Trails are a value to the community, if taken care of
One of the first tangible signs that life IS in fact slowly returning to normal will be the reopening of the fountain and splash pad at the Town Green.
The fountain, which did not flow last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, is slated to reopen on April 2 assuming it passes a health department inspection next week.
That’s the good news. Here’s the not so good news. Rec Department personnel have been busy trying to replace and repair lighting units around the fountain that were vandalized over the past year.
Why in the world would someone feel compelled to steal or force out lighting in the concrete around that fountain?
Those are fairly specialized lights and Rec Director Todd Wofford said his staff had a tough time finding replacements.
It’s just another example of people hanging out downtown who have nothing better to do than cause problems that impact life for the rest of us.
By now most readers are aware that I spend a lot of time walking the trails in our community. It’s pretty disgusting that almost daily there is broken glass on the trail that runs along the downtown side of the Oostanaula River, between the Third Avenue Deck and the river.
Police are doing what they can to deal with groups of people who like to hang out in the deck and do their thing but the police can’t be there 24-7, and they shouldn’t have to be.
The other thing I’m seeing along our trails a LOT nowadays are face masks that people apparently started out with and then decided just to ditch.
It’s not as if there aren’t litter bins along all of the trails.
If somebody is out there on a walk or ride, why in the world would they just toss a mask off to the side? That said, yes, we could use a few more of the trash receptacles, but those are more expensive than you might imagine.
I got a nice response to my column a couple of weeks ago about the need for color along the trails. So far, I’m aware of $301 in pledges to help purchase some ornamental trees to be planted along the trails. That’s a wonderful start. I’m just waiting on the tree board — yes, Rome has a tree board — to let me know who to send the check to.
Wofford also had some good news for me the other day when he said some of the trees that International Paper would be purchasing, to replace trees lost to the new natural gas pipeline, could potentially be placed along trails.
Those won’t be little seedlings but sho nuff trees, maybe 10 to 20 feet in height, that will be transplanted and perhaps bear color as early as next spring.
We are truly blessed to have a trail system that runs through the heart of the community. In fact, in theory if not practice, the zero mile mark for everything is the Ellen Axson Wilson statue in front of the Chief John Ross Memorial Bridge.
For those who aren’t aware, it is right at a mile from the statue across the pedestrian bridge and then north on the levee trail to East 12th Street. It’s also right at a mile if you go across the bridge turn left, loop under Second Avenue and then out the Coosa levee to the end of the trail behind the American Legion Post 5.
Out and back walks on either of those links are easy during a lunch break.
From the statue, along the river past the library, and out to Ridge Ferry Park, you’ll hit the 1-mile mark between the bandstand and the tree house near the ECO Center. If you stay on that trail, you’ll hit 2 miles behind Chieftains Museum, a little bit before you reach the Ga. 1 Loop bridge. Keep going out around State Mutual Stadium and you hit the 2.75-mile mark in the parking lot behind the stadium.
If you leave the Wilson statue in the other direction and cross the South Broad Bridge, then loop out the Kingfisher Trail, you’ll reach the mile mark just before you get to the bridge across Silver Creek.
The popular new Mount Berry Trail, from behind the post office on U.S. 27 out to Big Dry Creek, is right at 1.9 miles.
Among the projects that could happen this year is the Redmond Trail Phase 1, from the end of the Oostanaula River levee across Little Dry Creek to the new Mount Berry Trail. That’s just a quarter of a mile long, but it’s been 10 years in making.
Floyd County opened bids on that project Friday. Lewallen Construction was the low bidder for $838,153.01 with a projected completion time of 270 working days.
The bid was well above budget but a representative for the company said they were willing to work with the county to reduce the price.
Rome is also expected to start work on Redmond Trail Phase 2, through Summerville Park along an abandoned rail line to The Spires at Berry College.
Put it all together and it’s a system Romans can be very proud of.
If people won’t break glass on it, or dump masks and cigarette butts on it.