From: www.everythinglubbock.com
By: Mari Salazar
The fate of the $99.6 million dollar bond to start fixing Lubbock County roads will be decided this Saturday, May 4th.
Some people have been waiting years for improvements like that, but others don’t think it’ll be beneficial to everyone.
If the bond passes, there’s already a plan in place to fix several problem areas, including Woodrow Road.
Anita Martinez-Mendez, who lives directly on Woodrow Road near Lubbock-Cooper ISD, said the improvements would force her family to move because they would expand the street into her yard.
“I don’t want them to take anything away from us,” Martinez-Mendez said. “Unless they pay us enough to move because we’re elderly and we can not start over again.”
Lubbock County Judge Curtis Parish said they’re trying to help the people who drive their kids to school and also the people who live in the area.
“This bond package is for the entire county,” Parish said. “It’s not just for one small section of the county that’s experiencing high growth, but we’re experiencing growth and need everywhere in the county.”
Parish said Woodrow Road isn’t the onyl road targeted in the plan. They’ll plan to fix problem areas around Frenship, Shallowater high school, Idalou, and the Slaton area.
“The reason we’re doing it now is because it needs to be done now,” said Parish, “This is a comprehensive plan, not just for one project in Lubbock County, but a bond project that will benefits all the citizens of Lubbock County.”
Martinez-Mendez does agree the congestion in the area near Lubbock-Cooper is terrible, but she still beleives the county should also help her and the other families living in the neighborhood.
“We have always worked. Now we don’t because we’re retired, but like I told you, we paid for this with work. I don’t think it’s fair,” said Mendez.
Lubbock Cooper ISD’s Superintendent Keith Bryant said, in a statement, this will only be beneficial to the school district’s staff, parents, and students:
“Proposition A has the potential to positively impact generations of Lubbock-Cooper students. LCISD is one of the fastest growing school district’s in the state of Texas, and our incredible community has supported maintaining and adding to our school facilities, introducing new programs for students, increasing staff, and many other proactive measures to best serve as many students as possible. Roads, however, have yet to be addressed. On any given school day, approximately 3,000 of our students travel to school via Woodrow Road, Avenue P, or both, in addition to hundreds of staff members and parents. For this reason, our Board of Trustees unanimously passed a resolution in support of Proposition A months ago. Lubbock-Cooper ISD believes our children deserve a safe path to school each day, and our community members deserve safe methods of traveling to and from their homes. Proposition A is the key to providing that.”