Mayor Cortez discusses Pennsylvania Ave. viaduct and more

The City of Joplin is hosting an open house public meeting tonight from 4:40 to 6:30 on the fifth floor of City Hall with the focus on the demolition of the Pennsylvania Avenue viaduct and the future options.
Mayor Cortez told Newstalk KZRG the city wants the public’s input.

“It’s your opportunity to go in and take a look at some potential plans for it and then offer your input on what you think should happen with that viaduct,” Cortez told KZRG Morning Newswatch listeners. “It’s got to come down. It’s dangerous. We can’t let any pedestrian traffic on it, let alone vehicular traffic. So it’s got to come down. But when it does come down, what’s that area going to look like? How functional is it going to be for our community? What should go there? How is it going to affect the surrounding businesses? Those are all things that we would love, the input from the community.”

Later this month, the City of Joplin is also hosting a public meeting September 22nd, 23rd and 24th for a budget work session. For three days, the city will go over every page of the budget and dissect it. The public is encouraged to show up.

“Our budget book, if you could just imagine, is maybe an inch and a half thick,” Cortez said.

“And on those three nights, we’re going to take each and every page of that and dissect it and go through it in a public meeting. … That budget book is online. You can follow along. You’re welcome to come down at the end of each session. Every night, there’ll be an opportunity for the public to ask questions and interact with your council and city administration about what this $191 million, 2025-2026 budget is going to look like.”

“Yes, many of them tell us there’s multiple things, but some of the top ones are that we’re located in a very, very attractive spot in America,” Cortez said. “I44 and I49, we’re kind of what we call the crossroads. That’s why our industrial park is named the crossroads. With I44 and I49 here, you can get anywhere on either coast, north, south, east or west within 72 hours.”