Final Safe Streets open house held by City of Beatrice

BEATRICE – The City of Beatrice held their second and final public open house on the Safe Streets for All initiative last night…a light turnout at the Beatrice High School Commons area.
"You always like more public feedback, trying to find ways to get the public to be more involved in these things...but anything we get is better than nothing....so, we appreciate those who have come out."
City Administrator Tobias Tempelmeyer says a next step would be applying for an implementation grant next year. Officials are looking at how much the application would total but Tempelmeyer says there are significant potential sources of funding for improvements. "I think there are some intersections you could fix up pretty quickly with maybe our local dollars, but you're going to need some federal dollars to come in and help us on the segments...whether that's Lincoln Street, Highway 77 or whether its 19th Street. Those are some of the segments that have been picked out through this project, where you're going to need some federal dollars."
The city has been aided by a Washington D.C. firm preparing grant applications and seeking other federal support.
Next week, the city will host another public open house…a session on the topic of the vacant and condemned Dempster Manufacturing site. The city has been acquiring the parcels that make up the property before starting the cleanup process.
Tempelmeyer says the city now owns three of the parcels. A fourth will be acquired in about a month and a fifth parcel should be in possession within the year.
"Right now, probably not another building coming down in the near term. The next set of cleanup would probably be more of some of the existing ground that is there...and not structures. That would probably come in the following year."
The plant where the iconic Dempster windmill water pump was once manufactured, has been an eyesore for several years…readily visible to the public. "Everybody knows it...everybody's familiar with it...everybody sees it. I think there's some curiosity about what's out there....what's involved with the building. There were some comments about, could I have the open house at the Dempster site? We just couldn't figure out a way to make that work and have it be safe. But, I expect a bigger turnout for the Dempsters' open house."
A significant amount of asbestos must be removed from the site prior to demolition, but other possible contaminants must also be addressed.
The Federal EPA’s Brownfields Grant program is a potential source of support to aid the city in the cleanup of the site. Tempelmeyer says it’s a very competitive process among communities seeking those grants.
The November 7th open house regarding the Dempster properties will be from 4 to 6 p.m., at the Beatrice Public Library.