Oct. 9, 2014, I wrote to the Brainerd City Council, mayor, city administrator, city engineer, and the chiefs of both the fire and police departments regarding public safety issue of parking on the Laurel Street bridge.
The fire department held a demonstration targeted at children. The police department was also involved. Both failed to enforce state and city code and watched citizens park on the bridge. I have brought the issue of parking on bridges to the attention of the city once before when it was allowed on the College Drive bridge on the Fourth of July a few years ago.
Mayor Wallin, has never contacted me; he is the head of the police department. No city official, elected or appointed, have made any effort to contact me regarding this issue. A citizen brings to light a major concern involving two public safety departments; they say and do nothing. I was expecting a call from either Gary Scheeler or Mary Koep, nothing.
Part of the problem: no signage indicating that bridges are no parking zones. There's one small sign by the firehouse some three meters north; it looks like a trail sign. The bridge doesn't have yellow curbs or no parking signs; dual white lines are painted, making the area look like a parking zone.
The person responsible for streets, is Jeff Hulsether. Our city administrator and elected officials direct him on what to do. Apparently they have no intention of addressing a public safety concern. We only have to look at the icy conditions of Brainerd's streets to see the lack of concern for public safety; which begs the question, why are they so hot to build a new sand and salt storage building when they hardly use any?
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Steven Wolff
Brainerd
