Yesterday morning, the little (6" x 6", tops) paper signs went up informing residents on our section of East Spring Street that it would be illegal to park along the street from Monday to Monday, as I recollect my only glance at one of them, and while there may have been exact dates, I don't remember them. The first hard rain of the morning yesterday effectively removed most (probably all) of the signs from view.I'm not sure whether the sanitation contractor or the street department will be charged with cleaning the remnants, which litter both sides.
It's Friday, the pavement stripper's at work outside my window, and the hardhats are going door to door trying to find the owners of the cars still parked along the street. I can see the bare wooden stakes where the sodden strips were attached, at least briefly.
The most wasteful aspect of all this is that we're paving Spring Street without it being part of a comprehensive two-way steet conversion. It will be nice to have a freshly paved street in front of my house.
It would be better for all of us if the street ran both ways and was part of a street network that made sense for a revitalizing urban area. For reasons as yet unknown, apart from a simple absence of political backbone, City Hall climbed down from its principled campaign promise of two-way streets.
The disappointing climbdown, one precipitated but not necessitated by the city council's semi-literate Luddite dithering, becomes part of any future political equation, doesn't it?
14 comments:
I think we can understand two-way street conversion as the public option, i.e., that which would actually change things so will be bartered away in the name of continued fear and loathing.
Perhaps we can redistribute the otherwise unused wealth to help cover insurance company profit margins and bridge tolls.
...or bartered away the traditional way, by applying more and more blacktop to miles and miles of roadway. There is some history to the symbiotic relationship between local gov't and road builders + pavers. Isn't "your community bank" owned by the local paving company folks? Bluegill, as the former(?) road czar, what happened to all the talk and work for conversion to 2-way streets? Or code enforcement? or...fill in blank? Other than blaming it on the city council, any clue what happened to the progressive agenda here?
As a roadway engineer, the sight of the road construction made me giddy. I took pictures and asked questions. I asked how much they were milling and they went into details that made me smile.
I'm probably the only person on Spring to get that excited--I'm sure the construction crew thought I was insane. Oh well.
When I get home at 1, I am going to cut a watermelon open and eat it while watching the work...you have no idea how happy I am.
Gina,
I have some understanding(and agreement)with many of your thoughts and ideas but I don't really understand your "paving" problem.
The roads are here. They are in bad shape and they need to be fixed and maintained. What am I missing?
Mark
Larry,
Since you understand the technical aspects of roads, did the specs they were using make sense to you? Can you tell if those specs are followed?
Larry, that's some serious kinky you've got there.
Gina, I'm blaming both - the council for being unconscious, and City Hall from refusing to expend political capital.
Mark, you're not missing anything.
Bluegill, let's drink.
OK.
In my dream world, the mayor is stealthily milling and paving the "north" side of the street, then the "south" side of the street.
But he's only milling the center of the street in preparation for a concrete bicyclo-pedestrian plaza.
In my dream world, two-way conversion can come when all the "experts" recognize it as the brilliant leap back to the future that it is.
I believe you are being TOO kind to hizzoner. It's not even a council decision. It was his promise broken, not theirs.
Hizzoner backed away, and I strongly disagree both with his decision to refrain from expending political capital to keep the campaign pledge, and his failure to explain why.
And: The council also might have acted cooperatively rather than stupidly and confrontationally. That's the sort of thing that councilpersons like Jeff Gahan should be required to explain, because he's bright enough to know better, unlike Jethro Price.
Can't I drink, too?
Let's all drink.
Can you keep drinking till tomorrow when I can break to join you...'bout 4pm?
...as per paving. The roads here are better than what I"m used to in other places, that's all. So "bad" roads just don't stick out to me here. What does stick out are the miles and miles of road that need maintenance as one of those unsustainable mid-century limitless energy visions. Pouring blacktop seems like the sisyphean dream here.
Gotcha. Thanks, Gina.
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