In response to Robert Whale’s story, “Messy medians steam city” (July 27, Auburn Reporter):

I understand the difficulties facing the City of Auburn regarding maintaining the traffic islands and road medians because of budget cuts due to the economic downturn. But the downturn began in 2008 and this problem of the “homely median” preceded the downturn.

Councilman Peloza tried to save taxpayer money by offering to spruce the median up himself, but he is met with “… you just have to be a little more patient” and “we’ll call a special meeting, and we’ll get on it.” Yes, let’s just kick the can down the road into the median.

The City of Point Loma, San Diego County, facing its own budget problems, had a median project that had been on the table for years, but lacked city support to complete it. It was the Point Loma Association (PLA) (www.plaweb.org), an organization of residents and businesses created in 1961, that stepped up to the plate and completed the project.

Maybe the City of Auburn can follow the example of Point Loma, by looking to the private sector for help in completing the median project, thus saving the taxpayer money during this economic downturn.

– Michael Sepal