‘Curbs’ Slow City Curb Painting

You’d think it would be a simple matter to slap a little paint on any Richmond curb-stone.

Not in the case of the curbs around the statues on Monument Avenue, however.

Traffic Engineer John T. Hanna wants to apply white reflectorized paint to the curbing around the statues of Robert E Lee, Matthew Maury, Stonewall Jackson, Jefferson

Davis and Jeb Stuart. There have been a lot of minor accidents at these spots, he said yesterday, because frequently at night the motorist doesn’t see the curb until it’s too late.

But Richmond’s monuments or most of them—are the business of the Department of Recreation and Parks. Hanna said he wrote to Director Jesse W. Reynolds to see if Reynolds thinks it’s all right to paint the curbs.

The case of Lee’s statue, on the other hand, was not one that could be resolved on the municipal level. Unlike its neighbors, the Lee monument is under the jurisdiction of the State-so the traffic engineer said he wrote to D. V. Chapman, State Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds, about that one.

He hasn’t heard from Reynolds or Chapman yet, Hanna said, but he doesn’t think they’ll object.