Memory serves there was a big issue the last time anyone made a mention about paving over a brick road.  The majority of our city, or so it would seem, prefers the brick streets for the nastalgic feel.  Also, factor in that the last maintenance the brick streets required was right about the time they were set, they fit the budget.  I'm all for paved roads as the bricks have torn up more than one of my vehicles with the shaking and vibrations and not to mention theyre death traps once theres any precipitation or snow.  Then theres the fact they stay ice or snow covered for extended periods...but I could ramble on all day.  For my money its paved.  Just my $0.02.

Fiscal restraint is exactly what people shouldn't be doing during an 'economic downturn', that is surely the last thing the government wants you to do. When people stop spending money it only decreases confidence in the market and prolongs the recession. As another bonus, we are roughly 6-10 months away from coming out of this recession depending upon which economist you talk to, so in realty at least opening up talks and taking bids for such a job would not be such a bad idea, heck you might even be able to schedule the job for pretty cheap due to the perceived economic crisis.

Also, a recent Traveler article alluded to the fact that Ark City has actually taken in more money from sales-tax revenue than years past, and that statistic was before counting holiday shopping, not necessarily the gloom and doom economic situation that the media would like to feed you.

I guess this is a good time for a mini rant at the media, but these days the media is negative. We live in a state fear, where the media practically instills fear into us the viewers, you can't watch a news channel for 5 mins without hearing about a shooting, murder, etc. Other countries news reports aren't like this, and it's sad that they do all this fear mongering just to boost their ratings.

Back on track now, I think that it's time to replace those brick roads. Honestly the nostalgic feeling is lost when you ram your car through the 85 million pot holes and dips that occur because of the brick (especially the transition from paved to brick, think the chestnut underpass before it was redone) not to mention the 3 extra weeks that bricks are covered in ice because you can't put down salt or ice remover since it eats the brick. Another point to note is that these days brick isn't really that nostalgic. Smooth, flat, and nice looking paved roads really does have a better look than the worn down and unkempt brick streets.

As for the time frame, it wouldn't be too bad of an idea to get a group together and start shopping around for someone to undertake the project, you might be able to get them contracted now for less money than they would do it for in a better economy, and such a project probably wouldn't be started on for a good year at the very least.

I like the brick. I kinda wonder how old they are. How many hands did it take to lay that much brick in Ark City? They may be a little rough, but I still like them.

I think it keeps people from going too fast.

Im not sure paving the roads means you necessarily have to remove the dips, at one end I could see where if you wanted to take on a project like this you might as well go all out, but I can all see what Right is saying with the speed thing. I think you could find a happy medium with minor dips and only fixing the major problem areas (first block of North A street anyone?). God knows as fast of some like to drive on brick it would be scary to see what happens on pavement, although I'm sure police scanning those areas might pick up some too, I can't remember that last time I saw a police vehicle on a side street that wasn't at a house..