Downtown Augusta resident Kevin de l’Aigle says he feels like he is sounding like a broken record, but he is not going to give up until the city steps up and attends to the chronic street light issues in downtown, maintains city owned infrastructure and proposes a plan to replace the destroyed Emily Tubman monument.
At this point, de l’Aigle is no longer a lone voice. A group of citizens met on Saturday, Jan. 14 to discuss the issues and what they feel is a lack of attention from the Augusta Commission.
“It’s not just Greene Street that has been dark since last summer, but areas of lower Broad Street are unsafe because of the lack of lighting, and we are tired of getting the runaround. We are the taxpayers that help fund this government and all we are asking is that they simply do their jobs,” de l’Aigle said.
De l’Aigle, a descendant of a family that has called Augusta home since almost the time of the city’s founding, has become very vocal over the past year about the dilapidated condition of Riverwalk as well as the city’s parks and cemeteries.
“My ancestor, Nicholas de l’Aigle, welcomed the Marquis de Lafayette to Augusta and delivered a speech in the Marquis’ native French. He was proud to be an Augustan, but he would be turning in his grave if he knew how mismanaged everything has become,” de l’Aigle said.
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Recently, de l’Aigle addressed the Richmond County Commission over the street lighting issues and brought up the need to rebuild the Emily Tubman monument that was destroyed in an automobile accident last year, only to be rebuffed by former Mayor Hardie Davis Jr. and District 1 Commissioner Jordan Johnson.
In terms of the Tubman monument, Davis suggested that de l’Aigle get with his “philanthropist friends” to rebuild the monument that was dedicated to a woman who was an ardent abolitionist and freed her slaves when she was legally able to do so. Many of those freed people went on to create the African country of Liberia.
Tom Robertson of Cranston Engineering, who designed the Tubman monument in 1992, says he also has reached out to the city and offered them the original designs.
“I designed the monument for free back in 1992, and I have hand-delivered the original drawings to (the city) so it can be reconstructed, but you know, it’s a bureaucratic process. I am willing to help in any way that I can,” Robertson said.
Robertson’s firm was also responsible for the design of the downtown Riverwalk, which won many engineering awards including the Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers. De l’Aigle says he is only working to preserve Robertson’s four decades worth of work.
“(Robertson) is a legend in Augusta, and he has contributed so much, but now we have had to deal with a government that won’t maintain any of it. The thought that the remains of the Tubman monument are sitting in a warehouse next to the remains of the Haunted Pillar, an actual monument to slavery, is just chilling to me. It is disrespectful,” de l’Aigle said.
Meanwhile, Commissioner Johnson attacked de l’Aigle on social media for mentioning the streetlight issues and accused him of not calling him and letting him know about the issues.
Johnson wrote on Facebook: “You saw me today and said nothing. You have my number and still haven’t called. Please don’t tag me again. You know how to reach me if you want to talk.”
According to de l’Aigle, he has left numerous messages to Johnson that have not been returned.
“Why should I have to call him over and over again when he lives in this district? Surely, he drives down the same roads and has to notice that there are no streetlights,” de l’Aigle said.
Johnson did not return repeated calls for comment.
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“In terms of the monument, I don’t understand why the city has not contacted the insurance company of the driver that destroyed it. They keep telling me they don’t know who owns the monument. It is on city land. The city owns it, I keep telling them, but no one listens,” de l’Aigle said.
Mayor Garnett Johnson says he is listening and that he has spoken to Hameed Malik, director of engineering. Johnson says that the street light issue should be resolved by this spring. He said the problem the is having to deal with infrastructure that is over 70 years old. Malik confirmed he talked to Johnson about the issue and that fixing the problem is more than changing a few light bulbs.
“We are dealing with wiring systems that are no longer made. It all has to be replaced, and the challenge is going to be where is the money to do this? We do have funding for some areas, but we are going to need more,” Malik said.
In terms of the Tubman memorial, Mayor Johnson says he wants to see the memorial rebuilt and thinks that the celebration of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday is the perfect time for such a conversation.
“She fought to abolish slavery long before Dr. King was born. She is a part of our history here, trying to give people equal rights and protecting civil liberties. Her memory needs to be respected,” Johnson said.
Scott Hudson is the senior reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
