After two vacant house fires yesterday, city officials are eager to bring change to Topeka. Councilwoman Karen Hiller and Christina Valdevia-Alcala have been working to create the “Changing our Culture of Property Maintenance” committee to improve city maintenance. Hiller says one way of preventing vacant house fires is to secure these vacant properties and monitor them to make sure no one is using them illegally.
Source: KSNT 27 News

Up to 200 free weatherization kits will be distributed to local residents this weekend. The Kansas Gas Service and the City of Topeka worked together to provide these free weatherization kits to help local residents prepare their homes for the coming winter. The kits will be distributed to those who signed up for them on Thursday, Oct. 20 at 215 SE 7th St. in downtown Topeka. “In anticipation of winter, Kansas Gas Service is proud to provide weatherization kits to our Topeka neighbors,” said Lindsay Freeman, State Manager of Community Relations for Kansas Gas Service. “Weatherizing your home helps you save money by saving energy, and it can also improve the comfort of your home.”
Source: KSNT 27 News

A new initiative in Topeka, called “Changing our Culture’ is designed to improve the quality of structures and premises in Topeka, so that structures and premises violations are the exception rather than the rule. Owners are motivated to take care of properties before city departments are even called. “We got involved because the city of Topeka gets complaints about overgrown lawns of substandard property and the issue is what do we do about it. We decided about a year and a half ago to take on the whole thing. We came up with a five year goal to only have 500 substandard properties in this town at one time,” said Karen Hiller, district 1 city council member.
Source: KSNT 27 News

The construction fence is coming down as demolition at the former White Lakes Mall comes to a close. District 5 Council Member Brett Kell says there is already interest in this area by three businesses. With talk of business moving into south Topeka, businesses that are already here are eager to see what’s to come. Jay Ives, president of the Blind Tiger, says that this will be a good thing to Topeka. “It’s about time that something is done with the White Lakes mall,” said Ives. “So, now that the building is down and the developer, we hear is ready to announce, we are waiting to hear what’s going to happen and this is going to be a very big thing for the capitol city.”
Source: KSNT 27 News