The other day one of the Wake Forest News Facebook readers asked us a question. Christopher Breedlove said, “I have a gripe with either the Town or the Seminary. For the past 20yrs, as I drive around the Seminary and start under the bridge into downtown WF, the left side of the bridge is always kept neat. Grass always mowed, trees trimmed, but the right side has looked like a jungle mess for years.
It’s the ugliest, nastiest looking area in town. Who is responsible for this area, the Town of the Seminary? Would someone please get off their butts and clean up that snakey looking area and make our town look a lot better.”
So taking the challenge we got off out butts and reached out for any answer to help clean up the snakey looking area.
The irony is it wasn’t that long ago that we also wondered who was responsible for maintaining the area in question and surprisingly the answer was Southeastern Theological Baptist Seminary, (SEBTS).
The two little slivers of land Christopher mentioned are owned by SEBTS.
Just yesterday we were over that way photographing a truck versus circle accident and snapped this photo of the area Christopher was talking about.
Not wanting to trudge back over there again, here is a shot of the “nice side”, or at least a bit of it that we caught at a recent accident.
When we asked SEBTS what the deal was with the land and why they were not maintaining it they offered a response. “The answer is that there was an agreement years ago with the DRC to maintain the property, but through changes in personnel at the seminary over the years and changes in the DRC no one has record of that agreement anymore. Therefore, as of recent the seminary has been in discussions with the Town about SEBTS deeded that property to the Town for them to maintain.”
So who knows how long that process will take. But when we brought the issue to the Town it looks like the problem might be solved.
Wake Forest public spokesperson Bill Crabtree said, “According to our records a portion of the property is owned by SEBTS while a separate piece is owned by CSX. Regardless, in the interest of presenting an attractive downtown and a healthy community, the town has decided to assume responsibility for maintaining the property moving forward. We plan to notify the seminary today or tomorrow.”
So Shazam and Bazinga, Wake Forest News readers can make a difference.
Big hat tip to Christopher Breedlove for asking us to help with the issue. If anyone has an issue they’d like for us to tackle, please fee free to post it on our Facebook page, here or here.
The sign by that bridge “Downtown Wake Forest” needs spiffing up…..I notice signs, was in the business for 30+ years….