day : 22/05/2006 2 results

Bridge over underfunded waters

May 22, 2006 3:34 pm
|    Comments Off on Bridge over underfunded waters
 |   Transportation

So now I know why a guy in a suit was standing up on the Fauntleroy pedestrian overpass (aka home to “HAPPY 1/2 CENTURY, LYLE” and “WILL YOU MARRY ME, MARINA”) when it’s not an election day.

Well, actually, this did have something to do with an election. The city transportation department was leading tours of sites slated to get some of your money and mine if we vote for the latest of 3,478 (give or take a few) transportation/money measures proposed for the local ballot this fall, “Bridging the Gap,” unveiled today by Hizzoner.

The handy-dandy map of “Bridging the Gap” projects contains a big dot right around the site of “HAPPY 1/2 CENTURY, LYLE,” so that explains the guy in the suit, the guy in the shirt, and the guy in the hard hat and big bright city-issue orange/yellow vest, peering down on us hapless drivers fleeing back into West Seattle, apparently right over pavement likely to dissolve into chalk-dust at any moment.

Please forgive me for being grumpy. I’m usually a good self-taxing citizen. I voted for the Monorail. I voted against $30 car-tab taxes. Yup, you can blame me. But now I’m going over the falls. I fully expect to eventually see the “Replace Stop Signs Knocked Down by Idiot Drivers Initiative,” the “So You Want to See Burned-Out Bulbs Replaced in Your Local Traffic Signals Initiative,” and the “Your Local Politicians Are Taking the Summer Off Because We Ran Out of Money for Our Salaries Initiative,” at this rate. The Ron Sims Bus Tax sounded goofy enough … wait … noooo … help, I’m starting to sound like Dori Monson.

A plea to one of our resident rock stars

Interesting story in the P-I over the weekend.

My .02, I wouldn’t bet on Mr. Vedder getting involved in this particular issue. One of the recently paved-over greenbelt stretches on this side of WS is close to his digs, and that didn’t seem to stop the bulldozers. (If I were a rich person, I’d have pocketed those parcels for preservation’s sake; I’m not, so the best I can do is urban wildlife habitat in my own backyard. And front yard. And side yards …)