Announcement from our City Council Member

The following comes from our representative on the Provo City Council Sherry Hall Everett:

Dear Friends, Neighbors and Colleagues,
I want to express my gratitude for your support, your opinions, and your confidence. Serving on the Council has been one of the tremendous experiences of my life. After much consideration, I wish to announce that I will not be seeking a second term to serve on the Provo Municipal Council.
I have a great love for this community. I remain concerned about the challenges that we face and how to best meet those challenges with limited personal and community resources.  In that spirit I will remain engaged and focused on the affairs of Provo City and the surrounding community, howbeit not as an elected official. I am confident that someone from our district will step forward to represent us with strength of character, integrity, awareness and the strong principles that have guided my efforts during the last four years.

My advice to those who will consider tossing their hat into the ring:

• Cultivate a strong desire to serve; be prepared to spend the time.
• Lead by principle and sound policy.
• Research and understand the issues. Be committed to learn.
•  Keep the people informed. Be committed to this despite the efforts of others work in secret.
•  As do all new Council Members, you will inherit some tough problems; some may take years if not decades beyond your period of service to solve. Do your best to advance each worthy cause before handing off the baton to your successor.
• Yours will be a fresh voice. Offer new solutions. Do not let anyone tell you that you must subordinate your voice to “others who have been around longer”. Those who would tell you that, and their solutions, are often the problem.
•  Honor the input, efforts, history, sacrifice of those that have gone before and consider the policy directions that they have set. Course-correct respectfully and intelligently.
•  Nevertheless, remember that you are but one voice in seven and it takes a majority. Master the legislative process, earning the respect of your constituents and colleagues.
•  You will meet many intelligent, well-intended and committed community leaders who are working to better the community. Respect them accordingly.

What I’ll be looking for from my Council representative:

• A balanced approach to honoring neighborhoods and business.
• An awareness of the tremendous growth that is coming to the Valley and how it will impact  our city with regard to local business, schools and neighborhoods.
• A commitment to planning and good growth for Provo as an emerging urban center.
• A commitment to a long-term sustainable budget.
• A commitment to transparency and keeping us informed.
• Strong support for the Provo Vision 2030 plan.
• A commitment to intelligent policies that support Downtown Revitalization.
• An understanding of the role of the Municipal Council in our form of government.
• Someone who is a builder, not a destroyer nor are they captive to ANY special interest group(s).
• Someone with sound principles and full of integrity... without exception.

Thank you again for the privilege that it has been to serve. I stand ready to support any and all who step forward to carry on the work that I have endeavored to accomplish.
Warmly,

Sherrie Hall Everett

Roar with the Lions!

Another message from our neighboring neighborhood and Aaron Skabelund:

Dear Rivergrove and Grandview South Neighbors,

Thanks to all those who have helped out so far with all the work we have completed in Lions Park. Thanks to the volunteer hours and hard work donated by so many over the last two years, we have poured over 2500 linear feet of concrete pathways, planted over 35 trees, and made many other wonderful improvements to our neighborhood park.
The purchase of the concrete and other materials was made possible by five $5000 matching grants (for a total of $25,000) that our neighborhoods have received from the city, as well as by a number of generous financial donations from neighborhood residents and businesses.
To finish the pathways--a section from the large pavilion to the northwest corner, which will create a loop around the park's entire periphery, and a section across the middle from the restrooms to south of the small pavilion--both neighborhoods need to apply for one more grant each. To be eligible to apply, as we have done so for previous grants, neighborhood residents pledge to match the $5000 grants in the form of volunteer work hours. (Volunteer work is calculated at $8 per hour.)
There are many ways that people can help out and not involve manual labor, so don't hesitate to make a pledge. Simply making a pledge helps! Please immediately follow the link below to a google document to do so. You may pledge as an individual or as a family. We would like to gather enough pledges to apply for the grants by mid-August and start the work this fall.
Pledge Here

You are welcome to forward this message to any neighbors who may have not received it and to spread the word in other ways, and we welcome any questions you might have.

Sincerely,

Aaron Skabelund
Project Organizer
Rivergrove Neighborhood
857-1698

David Nay
Project Organizer
Grandview South Neighborhood

Lions Park Improvement Project: Final Stage!

This report is from Aaron Skabelund:

The Rivergrove and Grandview South neighborhoods recently finished matching the grants we received last year and we (the Rivergrove neighborhood) are hoping that Grandview South will once again support us in applying for one more grant. The pathways and all the trees and shrubbery look great, and I have never seen so many people, from both neighborhoods and beyond, enjoying the park.
The city is so pleased with the improvements that we have made in the park that they have set aside $5000 for grant application from each neighborhood, which should be enough to complete the pathway all the way around the periphery of the park and connect the bathrooms to the mid-section on the west side, and make some additional improvements.
Please let me know if you have any questions. We look forward to working with you to gather pledges of volunteer hours and donations and to complete the work and match the grants.

Any Eaglettes out there Looking for a Project?

Some of the improvements planned for Lions Park could be set up as Eagle Scout projects.  If you know of any young men who are interested in taking part and organizing a portion as their Eagle project, please have them contact Aaron Skabelund at 801-857-1698.

Municipal Elections

The City of Provo will hold a non-partisan municipal general election on Tuesday, November 8, 2011, to elect four council members to serve four-year terms of office. Council members will be elected from Council Districts 1, 3, and 4, and City Wide II. If more than two candidates file for an office, a municipal primary election will be held on Tuesday, September 13, 2011.
This is important to our neighborhood since one of the City Council seats up for election is for that of our own district.
The filing deadline for candidates is this Friday, July 15. Candidates must file at the City Recorders office before 6 PM that day.
Information for candidates or about the city elections can be found on the elections page of the City website.  The current list of candidates is up-dated at the end of each day and found on the candidates page of the City website.

Road Construction

I feel like all my news these days is about traffic and road construction.  You can help diversify the news by sending me news tips to post.  Send them to grandview.south@gmail.com.  In the meantime, this from UDOT:

The on-ramps from Provo Center Street to northbound I-15 are scheduled to close the nights of July 7-8, starting at 11 p.m. Crews will be paving and doing work associated with the northbound I-15 traffic shift.

Additional closures will occur in the following weeks. Area motorists are advised to use University Avenue in Provo or University Parkway in Orem as alternate routes to access northbound I-15.

The southbound University Avenue on-ramp and the southbound off-ramp to S.R. 75 (1400 North) in Springville are scheduled to be shifted Tuesday, July 5, onto the new permanent concrete. These two ramps will connect and run on the new concrete, separate from the southbound I-15 lanes to facilitate work in the center of the roadway for up to 30 days.

Through July, motorists should be prepared for changes in ramp entrance and exit locations and merges.

Construction Traffic Alerts

Especially useful on holiday weekends, construction reports from UDOT alert vacation travelers about local hot spots:

o    Geneva Road closed nightly: July 5-9, crews are scheduled to close Geneva Road under I-15 to paint beams (girders) for the new freeway bridges. The road will be closed from 9 p.m. until 5:30 a.m. each night of the closure. Motorists can use 200 South to Lindon Parkway to 1600 North as an alternate route.

o    Orem Sandhill Road closed: July 8-9, Sandhill Road is scheduled to close in both directions between University Parkway and College Drive on the UVU campus from 11 p.m. Friday until 5 p.m. Saturday. Crews will be installing a large drainage pipe across Sandhill Road. Alternate routes are College Drive to 400 West to University Parkway.

o    NB I-15 traffic shifted in Provo: As early as July 7, crews are scheduled to shift northbound I-15 traffic onto a new section of concrete pavement between Provo Center Street and the Provo River. Area motorists should be prepared for a new lane configuration in this area.

o    Provo Center Street NB on-ramp closed nightly: The nights of July 7, 8, 15 and 16, crews are currently scheduled to close the northbound on-ramps from Center Street to I-15. These closures allow paving and work associated with the northbound traffic shift. Additional closures are scheduled after the Pioneer Day holiday. Area motorists are advised to use University Avenue in Provo or University Parkway in Orem as alternate routes to access northbound I-15.

o    S.R. 75 SB off-ramp shifted: The night of Tuesday, July 5, crews plan to shift the S.R. 75 (1400 North in Springville) southbound off-ramp traffic onto newly built sections of the ramp.

All construction activities are subject to change. Please visit the udot.utah.gov/i15core for details about ongoing activities.