City receives two grants for sidewalks and to enhance parks

It is that time of year again when we prepare for the holidays. I hope all of your plans for Thanksgiving come together the way you hope, and you thoroughly enjoy your family and friends.

 Well, I got talked into doing something that may be interesting. You see, I cajoled into playing a snake at a Christmas concert. But this snake is not what you think. I will be playing a forerunner to a modern-day tuba called a snake, because that is the best way to describe it. The concert will be of medieval music played on medieval instruments.  

 This horn is a tube that starts with the mouthpiece on the lips and winds its way back and forth finally curving upwards at the end to rest on your feet. There are no valves.  There are six holes to help with making distinguishing notes, but much of the pitch is determined by the musician’s lips. This is the tricky part – especially when the musician (me) does not have that fine of an ear and it has been a long time since my lips have been in shape.  

 Due to my lack of skill, our group decided that I would play one bass note to form the bass line and help everyone keep time. My job in practicing will be to consistently find that one note and not vary from it. Please wish me – and the audience – luck in this concert.

 Did the snow on Sunday morning surprise you? It did me. Fortunately, it did not catch the street department off guard. They spent Saturday preparing the intersections and main roads with magnesium chloride to help with traction. If you have a chance to see Ron McDaniel or any of the street department guys, please be sure to thank them. They deserve it for being on top of the situation.

 Since snow is not out of the question, you might want to get leaves raked into the streets as soon as possible if you have not already done so.  Also, once they are raked into the street, Ron would like to ask that you do not park within 10 feet of the piles.  Parking closely makes it more difficult to get the vacuum to the entire pile which adds to the time it takes to finish. The way you park can add up to a week’s worth of time in the leaf pickup process for the town. 

 With the possibility of early snow, how you park can collectively make the difference in getting leaves picked up this fall or having to wait until spring. Please help out by allowing a 10-foot gap between your car and the leaves.  

 I also wanted to bring you up to speed on a couple of grants the City has received. One is a grant to complete the Weiser High School to Memorial Park/Downtown sidewalk. As you are aware, the sidewalk has been completed along most Indianhead Road to the golf course then down State Street to the bottom of the hill. The new grant will complete the section on Indianhead in front of the seminary building to the high school.  It will also go from the base of the hill on State Street down to the Weiser Christian Church, branch off on Howard Ave. and connect to the sidewalk at Memorial Park. The City received the grant to improve safety conditions for students walking to and from school.

 Speaking of the parks, the City and the Blue Cross of Idaho Foundation have completed the preliminary work for the $85,000 grant to enhance the parks as a gathering place. A survey has been conducted and the results are in. The City Council’s Public Facilities Committee will be meeting with other interested parties to go over the results. The purpose will be to take your ideas and desires as expressed in the survey and implement those ideas and desires, as best we can with the funds available, in the parks. There will be more on this later as we pour over the results. But for now, thank you to everyone who completed a survey to let us know what you would like!

 Well, that’s it for this week. May all your plans come together and may you have a very Happy Thanksgiving!