Let's ramble down memory lane
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July 18, 2019
To The Eagle:
There were enough public works defugalties chronicled in last week’s Eagle to prompt a nostalgic ramble down memory lane. Kudos to Ursula Petralia for her excellent bucket list of economic development desires. I don’t know whether to feel insulted or complimented that she omitted my old pet project, CIA-PIGS (Cathlamet International Airport – Puget Island Grass Strip). It seems to have fallen by the wayside, but will surely be needed to keep supplies flowing into Ursula’s magnificent strip mall development.
Dave Kirby hit the nail on the head with his comments about parking on the gravel lot left when the EPA tore down the building that housed my antique warehouse over an inconsequential oil spill, setting us up for the more recent parking versus park brawls. Apparent attempted double-dipping on the Grays River firehouse roof project, caught by alert Treasurer Tammy Peterson, brought back the heady days of the Battle of the Sheriff’s Boat when we discovered that budgets could misbehave on their own accord. The Johnson Park road revision and Elochoman Valley Road bike lane are no doubt needed and worthy projects, but it did remind us of those bygone days when stripes on the road and a couple of signs could be accomplished by two large boys and a bucket of paint, not multi-thousands from public coffers.
One anomaly unmentioned so far is that last year’s traffic revision on Highway 4 eliminated a center lane passing through the intersection with Main Street, leaving motorists turning right off Main to start the hill climb at the mercy of log trucks highballing down the hill from the west, and no doubt increasing the pucker factor for those truck drivers, too. Seems as if another gold-plated paint job is needed to get us back as safe as we were before “improvements.”
But fear not – all these problems are no doubt a function of climate change and will disappear as soon as we get rid of Trump and vote in the Green New Deal.
Howard Brawn
Puget Island
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