Trail Will Take $700,000 To Complete

By Jon A. Brake

The next time the Manhattan City Commission asks you to vote on anything, think of the Linear Park Trail Project and then
vote "NO."

In the mid-1980's the voters of Manhattan approved a "Quality of Life Bond Issue." One of the projects outlined by the City
Commission at that time was a Linear Park Trail running along the Kansas and Blue River Dike South and East of Downtown
Manhattan.

Voter were told that it would cost $450,000 to complete. That was just the start. For the past ten years the City Commission
has been adding projects and money to the Trail until not they have spent more than $1,200,000.

And that is not all. Tuesday night the Commission approve $30,000 to hire a consultant to start Phase II of the Trail. Cost of
Phase II will be more than $700,000.

Phase II will run from Susan B. Anthony on the West to Eisenhower Middle School on the East. Part of the Trail will run
along Marlatt Ave. and go under Tuttle Creek Blvd. at about were Bottgers Marine is located.

The City Commissioners are planning another "Quality of Life Bond Issue vote next year. They want to start a Bus System
costing $8 million, a sprots complex at $15 million, well you get the picture.

Remember the Trail....