Letter to the Editor

As a taxpayer an business owner in Richland, I have a concern about the bus stop on the north side of the square. Last Monday, April 14, 2025, there was a fire call that came in at the same time as the school bus was letting children off. This caused a few of the volunteers answering the call, going to the station, to STOP while children crossed the street to waiting vehicles. This could have been a tragedy with the kids running out in front of the fire trucks and volunteers coming in to park when parents are already backed in to spaces waiting. This is just MORE chaos and confusion that does not need to be.

This is not the only problem either. The North side of the square is a business district with JCHC Medical and Jakes Welding, as well as the JBS elevator on the NE corner. As I am the president of the Richland Community Club for many years, we have worked HARD to attract new businesses into our small town. We LOVE to see “traffic” on our square for all the businesses! The bus stop is not helping. Parents are only there for 10 minutes in the morning to drop off and 10 minutes in the evening for pick up. Many are only here for a season or two and then move on without a thought.

Now that the Richland day care is open, the bus stop needs to be moved back to where it had been since buses have been in operation. There are no businesses in that area to interfere with as it is 1 block off the Richland square. The other benefits with moving the bus stop off the square would be the Friends church after school programs and any parent that needs their child to go to the day care after school. It would be a ONE STOP DROP.

Korwin Hinshaw