They were all there for the bridge dedication. The politicians, uniformed veterans, Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) officials and the key members of Springfield revitalization were at the foot of Veterans Bridge over Amherst Avenue last Veterans Day for the ceremony, but the weeds had slowly taken over, and the garden under the plaque resembled a vacant lot.
Fingers pointed every which way, but no one was sure who has the responsibility. Lou Lipscolm, American Legion vice president at Post 176 and taking over as commander in June, got word of the fingerpointing. He finally got someone with a weed cutting machine to take care of the weed infiltration, but it is still not settled.
"We'll whack down the weeds at both ends, and then we'll talk to VDOT. The other end looks like hell."
"The other end" is on the other side of Old Keene Mill Road and definitely not their responsibility, he said.
"Slipped through the cracks" pretty much described it, according to Springfield Chamber of Commerce president Alan Noris.
"I think that's one of those things that fell through the bureaucratic cracks," he said.
THE AMERICAN LEGION Bridge over Old Keene Mill Road is part of Phase III and IV of the Springfield Interchange Project, but VDOT draws the line when it comes to gardens, according to VDOT landscape engineer Ellen Vogel.
"It depends on what the agreement was. VDOT usually doesn't agree to take care of flowers," Vogel said.
One member of the American Legion analyzed the situation and heard some rumblings about the appearance, but that's as far as he's gone. He spoke to the commander about it.
"You really have to weed it. I looked at it," he said and recommended an article not be written about it. He did know the whole story, though. One of the Legion members who was in charge of it had a knee operation and could not work on it.
"He's a combat veteran, wounded in Vietnam," he said of the person.
Lipscom thought he knew of the person with the knee operation, but wasn't sure the job was specifically assigned to him. "He's on our payroll as our grass cutter," he said.
Sue Ellen Hausman works at the American Legion. She was unloading the car.
"By the time you all get done talking about it, you could have done it," she said.
But the weeds continued to grow.
ELLEN VOGEL of VDOT continued to investigate and found a column on a form that named the culprits, who were "others."
"It was supposed to be done by 'others.' A formal agreement was never set up," she said.
The responsibility was still up in the air.
"Right now nobody is," Lipscolm said but indicated across the intersection was a bigger mess at abandoned Houlihan's Restaurant, where there are discarded concrete chunks on the property.
"We've got to get with VDOT," he said.