Riverfront? Good Idea!

Reading the Topeka Capital-Journal this morning I came across an article about creating a riverfront are in Topeka. This would include paths for hiking, commercial businesses and maybe an art district. The city's group Think Big Topeka has been organizing a downtown project that would change a lot in the city's downtown area, and the riverfront project would end up being an extension.

As I have written previously in my blog posts, I am all for change in Topeka. The only problem I have with this article is that it didn't go into detail about what would be happening until the project was done. The author states twice that it will take years, maybe decades until the project would be completed, but never what sacrifices would have to be made. The project is still in its planning stages and I am excited to see what they come up with. With change there is always debate, and someone will be left not completely satisfied, but I am glad people in Topeka are trying. I can't wait to see what happens!

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http://cjonline.com/news/local/2010-04-22/riverfront_questions_and_answers

$8,000 for Buying A House?

As a first-time homebuyer that is getting ready to close on a house before the April 30 deadline, I am very interested in this article. I like that the author covers people that are excited about the tax incentive and uses them as their main source of information, because this is an exciting deal for people like me.

As someone who also tried to hurry along our purchase of a new home to obtain that $8,000 it is nice to know there are other people out there doing the same thing. On the other hand, there are people who are not swayed either way by the tax incentive. They don't want to rush their purchase to get a mere $8,000 or so they say. I think that is a lot of money and it helped open our eyes to different houses than what we would normally look at.

My husband and I look forward to using our money to make the house better and fix it up the way we want it. If we were looking at houses and weren't planning on that extra money, I am sure we would have been more picky. We tried to look at this as a positive incentive from the government and I am glad that for the most part other first-time homebuyers are as well.

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http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/2010-04-14-firsttimehomebuyers14_CV_N.htm

Royal Valley Students try their hand in politics

Royal Valley Middle School is trying something I think more students their age need to try as well. They are doing something for their hometown as well as learning about the country's political system. They are trying to name a portion of the US-75 highway, north of Topeka after James Lane in tribute to the underground railroad that ran near there. This is a good way for young students to learn about the legislative process in their country, I wish we would have done something like that when I attended Royal Valley.

Not only are these students learning the political system in this country, but if they are successful they will also need to do other things. They will need to raise money for signs to post on the highway, which will also teach them money management and time management as well as the responsibility of naming a highway as a memorial. This is a huge deal for these students and I am proud to say I went to Royal Valley!

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http://cjonline.com/news/legislature/2010-04-08/a_hard_lesson_in_democracy

Google is Topeka for a Day

Not only was Google the talk of Topeka today, but Topeka the talk of Google as well. I am so excited that Google has noticed our efforts to get their attention and actually renamed their company for an entire day. It may be an April fool's joke but it is a funny one that means a whole lot to this city.

When Mayor Bill Bunten named Topeka Google, Kansas for the month of March, he was criticized by people from all over the world. Now it just goes to show that being a little unorthodox pays off once in awhile, he got their attention! Now Topeka may have a chance at being the test site for Google's new higher speed internet. Google’s spokesperson Andrew Pederson says that their April fool’s joke has nothing to do with who they choose as their test site, but I still think it is a positive step in the right direction!

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http://cjonline.com/news/local/2010-04-01/google_gag_tickles_topeka