It’s been said one of the few constants in life is change. We see it in our personal lives, we’re seeing it in our own towns and we see it in our country and the world.
For New Prague, two changes we’re seeing are on the front page. One is how the post office will eventually be closing its current location and moving to a new site in the former Pizza Ranch restaurant. This is a change more than one person in town has wanted to see. In previous editions of The New Prague Times, people have listed several reasons why they would like the post office to move. These have included there not being enough parking in the area near the post office or people having to park further from the post office than they want to. Others have felt the current space is too small to accommodate customers and staff.
As to what the United States Postal Service plans to do with the former Pizza Ranch, the USPS has not said yet what will happen. The former Pizza Ranch building is relatively larger than the current post office on Main Street. A question is whether the former Pizza Ranch building will be refurbished and remodeled with a possible addition of an area for USPS vehicles to drop off and pick up mail.
The other front page story is the plan to build a new police station. I’ve written before that it is time for a new police station. To me, the only way the station could stay at its current site is if there was an addition to the building. Unfortunately, the current site is more or less landlocked and would likely require some solutions that might not be feasible.
An idea is an addition to the current building. One possibility is adding to the building and going toward the south into the parking lot, although that would result in the loss of parking space. Another option is to add a second story to the building. That might be even less feasible than the first option.
As I stated, it’s time for the city to plan for a new police station, although, perhaps right now may not be the right time. If the city were to wait two years it would be just as expensive or perhaps more.
New Prague City Councilor Shawn Ryan and others have suggested a scaled back version of the proposed police station. That might be an answer, perhaps fewer indoor parking stalls, but keep a fenced in area for police vehicles.
The most obvious aspect with a new proposed police station is to have residents involved. Getting opinions and input from citizens is something that in the larger picture helps the city.
There have been comparisons to when the city built the new fire department. I think one aspect that is different is that the New Prague Fire Department was and still is a volunteer organization with some members who have family who were firefighters going back two to three generations. Many members knew how the fire department’s space was getting smaller over time. Before the building of the new fire station, the previous one had been in garages on the northwest side of city hall. It was a space where it was getting hard to store equipment. It was also reaching a point where if the fire department wanted to purchase a new fire engine, the size of the engine was going to be a factor.
I can say with certainty the fire department’s engines, especially the ladder truck, would never have fit in to the old space behind city hall.