Streetscape more like German-and-Church-scape
Enough is enough. My patience is exhausted. We have had the street scape project focused at the corner of German and Church streets since the middle of September.
From the beginning I have been in favor of this project, but it has dragged on too long. At one of the public meetings we were told that the work on this corner would be completed by the middle of November before Christmas in Shepherdsdtown. Granted they hit stone, but anyone who has been in Shepherdstown for a short time knows that the town is built on stone.
For approximately the first month there was a crew of two people working. Later they expanded to four. At last there is a decent size crew. There was an article recently in a local news
paper that Building Solutions, our contractor, had completed work on the Funkstown bridge ahead of schedule and would receive an incentive bonus of $45,000. Is this why our project has proceeded so slowly?
There has been constant jack hammering from 7 a.m. until 3 p.m. There have been machine malfunctions and equipment falling against a house. A large handicap ramp has been built when there is easy access on to the German Street sidewalk from Church Street. Now it develops that the sides of the ramp are not high enough so they are being added to.
Thank heavens John Brady is on the job because we have seen him insist that several mistakes be corrected. It’s amazing that the businesses on this corner are still open. The access to d’Accord has been virtually blocked many times. The rest of German Street should take this as a warning – be prepared for the worst. In hindsight, how nice it would have been just to have had the sidewalks repaired.
John Shank
West German Street