Downtown Batavia pedestrian bridge gets new name

The pedestrian and bicycle bridge in downtown Batavia has a new name: The Peace Bridge.

The Batavia park board approved the name Tuesday night. Markers and an explanatory sign will be installed on the bridge.

It was requested by 200 people who signed a petition circulated by Craig Foltos. Foltos, who owns a downtown barbershop, started a project in 2008 to display the words “Peace on Earth” on the south side of the bridge at Christmastime. The naming request reflects that history, the park board decided.

However, the “Peace on Earth” display might become history.

Foltos and his friends constructed the 10-foot-high white letters, but it is park district workers who hang over the river each fall to install the letters. That, plus repairing, repainting, reinforcing and dismantling the sign, takes about 38 man-hours, according to Mike Clark, the district’s executive director.

Besides the expense, he worries about the workers’ safety.

“We would like to trade the marker and signs and honor that but eliminate the annual ‘Peace on Earth’ actual letter display,” Clark said.

Park commissioners aren’t ready to give up on it yet.

Commissioner Nicole Corken said she would miss the sign.

“Safety is always an issue ... but I think it is a neat thing to have downtown,” she said.

Commissioner Chris Behmer wanted to know if the people who signed the petition know that the park district is thinking of getting rid of the sign. And Commissioner Gary Foiles suggested that those people may be willing to pay for an outside company to do the job.

The bridge was built in 1998.