Medina should offer property owners incentives for sidewalk improvements
Editor:
Budget season is always a challenging time for elected officials. Striking a balance between keeping taxes low, maintaining essential services, or making tough decisions about what to cut is never easy.
That said, the village still needs to move forward—simply maintaining the status quo isn’t enough to bring about real improvement.
I’d like to propose the creation of a sidewalk replacement fund to help enhance our community of Medina. While sidewalks are privately owned by property owners throughout the village, they provide a clear benefit to everyone.
If the village were to allocate, for example, $20,000 and offer a 20% reimbursement upon project completion, it could serve as an incentive for property owners to invest in sidewalk improvements.
Worst-case scenario, no one applies and the $20,000 simply carries over. In the best-case scenario, we get new sidewalks that benefit the entire community. This could be structured as an annual application process, operating on a first-come, first-served basis—or, if there’s high demand, a rubric could be implemented to prioritize applications.
Growth of Medina is needed and this is a small way to help.
Tim Elliott
Medina
