Athens Councilman James Lucas took advantage of his time during the report of officers at Monday’s city council meeting to make a statement concerning the Vine Street, Westmoreland Street, and Westview Street drainage and sewer grant project.

The Athens project would address drainage issues, such as repairing failing inlets, paving streets, and providing more sidewalks. The project area includes Vine Street, Westmoreland Avenue, Hardy Street, Bailey Street, Westview Avenue, Brownsferry Street, and Levert Avenue. The $500,000 grant was awarded to the City of Athens by ADECA in January 2021.

He said, “I know this project has been in the works for some time now, and I understand that you have to wait on grant money. When you receive grants, it may not be enough to complete the project, especially if you have to wait it for a long time and prices go up on everything.

“We might not have enough money in grants to do the job, but I believe the Mayor and this Athens City Council can come together and find a way to complete this project. It is very important to the citizens of this community and to me also because I represent this community.

“I plead to this council and the mayor to let us get this started and finish this as soon as possible. This is on the west side of town, and we deserve the same attention as the east side, north side, and south side. So, please, let us give this the utmost attention.”

Following the business portion of the council meeting, Athens resident David Malone addressed concerns to the council during the public comments. He spoke about a perceived disparity between east and west Athens.

Malone said, “It’s been about three years ago that I came before this council and asked that you not put other parks ahead of Jimmy Gill Park. I see that has happened. I went up on 5th Avenue, and there is a beautiful job on that park. Beautiful parking lot and all that, but Jimmy Gill Park is not complete. I mentioned several weeks ago. There are no electrical outlets there for the public to use; there’s no sign; there’s supposed to be a barrier put along the basketball court to protect our kids. That hasn’t been done. I wanted a fence around the pond because that’s dangerous. One lady told me she had to catch her child going toward the pond. Something needs to be done.

“Three years ago, Deborah Gill stood here, and she asked, not once, but two or three times for a splash pad at Lincoln Bridgeforth. She was told there wasn’t any money for a splash pad. But, I look back and there is going to be a dog park at the park on Pryor Street. You are going to build a dog park for the dogs, but you won’t put a splash pad for the kids on the west side of town. Something’s wrong with that.

“This is something that should be addressed and should be taken care of. It looks, when people drive through this town and just take a look, it looks like the city has east side and west side money, and the east side has most of the money. That’s the way it looks when you ride through here, and it shouldn’t be that way at all.

“We should share in the revenue – the entire city should. It’s time to do right. For years, it’s been going that way. Everything on the east side gets financed with no problem, and just like Mr. Lucas said, we’ve been dealing with that Vine Street project for years. They’re, out there on Westmoreland, now digging holes in front of Sweet Home Church again. Every two or three days, they are digging holes, but they don’t ever fix it properly the first time.

“When I ride back home, I ride the city and I look. That’s when I saw the wonderful job you did on the Mr. Tinnon park up there. Beautiful parking lot, but spread the money around. Give everybody something. Don’t do what you’ve been doing for a long time. It’s sad when you do that to a community and you have young people — I have young people asking me, ‘Why can’t we get this and why can’t we get that?’ It’s because of you all that they don’t get things on that side. I come up here and ask for them, and I feel what I am asking for is fair and its needed.

“Don’t spend all the money on one side of the town. There’s sidewalks all around the parts of 65 and we can’t get a ditch filled on Brownsferry.”

Council President Harold Wales responded to Malone, “We try to be fair. I know that we try, and we may fail at times, but let’s just talk about the splash pad for an instance. That splash pad is going to be out here, and it’s for everybody – for every kid.”

Malone pushed back, asking, “Where is it located? That’s the main thing. It’s located on the east side of town. The splash pad is going to be over there. The dog park is going to be over there, while our kids are falling in a pond people won’t put a fence around. It’s possible that a child can get hit on a basketball court, because there are no barriers along the highway to keep a car from coming onto the court. I am not asking for anything that shouldn’t be done. All of this should be done, and you know it.

“Before I go, Miller Public still needs to come down. They are doing some construction on the old Dr. Pepper plant, and they are taking the waste and putting it behind Miller Public. I showed you that, and it is still going.

“Let’s get together and treat everybody alike. When I ride around, I really get mad when I see the difference in the way things are going from one side of town to the other. It’s not fair.”

The News Courier will continue to follow this story.