COLORADO SPRINGS, CO — City leaders want to boost growth on the southeast side of Colorado Springs. It's through the Southeast Strong Community Plan.
The plan covers the six neighborhoods south of Fountain Boulevard. You can check out the draft for yourself and give feedback until November 10th.
People got in groups to give input at Stompin' Groundz Coffee Shop on Wednesday night. They said they're excited the city is finally making that side of town a priority.
'It's overdue," said owner of Stompin' Grounds, Juelz Ramirez.
'For a long time, this part of town has really kind of been a little bit neglected," said 20-year resident, Heather McBroom.
The improvement plan focuses on transportation, housing, business, safety and more. People shared what improvements they'd like to see.
'Increase the walkability of Southeast, really, in connectivity of the sidewalks and connectivity to trails, so that we can increase the health for the people," said McBroom.
Ramirez said the infrastructure to support new development isn't there yet.
"It's just a challenge for people to even get to grocery stores over here. And that comes down to sidewalks and roadways and whether we can bike or bus," said Ramirez.
Since the plan is years in the making, Mayor Mobolade joined in on the conversations. "It's a privilege for the city to collaborate to ensure we're keeping southeast strong."
Community members are ready to change the narrative of the southeast side.
'We also just want nice things too," said Ramirez. "We want things to do and places to go, and so it's good that we're getting some attention."
"Many people don't want to put their businesses down here, because they think this is the bad side of town, and that's just not true," said McBroom.
News5's Jake Walker met with Yevgeniya Tsyganok who works at Solid Rock Community Food Bank on the southeast side. She's been through the plan and tells me it's nice to see in writing, but hopes it actually comes to fruition. She has some other concerns as well- "We have a lot of abandoned buildings and it should be a lot of small businesses coming in."
Walker asked why the abandoned buildings are a problem. Tsyganok tells me "It’s an eyesore to our community. It is dangerous because people don’t want to come to an area that has one shop in it and everything else has been abandoned... they don’t feel safe."
Tsyganok said more about what specifically she thinks the southeast side needs. "We need more walkable areas. We need infrastructure to support the increase in housing for people coming in, and we need hospitals. We need grocery stores and more schools to support that."
In January, the planning commission is expected to weigh in on the plan then send it to city council.
The planning department split the city into twelve neighborhoods and will eventually have a community plan for all of them.
Why are city leaders focussing on Southeast Strong development plan?
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