Who gets the bill?

"To whom do I send the bill?" I have been asked for the last week or so by motorists forced to drive on Parkersburg city streets that have been milled but no repaved.

As if the streets themselves are not rough enough, cement encircled manhole covers sticking up several inches above the milled street make driving nearly like running an obstacle course. Some vehicles dodging the raised covers cross the nonexistent center line and head directly toward approaching traffic.

It would be interesting to know how many vehicle front ends have been knocked out of alignment and/or how many steel-belted tires have been damaged due to the condition of the milled streets being left unpaved.

Granted, many drivers can avoid the ridiculous condition of the fouled streets by taking alternate routes, but not always. Sometimes the path to avoid the obstacle course is not possible or feasible.

So, to whom and where do citizens send the bill for damaged vehicles? Do citizens merely have to bite the bullet as they have to with so many other issues or should the bill be sent to city government, and do you believe streets would be repaved quicker if the city were flooded with repair bills?

Hmmmm! It might be worth a try!