No One Knows The Trouble I've Seen

It's unfortunate when a city government loses touch with its people, but Wentzville has done just that. There is a little town near here called Wildwood, and it's beautiful with landscaped streets, parks, and spacious homes all set in a large wooded area. The majority of Wentzville's Aldermen love it and want to create the same thing here. The difference is that Wildwood was built from the ground up within the last 25 years and Wentzville is 153 years old. Wentzville Aldermen have pushed tree ordinances and overlay districts with strict appearance codes and enforce them with great vigor. It's so tough that when White Castle wanted to build here, they were told that they could not use their trademark white castle building; it had to meet the overlay code. Because White Castle saw the great potential of the location and knew the growth rate of our city, they bent over for the City. Our White Castle is pink! Yep, we have probably the only pink split-face block White Castle in the country. Some businesses turned and ran as fast as they could, like Red Lobster. When Red Lobster was told that they could not use their trademark building they said adios!

Wentzville's city government doesn't seem to understand that they are creating laws that are not popular with citizens and are keeping out businesses that our citizens want. These ordinances increase building costs, create a need for larger government, and in the long run the citizens pay the price in higher taxes, services, and fees. Wentzville already sports the highest sales tax rate in the county, and our elected officials don't seem to care.

An even larger problem exists because the City does not allow the building of homes that first-time home buyers and retired people can afford. Prospective buyers can either buy a 1940's prefab spec home, a $200,000+ groomed subdivision home, or buy somewhere else, which is what they are doing. Currently, Wentzville has 3000 lots ready to be built but no buyers are to be found. Home builders have had meeting after meeting with the City trying to tell them that they are saturated with mid- to upper-range homes and that they need to appeal to the forgotten group of first-time and retired buyers, but their pleas fall on deaf and indifferent ears. It's a sad state of affairs and one that must be remedied or Wentzville's future is bleak.

Our elected officials need to quit trying to be like everybody else and get in touch with the proud heritage that made Wentzville the strong, friendly, small town it has been for 153 years. We need to be proud of who we are, not who we are not!