Kelly on farmers market, red light cameras, street repair

Brentwood Mayor Pat Kelly said he was approached to run for state senate at one time, but turned the group down because the job didn’t pay enough.

He covered that, and many local matters at his monthly coffee with residents at City Hall Friday morning. A few more than a dozen attended.

In chronological order, some points Kelly covered:

• Drury Hotel is planning a Sept. 17 ribbon cutting. They plan on burying the telephone lines that run in front of the hotel, at a cost of $450,000.
• Kelly said he’s been lobbying for an online sales tax, as a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers. He said online shopping hurts smaller retailers more than big box stores.
• Arhaus recently signed a 10-year lease extension at Brentwood Square. Micro Center, at the Promenade, reached $60 million in sales in five years.
• Covering the recent city tree survey, he said it’s expensive for the city to request a resident to remove a tree on private property because the city hires an arborist to evaluate the tree and take that to a judge, who tells the resident to take down the tree. He said the city contracts an arborist, even though there’s one on on staff, because it alleviates the issue of “big bad city.”
• Kelly said he was against proposed ordinances that would have restricted Manhasset Village construction traffic because it would also restrict any delivery traffic to Brentwood Forest. His proposal is to place “no construction traffic” signs on side streets like High School Drive.
• It’s getting late in the year for the county to start building new curbs for Brentwood Boulevard, which was promised.
• He said he would like to remove the building in front of the Public Works garage to the left, which the city owns, or look at buying the Teson Farms lot, for a “mid-county” farmers market. He said the Schlafly Farmers Market has been very successful.
• The site of the former Sports Attic is for sale and almost unbuildable considering its size and building restrictions.
• The approximately five acre hill along Deer Creek that if removed, could have reduced flooding on Manchester Road, can’t be removed. It was part of the former Petrolite site, and there is a fear of contamination if the dirt is removed.
• He’s for bringing back red light cameras. He said he’s witnessed drivers going around traffic and through red lights.
• Kelly was asked if he had ever considered running for a state-level position in government, and he said a group asked him to run for state senate before current State Senator John Lamping ran. “They had money; they were going to support me to do that, but at that time I was going to have to take a cut in pay to do that,” he said. “They only pay or state legislators $32,000 a year, and I don’t have a job where I can take off half the year.”
• There are some streets that need to be repaired, but it’s a cycle that cities go through. He said the goal, now that some previous bonds are paid off, is to start roadwork without a property tax. Louis Avenue is the worst street in Brentwood, in his opinion, but Parkridge Avenue is the first street planned for renovation, because the aldermen “don’t stay out of it.”