Letter to the Mayor of West Lafayette

This is the letter that I wrote to the Mayor of West Lafayette last week regarding the need for a sidewalk.


"Dear Mayor Dennis,

My name is Nathan Deyoung, and my wife and I are West Lafayette residents living at 2431 Neil Armstrong Dr. I am sure that you are a busy man, so I will be as brief as possible. There is a strong need to extend the sidewalk or cottonwood from the corner of Lindenberg rd. to the entrance of Neil Armstrong Dr. along route 231.

Currently, there are three separate apartment complexes (over 10 buildings), one condo association, and one residential neighbor hood that are in are area and would benefit from this path.

1) Many of the residents enjoy biking to school and around West Lafayette. Many families, including ours, only have one car per household so we rely heavily on walking and biking to get around town. Extending the path or sidewalk from Lindenberg would allow for walkers and bikers to have a direct and safe path to do so.

2) It would provide more direct route for people walking from central West Lafayette to get to Wal-Mart. It's not safe for people to have to carry all their groceries down the shoulder of the road when walking or biking home.

3) There is only a shoulder on one side of the road so people are forced to walk or ride their bikes on the wrong side of traffic at times. I'm sure you know the danger in this.

4) As gas prices continue to increase more residents living in the apartment complexes are looking for ways to save money and a safe and direct path would allow many to do so while still being safe.

5) The pedestrian traffic is already increasing along the side of the road and frankly it is an accident waiting to happen as cars and semi-trucks often drift into the shoulder. On more than on occasion, I have had to move off the shoulder to prevent being hit. Also, bikers and walkers when passing other pedestrians get closer to the road.

6) My wife and I, and other people, have tried to use the golf course, but we are often chased down by golf cart and asked not to use the paths.

If you came to look at the road you would see that there is plenty of room for a separated path or sidewalk, and it would only need to be two or so blocks long. Thank you for your time and consideration. If you need signatures, I would gladly secure as many as you would like.

Nathan DeYoung"