Council denies street closure for Sidewalk Bazaar

A tie vote of the Moberly City Council Monday means a decades-long downtown tradition will still be held but will undergo restrictions due to safety concerns.

The annual Sidewalk Bazaar adds to the excitement of going back to school and allows parents opportunities for savings and businesses to make room for their fall lines. The event, always scheduled for the first Saturday in August, traditionally meant closing streets so wares could overflow sidewalks and shoppers could meander down Reed looking at the bargains. Often it meant games to keep the children occupied.

This year the familiar request to close off portions of downtown for Sidewalk Bazaar was denied due to safety concerns. Another event, the National Bikers Roundup, will be held in Columbia this week through Sunday. The event expects 35,000 motorcyclists. According to Moberly Police Commander Kevin Palmatory, the hotels in Moberly all are booked by persons attending the biker event.

In evaluating the request to close off parts of downtown, Police Chief Russell Tarr told the council that hundreds of motorcyclists are expected along the Highway 24/63 corridor. Citing limited resources, Tarr’s recommendation was downtown businesses choose an alternate date for the Sidewalk Bazaar.

Liz Sosniecki, Mainstreet Moberly board member, said much money had been spent on advertising for an event which has been held at the same time of year for 40 plus years.

“It would be a terrible financial burden to the businesses and would be devastating to downtown Moberly as well as a loss of tax revenue for the city,” she said.

Dale Sosniecki spoke before the council stating he did not think the 7 a.m. start time would be competitive for services.

“I think we are being prejudiced against downtown,” said Sosniecki.

Susan Hall, another Mainstreet Moberly member, noted the established date and unwillingness of downtown businesses to change it.

“We would go ahead and have Sidewalk Bazaar even if we can’t have the streets blocked,” said hall.

Tarr stressed that he cannot identify any specific problems that would occur but said safety could be an issue with the addition of so many people coming through town.

“We (MPD) don’t want a bad working relationship with downtown businesses,” said Tarr.

Voting on the measure to close the streets, Mayor Bob Riley and Councilman Herb Lawrence voted yes; Mayor Pro Tem Don Burton and Councilman Dick Boots voted no resulting in a failure of the motion and a denial of the request. Council person Nancy Copenhaver was not present.

In an interview later with Mainstreet Moberly Director Diane Harlan, she spoke on a more positive note.

“This is a positive for our shoppers as now they can park close and load their cars with great sidewalk sale deals.”

An ordinance to establish the tax levy will be addressed at regular council August 16.

An ordinance to establish an annual tax in regards to the 911 tax for the emergency telephone services will be addressed at the next regular session meeting.

Moberly Fire Chief Robert Creed spoke to the council regarding a mutual aid agreement with the MFD and rural departments. Creed said an agreement was put into place April 2006 but for some reason Moberly did not sign it. The agreement issue will go forward to the next council meeting for further consideration.

Mike McCarty of Jacobs Engineering, gave a presentation regarding a sewer system study. The study would involve the Upper Northwest Watershed Wastewater Collection System and would seek ways to determine and eliminate causes of sanitary overflows in the Rothwell Park Lake / Holman Road area. McCarty said approximately 6,200 linear feet of sanitary sewer along Rothwell Park Lake would be inspected via closed-circuit TV with an estimated project cost of $157,500.

Requests to be considered for final consideration at the August 16 meeting include a swim/bike and run event sponsored by the YMCA August 21 and the MHS Homecoming Parade September 24.