Skin color and stature
Does Del. Paul C. Harris possess the intellectual honesty to recognize why he was chosen to speak on opening night at the Republican National Convention or why he is George Allen’s Senate race chairman Cover story, July 18?
The obvious answer for this obscure state delegate’s selection is as plain as the color of his skin.
Apparently, these black conservatives see no hypocrisy in advocating the end of affirmative action as their careers advance because of it.
David M. Gammino
People, not politics, decide fate of Huguenot Bridge
Reference was made in the July 18th issue to the expenditure of funds for the completion of Route 288 and for dealing with the congestion at Parham and Patterson Letters, July 18 and Street Talk, June 20 — so why should the Huguenot Bridge go lacking?
The truth is that the Huguenot Bridge should have been built as a four-lane bridge back in the early 1950s. And, as I remember it, there was an attempt to upgrade that facility to a four-lane bridge in the late ’60s.
On both occasions, it was the will of the people who then lived on Cary Street and River Road to not construct that facility to provide the capacity necessary to handle the traffic. The next alternative occurred in the mid-’80s, which provided for the Parham/Patterson Bridge to remove the traffic from the Huguenot Bridge. This is ultimately what created the congestion at Parham and Patterson.
The truth is, if Route 288 had been built when it was originally put on the proposed road construction plans 30 years ago, there would not be the congestion at Parham and Patterson. Nor would there have been the deterioration as a result of an overload of traffic on the Huguenot Bridge.
The bottom line today is that no one wants to shut the Huguenot Bridge down long enough to repair it, but ultimately that is what will have to be done, and it will be a huge inconvenience for those people living immediately south of that crossing.
So, yes, the Huguenot Bridge condition remains political, but primarily because of the citizen input in those communities closest to it.
John C. Watkins
10th Senatorial District
Correction:
In last week’s issue we erroneously identified Colleen McCue, creator of the Cops & Docs program, as a physician. She is not a medical doctor. McCue, who is supervisor of the crime analysis unit at the Richmond Police department, is a doctor of psychology and adjunct professor of surgery at MCV. Style regrets the error.
