Laserfiche WebLink
517 <br />a response to define and improve gateways into the City of Paris. <br />Mayor Neeley said the railroad tracks on South Church should be added to <br />improvements to the gateways into the city. <br />Mr. Ackerson said under the issue of quality of life, there was a need to show <br />improve the appearance of unsightly property in certain entrances into the city, <br />improvement to areas of poor visibility, to improve areas prone to have traffic <br />conflicts, and to improve areas with unsightly parking in the city. Mayor Neeley <br />pointed out the location of Jefferson Road and South Church Street as being <br />hazardous at certain time of the day. Mr. Ackerson cited programs for the elderly <br />such a transportation program, provide funding alternative to the elderly for <br />home repairs and maintenance, and provide education on energy efficiency and <br />encourage energy efficient housing for the elderly. Mr. Ackerson said the city <br />needs to utilize community facilities and assets to assist parents with childcare. <br />Mr. Ackerson said the city could hold town hall meetings to address community <br />issues. Under the issue of youth services, the response was to support the <br />Dragon Park expansion, develop a soccer park inside of Dragon Park, expand and <br />upgrade city's parks along with construction of bike trails and improvement of <br />sidewalks. Mr. Ackerson said that the issue of maintaining small business as <br />being the backbone of the community, and the city should focus on tourism, and <br />capitalize on the aging population. Mr. Ackerson said another issue was the <br />development of annual community projects through a cooperative effort by <br />promoting cooperation among community groups and hold a citywide clean <br />up /paint up project sponsored by the city. <br />Mayor Neeley departed the meeting at 6:20 P. M. <br />Mr. Mickey said the last topic is economic development and the first issue was <br />capitalize on job growth and training opportunities and said what they would like <br />to do in working with Gary Vest and his office and perforate elements of their <br />strategic plan into the city's comprehensive plan and he looked to the City to give <br />him input on that. Mayor Pro Tern Thomas said his feeling on that would be to <br />turn it over to an educational effort such as job training and job opportunities. <br />Mr. Mickey said the next issue under economic development is the promotion and <br />regulation of better land use and service expansion by consolidate industrial <br />parks, focusing annexation and service expansion along existing corridors, and <br />focusing on commercial expansion at intersections with the Loop 286 such as <br />Highway 271 and the North Loop, the North Loop at Highway 195. Mr. Mickey said <br />the response to the cooperation between the City, County and Chamber of <br />Commerce was to have meetings of the three groups, better communication, <br />code enforcement, zoning fiber optics1joint projects, drawing in more retail <br />business, group informal meetings with countywide representatives, build <br />stadiums, restore buildings creation of a TIF District, and.create a tax free zone <br />for a retirement. village. Other issues were annexation plan to implement <br />