Well that was quick . . . or is the city’s Minisa Bridge work just a coincidence?

We’ve all heard of the power of the pen — it’s mightier than the sword, it’s said — but was it at work with the city this week?

Two days after The Eagle’s front-page Sunday story about the desperate attention needed at the Minisa Bridge in Riverside, a large crew and a huge crane were at the bridge by North High School cleaning debris from its foundation.

“That doesn’t seem like a coincidence to me,” Madeline McCullough said in a text.

McCullough and Susie Cunningham, both members of the Little Arkansas Community Coalition, were quoted in The Eagle article about the historic bridge and the work they did to get it on the National Register of Historic Places.

The hope is the designation will lead to more grants to help with the bridge’s upkeep.

The city plans a $1 million restoration of the bridge later this year.

McCullough in particular is worried that debris at the bridge’s foundation is leading to issues above it with the Indian busts and buffalo motifs that decorate it.

“Of course, I’m just thrilled to see crews out there and the city taking care of the bridge, which is really one of the main reasons we filed the application with the National Register,” she said in a phone interview. “We wanted to raise awareness about what a unique treasure that bridge is.”

McCullough lives by the Bitting Bridge in Riverside and said, “I see crews out there probably once a year. I’ve never seen crews by the Minisa Bridge.”

City spokeswoman Megan Lovely said a resident complained to the city about the debris last week. She said she doesn’t know if Tuesday’s work was in response to that or if it was regularly scheduled work.

In her text, McCullough had a thought on the matter.

“[T]hat’s the power of community journalism.”

Then again, does it really even matter what prompted the work?

As McCullough wrote, “I called that a win.”