By Per Peterson
The discussion at last week’s Tracy City Council meeting about hanging flower pots in town was not the first time elected officials have taken on the issue, and it probably won’t be the last. But at least council members could agree that flowers are a big piece of beautifying the town.
Council member Seth Schmidt believes flowers serve an important purpose in town. He said the program is a nice partnership between the community and businesses owners and the City.
“I think that blooming flowers and hanging pots in the downtown district makes a very positive statement about our community,” Schmidt said. “It tells people that we’re proud of our town, this is a good place to live … we care. For a relatively small investment, I think that it’s well worth the City supporting this to some degree.”
Council member Ron Koopman agreed, but added that Hwy. 14 should not be neglected when it comes to beautification efforts in town.
“People passing through, I think they’re gonna see that more than in downtown Tracy,” he said. “Highway 14 is busy, and we show people nothing there.”
Tracy Mayor Pam Cooreman reiterated that businesses on the highway should not be left out of any plan.
“It used to irritate me that (the City) did everything for downtown … because if Highway 14 doesn’t look good, what’s gonna make you want to go downtown?” she said.
Schmidt countered, saying that there are areas along the highway that are spruced up every spring an include some kind of flowers. He said if there is a highway business that wanted to be included in the flower container program, they should be able to. He said he would support the City watering those as well, but he also wants to make sure downtown gets its due.
“I don’t want Highway 14 to sideline our downtown project that we have had in existence for a number of years,” he said. “It’s where the Box Car Days parade goes, and people are there to go to the VMC.”
See this week’s Headlight Herald for more on this article.