Still No Action on Paradise Drive

From Hank Thomas of Waterloo:

See attached letter (below). The original letter was written in February 2012 and in May 2012 a young man was victim of a crash and died. I have sent a follow up letter every year since 2012 to no avail. County presently in lawsuit over the death. Still no action on the road. Hopefully the new County Chairman will address the situation, since the outgoing Chairman never did anything for the citizens using Paradise Drive:

On February 9, 2012 I wrote and you each received, with the exception of Mr. Garner a letter outlining in detail defects on Paradise Drive in Waterloo Alabama. No action was taken on the defects mentioned in the letter. The county engineer did have two signs installed indicating steep grade and curve on the road with each being placed some distance from the gravel portion of Paradise Drive.

Since the letter was received we have had a death occur on the road due in part to the defects pointed out in the letter and still no action. The death occurred in May of 2012. Mr. Mitchell pointed out in the minutes of December 10,2012 that when the commission is made aware of defects, by citizens, that action must and will be taken by the commission to prevent liability on the part of the commission and the citizens of Lauderdale county. This statement was in conjunction with the removal of the "Ghost  Bridge". I concur with Mr. Mitchell on his statement, but wonder why he has not applied this logic to the defects on Paradise Drive even after the death on Paradise Drive.

The commission is presently being sued for negligence as it relates to the defects on Paradise Drive and the death caused in part by the lack of attention to the defects. Still no action from the commission or the county engineer to correct the defects. I have never received an explanation for why no action is taking place nor non-planned .Different department heads point to one another as perhaps needing to provide the answer. As pointed out in the previous letter the standard of care which is the duty of the county "is to keep it's roads in a reasonable safe condition for travel, and to remedy defects in the roadway upon receipt of notice"  The county commission in my opinion has not only failed to act on this matter, but have shown contempt towards citizens voicing their concern regarding the defects. I feel State Law 23-1-80 is not being followed by the county commission on the defects on Paradise Drive.  

Please consider this letter and the attached letter of February 9, 2012 notice of defects on Paradise Drive Waterloo Alabama since no action has been taken on the February 9, 2012 letter. I contend that the first letter is still valid as a notification and this letter is to put the commission on notice that this is a continuing problem. My hopes are that we will not have to suffer more deaths or injuries to get the commission to use their role as commissioners of the people to instruct and oversee that the defects are corrected as quickly as possible.

I would appreciate a response to my letter outlining the county commission's position as to why no action will be taken or a plan of action to correct the defects on Paradise Drive.

Hank Thomas

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The ongoing situation on Paradise Drive was recently brought to mind by the proposed housing projects on North Shore Drive. If developer Will Andrews thinks the county will step in and bring that street up to scratch, he's bound to be disappointed.

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