I Hate It When People Get in the Way of Good Governance!
My sincere thanks to the members of the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners who thought it prudent to vote for our community’s cause last night at the Ways and Means meeting. My thanks go particularly to Conan Smith and Ronnie Peterson, who saw and articulated the ridiculousness that the Washtenaw County Road Commission wants to impose upon a quiet neighborhood.
But to the rest of the Board, I’d like to tell them heartily to suck it, particularly Leah Gunn and Wesley Prater, who at one time pretended to be one our side. I say, quite cheerfully, that as officials who represent the people, you sure like representing a big corporation based in Ohio better. So to all who voted "nay," even those who have never seen the area: SUCK. IT.
Thus ends my involvement in this matter. Our cause is dead, the Washtenaw County Road Commission and the corporation are getting their way, our neighborhood will most likely be completely destroyed and no one, not even our representatives, cares. With Toyota coming in not too far from here, we can all collectively throw our hands up in the air and say "Well, there goes the neighborhood."
Oh, I forgot to ask in my e-mail: did you go to the meeting? What in the world were the arguments in favor of going ahead with the bridge?
Yep, I went to the meeting. It lasted for four hours. Yikes. Anyway, the WCRC says that the current structure is a safety concern. The Board asked how many accidents had happened in the past decade. The answer? Two. One was a teen jumping the bridge, the other was someone who went over the bridge with cargo that exceeded the weight limit and ended up breaking the bridge. Neither person was hurt. Yeah, it’s a death-trap, let me tell you.
They also says it’s obsolete. What they didn’t say is that the railroad simply wants higher clearance to carry cargo through north-south, south-north.