and Temple people on that board? Here is
how the board is selected:
“The voting membership of the Transportation Planning Policy
Board consists of one representative for each city with a population between
10,000 and 40,000, two representatives for cities between 40,000 and 75,000 and
three representatives for populations over 75,000 as determined by the most
recent Census. All cities within the MPO Boundary with a population under
10,000 shall be represented by their county official or appointee.
Additionally, all counties have one designated representative, with the exception
of Bell County which contains a majority of the MPO and population.”
So there ya go.
What’s the point of all this? It’s important for people to
know who’s on the KTMPO board and what they do and why they do it. MPO’s,
metropolitan planning organizations, are groups that are required for all all
metropolitan areas of over 50,000 in population. MPO’s approve the use of
federal transportation funds in their planning area.
(Interesting, also, that a BIG chunk of the policy board is
also the technical advisory committee, which already said yes to the amendments.)
You can also read more here about MPO’s: https://ktmpo.org/about/mpo-101/
There’s gobs and bogs of info on this website about what
KMTPO does and why, etc.
Which leads Curmudgeon to the next point: The Business 190
project is BIGGER than Copperas Cove. It is abundantly clear that a contingent
of the council (at least three) don’t want this project which “another” Copperas
Cove council approved as a priority, before these three took office. This is a
crappy way to long-range plan. No wonder Copperas Cove’s main roadway looks
like a drunk planned it.
Anyhoo, Business 190 isn’t a short-term project, by any
means.
But it will all come down to the policy board on Wednesday
this week.
Of course Curmudgeon isn’t a policy expert nor does
Curmudgeon have the ability to read minds, nor am I a clairvoyant engineer like
so many naysayers, but if *I* were on the board, I’d look at a few things for this
amendment:
Does the amendment to the project still make safety
paramount for the project overall?
Curmudgeon believes so.
Will the sidewalks proposed make Business 190 safer?
Yes. Curmudgeon has wanted to take photos of all the haphazard
sidewalks and lack thereof on Business 190. It’s dangerous now, y’all, and like
Curmudgeon said before, the city of Copperas Cove will NEVER be able to afford
sidewalks for Business 190. Especially since it can’t install them in other key
areas of the city now. (Will get to that in another post.) This chance will NOT
come our way again. Unless TxDOT decides to just go and do it anyway.
What about the bicycle lanes? Safer?
Yes. If you have seen bicycle lanes in other cities, they
are clearly delineated. The reason people don’t bicycle on Business 190 now is
a given. It’s too dang dangerous without a dedicated area to ride.
(The one possible deal-killer that Curmudgeon sees for the
amendment, is if keeping the three lanes, PLUS adding the median from the
center “suicide/let’s-play-chicken” lane, and adding the bicycle lane, and
keeping the [narrower] sidewalk all within the existing right of way, will meet
TxDOT lane width criteria. It’s not clear how wide those six lanes of traffic
must be. I mean, we saw the fiasco with Avenue D, which was silliness….but Curmudgeon
digresses…)
Curmudgeon now refers the reader to this information on the KTMPO
website:
“KTMPO is working to develop a Regional Multimodal Plan. The
RMP will identify vision and goals for integrated multimodal transportation
systems in the KTMPO area, and will develop specific needs-based potential
projects for the thoroughfare, bicycle, pedestrian, transit, and freight
systems.”
You can see it all on this page right here: https://ktmpo.org/planning/bike-and-pedestrian/
The Business 190 project is in keeping with that plan. “Integrated”
means it’ll work with the regional system as a whole. I-14 is coming and
hopefully another two lanes of 190 south bypass in the future (pleeeeease,
KTMPO board who will score the proposed two more lanes for the bypass– THAT is
a safety issue, for sure!!! Also adding those two lanes will bolster the
regional effort to enlarge I-14. A win for all.).
Remember, dear readers, Business 190 does NOT belong to the
City of Copperas Cove, nor to its citizens. It belongs to the State of Texas and
is overseen by the Texas Department of Transportation.
Okay, ‘nuff said about that.
Curmudgeon was going to talk about Copperas Cove elections,
but will call it a day with this one and get back to elections next post. Which
will probably be sooner than later!
Oh, Lawdy, the Cove Chamber and EDC will rise again – will they
receive again the carte blanche of the past after the November 6th
election? Will the CCCISD school board see two incumbents nudged out of office?
We shall see!
Peace, love, and bunnies, y’all!
