This year, the city of Lincoln has invested $47 million in street construction and resurfacing projects of 18 lane miles of arterial streets and 8 miles of residential streets, with another investment in streets and roadways of $87 million scheduled for the next two years.
Any drivers who have had to negotiate their way through the arterial construction over the past month have experience with the “Lincoln on the Move” program, funded by a quarter-cent sales tax approved by voters five years ago.
And those who live on residential streets that have been resurfaced see the benefits of the program on a daily basis.
Rightfully touted by Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird during her State of City address on Oct. 8, the street construction and resurfacing program has been an unqualified success in addressing one of the top priorities Lincolnites expect from city government.
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As for public safety, the citizenry’s other top priority, Gaylor Baird reported that, including the latest academy class of 18, the Lincoln Police Department’s recruiting efforts have been able to reach 94% of its authorized strength, easing if not eliminating understaffing concerns.
A new co-responder program also will aid police by getting officers out of dealing with mental health calls and benefit those who are the subjects of the calls, who will receive the right kind of intervention through mental health professionals.
On affordable housing, another vexing problem not only in Lincoln but in most cities and even small communities across the country, the Gaylor Baird administration has helped create 2,641 units of new or rehabilitated affordable housing — more than halfway toward the city’s affordable action plan goal of creating 5,000 new or rehabilitated affordable units by 2030.
And a second round of the city’s rental rehabilitation program, which offers grants of up to $15,000 for a variety of energy-efficient upgrades to apartments in the South of Downtown area, will improve 108 units over the next year.
Those efforts, of course, cannot alone solve the city’s housing crisis. But the addition of affordable units will benefit homeowners with incomes below 80% of the area median income ($48,250 for one person, $68,900 for four) and renters whose income is below 60%.
Gaylor Baird said the city, during the past three calendar years, has also worked with developers to issue more residential building permits than any other three-year period on record.
Again, the increase in the number of building permits doesn’t eliminate the need for affordable housing.
But it, like the the street construction program and police department staffing, it is a measure of the Gaylor Baird administration’s effective efforts to address residents' priorities that will help maintain Lincoln’s consistent rankings as one of the best cities to live in in the country.