To the editor:

Roads, bicycle paths, hiking trails and sidewalks are part of our city’s infrastructure. The cost of maintaining all infrastructure (including sidewalks) should be financed by taxpayers at large.

Current sidewalk repair policy is discriminatory in that select citizens are responsible for repairs to public sidewalks that border their residential properties in addition to subsidizing citizens who cannot afford the cost of sidewalk repairs. Money set aside for sidewalk repairs is not government funds but rather taxpayer funds.

Commissioners have used flawed logic in selecting areas of town that need the least amount of sidewalk repairs rather than those areas of town that need the most amount of repairs. Imagine a civil engineer suggesting that we prioritize an intersection with the least amount of accidents over an intersection with the most accidents. This sort of logic is too painful to comprehend.

Discrimination example: If you are a property owner living on Kasold, between Sixth and 15th streets, you paid for the cost of your sidewalk when you purchased your lot or residence. Due to new construction, these same property owners will have a new, higher quality sidewalk that was financed by taxpayers at large. If you live on Kasold north of Sixth street, or south of 15th street, you are burdened with the cost of repairs to your sidewalk(s), which are part of the public infrastructure, without access to taxpayer funds set aside for sidewalk repairs.

J. Joe Herynk,

Lawrence