Nearly two months after being chronicled as a public safety hazard on The Schilling Show Blog and News, the connecting bridge between Charlottesville High School (CHS) and McIntire Park remains extremely dangerous.
Large sections of the safety railing have been missing for weeks on-end after the bridge was briefly repaired in April. Now out-of-sight apparently equals out-of-mind for Charlottesville City Government, Charlottesville City Schools, and the Charlottesville Parks and Recreation Department, all of whom have ignored the situation to the peril of families who use the elevated pedestrian path to cross between the park and the school.
What will it take for Charlottesville to address this problem? Must an unwitting child take a 12-foot plunge from the bridge’s peak to the ground below? And if that happens, who will pay for the City’s criminal negligence?
Fix the bridge or close it, Maurice Jones. As acting City Manager, you are now officially on notice of an extant peril that only the City can remedy. You’re in the big leagues now— and the buck stops at your desk.
