Fairmont bridgework
My wife and I took our dog for a car ride last night to see the
Christmas lights around town. Lucy seemed suitably impressed, at least for a
dog. While we were out, we decided to cross the new Third Street Bridge that
just opened this week, and honestly, I haven’t seen so many “S” curves since
the last time I wrote my initials.
It reminded me of that old kids’ song. You know the one. “Did you ever see a lassie go this way and
that way? Did you ever see a lassie go this way and that?”
For those of you not from Fairmont, we used to have a bridge
on Fourth Street that connected our two major north-south streets – Fairmont and
Locust avenues. It was pretty straight for the most part from start to finish. Unfortunately,
large pieces of it started falling off and it was torn down a few years ago.
To replace it, the city built this new bridge a block
northward on Third Street. The idea was to link the new connector road from
I-79 into town with the existing Third Street Bridge to give people a “straight
shot” from the interstate to Fairmont State University. That would be a
straight shot if any part of it was anything close to straight, but even the original
Third Street Bridge has a big sweeping curve in it.
The new bridge also forced the relocation of a number of
residents whose houses were torn down to make room for this curve and that
curve and…well, you get the idea…and it remains to be seen how many people
actually use the bridge, considering it has been years since they closed Fourth
Street and civilization as we know it did not come to an end.
It also begs this question: If the Fourth Street Bridge was
straight (it was) and adequately connected the two sides of town for decades
(it did), why didn’t they just replace it with a new bridge? No houses would
have been torn down and no people would have been displaced, and I’m sure it
would have cost less since the roads tying the bridge into other streets were
already in place.
Oh, sure, coming in from Third Street you would have to turn
left and then right to get to Fourth, but that’s no different from what you have
to do anyway, what with the “S” curve to the left and the “S” curve to the
right on the new road.
So let’s recap. If you’re traveling from I-79 to Fairmont
State University, you get off the interstate and drive down the connector road,
which, by the way, has two “roundabouts” you have to drive around, then turn
left to access the old Third Street Bridge, which swings you back around to the
right before you cross over Fairmont Avenue to access the new Third Street
Bridge, which features a giant “S” curve before it finally finds its way to Locust
Avenue, where you still must turn left one more time and drive a mile or so further
to complete your “straight shot” into Fairmont State.
It that clear? There will be a quiz on this on Friday.
Finally, as my wife pointed out last night, there are now
two bridges on Third Street in Fairmont, so if someone offers to meet you at
noon on the Third Street Bridge, you’ll have to ask, “Which one?” I’m guessing that
before long, someone will nickname the new bridge “The Long and Winding Road.”
Oh, wait…I already have.
Tax scam 2017
I don’t have much to say about the massive tax scam the
Republican Party just pulled that hasn’t already been said. I just have a few
thoughts:
* It saddens me to know that at least 218 representatives and
51 senators can so blatantly disregard the will of their constituents – not to
mention facts, evidence to the contrary and all logic – to support an agenda
pushed by wealthy donors simply so they can get themselves re-elected.
* Pundits are saying the Republicans are in trouble for 2018
because of this bill, but I’m not so sure. With gerrymandering and voter
suppression and foreign influence and big donor money (now assured) and Fox
News conspiracy theories and all of the lies spewing out of Washington, a lot
can happen between now and next November. I’m not counting any chickens…or
eggs, for that matter.
* Susan Collins got played and she should have known better.
The House will never pass the health care bill she wants, which means the
promise Mitch McConnell made to her for her "yes" vote on taxes isn’t worth the amount of air he displaced
in making it.
Be careful what you
wish for
When I was younger, maybe college age or a little before
that, I used to say half-jokingly that people should be able to retire at 50
and spend a few years doing the things they wanted to do before they were too
old to do them. I didn’t want to do what my father did, which was work, retire
and die. I didn’t know then that I would actually “retire” at age 53 through
the miracle of Allegheny Energy’s early retirement option.
To be fair, I did get another job after that and worked
three more years, then spent 10 additional years doing freelance work from my
home on my own time and at my own pace, meaning it was almost like retirement but
with a hobby that paid cash. I gave it up for good in 2016 because I really
didn’t want to work any longer and because for our simple lifestyle we really
didn’t need the money. Our lives – if not exactly exciting – were pretty good.
I remember waking up on November 8, 2016, thinking that I
might never see another Republican president in my lifetime, and that maybe
before I died we’d have universal health care and an all-inclusive government with
a Democratic legislature and a liberal Supreme Court. As I said, things were
pretty good.
Then the unthinkable happened, and starting on November 9, I’ve
had to worry every single day about whether my wife would have health insurance
and whether either one of us will have Medicare and Social Security and whether
this country is truly turning into a dictatorship or an oligarchy or a plutocracy
and whether we can ever get it back the way it’s supposed to be and a million
other things that I shouldn’t have to worry about in my declining years.
So, yeah, I did retire in my early 50s and things worked out
okay for a while and then the wheels starting falling off. Back when I was 20,
it wasn’t supposed to be this way.
Merry Christmas
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