In a discussion of capital improvements at a recent City Council meeting, the topic of Pierce Drive came up.

Since Pierce Drive is a school road, the city is not obligated to maintain it. Now that improvements are being made to Alumni Field, the state of Pierce Drive has become an issue.

At the meeting, Lesley Jones, director of Public Works, said a major overhaul of Pierce Drive is necessary because of its condition and location through a bog. She also said the main entrance to Cony is really from South Belfast Avenue.

Does that mean that residents who live on the south side of Cony Street, including residents of Mayfair, Glenridge and New England Road apartments, need to drive all the way past Cony Street and down South Belfast Avenue to take our kids to and from school?

City Manager Bill Bridgeo agreed that since Pierce Drive is not a city road it is not a city problem. I beg to differ. Cony is a school in our city serving kids from our city. Therefore, it is a city problem.

I understand there are issues of budgets and financial responsibility. However, to me, (a resident, taxpayer, parent and teacher in Augusta) there exists a long-standing “us vs. them” attitude among city officials regarding school issues. Enough is enough!

The question should be how could we, as a city and school community, continue to invest in our schools to provide the highest quality educational service to our kids? If we want to be an outstanding place to live, then we need to be a community that takes care of itself.

I encourage Bridgeo and Jones to work together with school officials on this issue, now, before winter makes it worse!

Stephanie Connors

Augusta

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