Parks, pools and streets paved with bonds: Who are you, and what did you do with CM Cappuccino?

At last evening's city council meeting, councilman Dan Coffey relentlessly spearheaded the body's initial approval of bonds equal to an amount required to purchase 45,581 urban trash receptacles (my calculation) or 25 additional Rent Boy Parks (Kevin Zurschmiede's estimate), all for the purpose of (a) quality of life amenities to please citizens and attract the right people to town, and (b) comprehensive citywide paving*, all wrapped into a project that first came to the public's attention maybe two months ago.









That's right. Coffey's now the $19 Million Dollar Man.









Surreal doesn't begin to describe it.

You can read the details elsewhere, but as the Hubbell telescopes are focused on distant galaxies from whence came the alien currently occupying Coffey's body, I have one additional comment to make.

Councilman Scott Blair made a statement during the course of the bonding debate that merits examination: "Either you're for parks or you're against them."

Afterwards, when I told him I disagreed, he explained that he felt it necessary to plainly state the situation so as to concentrate attention on the facts of the resolution.

For the consideration of Mr. Blair, who quite often notes aloud that as a banker, he's a cost-to-benefit kind of guy, I have only this to say: If costs and benefits apply to numbers, they pertain equally to language. Opposing a specific bonding proposal for a specific parks and recreation plan is not opposing the broader notion of parks. I submit that there can be a cost when it comes to over-simplified axioms, as well as a benefit to regarding expensive and complex proposals with precise thinking, not either/or.

Taking this a step further, can someone (anyone) explain how and when parks and recreational facilities came to be the sole measurement of our civic libido as compared with the county?

* whereas the larger parks and recreation expenditure was waved through, the council decided it needed more information to bond paving, and the resolution was tabled when former president Benedetti ... oh, never mind.