I heartily agree with state Rep. Ben Hodge’s plea (10/17, Letters) to the Johnson County Commission to reject Overland Park’s annexation request of the 15 square miles to our south.
I am a homeowner in Overland Park, and if you put this proposal to our residents, you would find they would soundly reject it. This plan is certainly not “by the people,” nor is it “progress.”
In an As I See It column in July, John Jennings pointed to many things that need to be done in the city. He said we should resolve not to annex any additional parcels and work to improve basic services and infrastructure. He also said that you don’t become a “world-class city” by saying yes to every developer who wants to build another unneeded strip mall.
In a letter to the mayor in August, I expressed the same sentiments.
I live near the quadrangle of 135th Street and Metcalf Avenue. At that intersection there are six lanes of westbound pavement. Yes, strip malls and dense population.
I run the gauntlet daily, from Lamar Avenue to Antioch Road. It’s only one mile, but it’s saturated with eight traffic signals. We sit and wait as those signals go through their programmed cycles, and we burn our fuel and our tempers.
The worst is yet to come, as the multistoried apartments come and the large Corbin Park shopping center, 96 sites, on the southeast quadrant.
So let’s be kind enough to leave the contented people to our south to the happiness they now enjoy — as we work to improve our model of “progress.”
Norman Price
Overland Park
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