Driving Through A War Zone's Roads

Well, actually it's just a few of Our Fair City's streets, but it looks as if a few mortar shells landed here. Some days it seems as if it’s Berlin after the war.

It’s hard in this economy to bring things back to the way when we had money coming out of the storm drains. It was hard enough in the prosperous days here in town, a run-down burg with a pride level of +1 on a good day. Everything was going down the crapper, partially due to a crazy mayor, but also due to what happens to cities everywhere.

We elected a new mayor whose big announcement was, “We Believe.” Sounded weak at the time, but he tied into what people wanted: Let’s start believing in ourselves. Make our houses, lawns and street gutters look good. If people open stores, then get out and patronize them; don’t just automatically go packing off to the mall out of town.

Very slowly, roads are being paved. The process uses oil products, which can be expensive, depending on the Arabs, the Western Hemisphere producers and the general costs of doing the job. Some roads here are in good shape; some are fair; others look as if they have been patched too many times and need real fixing.

Oh, to be the Mayor: Which streets get fixed? Who will complain about their road being ignored while someone else has theirs done over? Union Street is being done, but what about that multi-patched section near the Turkey Hill Mini-Mart? Who knows who, that their street gets done first? Huh? Huh? Sleep tight, Mayor.