River rapids project just a boondoggle?
Reporter James Fuller has done a disservice to Daily Herald readers in his May 4 article in that it glorifies the adding of a river rapids feature to the Fox River in St. Charles. He makes it appear that Greenville S.C. turned its downtown around by simply implementing a river falls feature and therefore St. Charles can do the same.
However, Greenville's website states that they turned their downtown around by focusing on making the downtown for people. "With wide sidewalks, outdoor plazas and streetside dining, downtown Greenville offers a pedestrian-friendly atmosphere that has been compared to that of a European city." Has St. Charles done that with the First Street Redevelopment project? No! The redevelopment project did nothing to make the downtown more pedestrian friendly. No friendly tree-lined wide walkways or a nice downtown river front park. Instead the city gave its riverfront area to a developer to cram in 3 unattractive apartment buildings.
The First Street Redevelopment project has been a boondoggle in that it added over $30 million to the city's debt. I fear that the St. Charles river rapids project will be another boondoggle which will just add to the city's debt.
Gene Kalley
St. Charles