Note to loyal Ps & Qs readers: I would like to climb
into a time machine and change two things about last month’s article. 1) The
title should’ve been Don’t Be Like Jeannie B. and 2) Val Kilmer wasn’t in
Silverado, I meant Tombstone (my sister called me up and told me to get a
f***ing fact checker!)
One of my favorite books of all time is The Hitchhiker’s
Guide to the Galaxy. It contains truths that I’m certain are universal. And
yes, I believe in aliens. Mostly because I find it incredibly arrogant to think
we are the only life forms out there, but also because it’s lonely and sad to
think that we’re as good as it gets. (And I am not alone in my belief; Gordon
Cooper believed in aliens, probably because he went to space, where they live,
as does the Hon. Paul Hellyer, former Canadian Minister of National Defense. Believe
in aliens, I mean; I do not think that the former Minister lives in space.)
And to think, all these years we’ve been led to believe that
‘intelligent life’, (and I use that term loosely) as we know it, is the only
kind in existence. Now, in fairness to the giant boom of babies, that’s what
they were told and most of them never met a ‘tall white’ in the desert of
Nevada (not when they were sober anyway…) so how would they know? But our
generation has way more access to the planet than any one before because of
little devices we keep in our pockets that we use to watch kitten videos. Also,
these devices make it harder and harder for the Air Force to keep a lid on
things like this.
As long as we’re discussing topics no one wants to admit, the
issue of the Dolores Way and Highway 133 intersection reminds me of the planet
in Hitchhiker’s Guide where the giant pig-like creatures have to have an
officially stamped corresponding form, filled out in triplicate, submitted during
regular business hours, and signed off on by Zaphod Beeblebrox in order to proceed
with building an interstellar galactic highway.
Here’s the deal, as I see it, CDOT and RFTA are in a pissing
contest and CRMS keeps trying to get someone to take look at its yellow
signature in the snow, meanwhile minivans full of children are careening
through dangerous left hand turns twice a day and no one’s doing a damn thing
about it. CDOT doesn’t want a light there and RFTA won’t let us use theirs,
less than a block away (us being: residents of Satank, teachers and parents of
the Community School’s students, anyone who works or shops at The Paint Store,
CAT, The Fold, Sunsense Solar, Sopris Crossfit, NAPA, Ajax Bike & Sport,
American National Bank Bank, etc.)
Meeting after meeting it just goes round and round, and now
two out of three Garfield County Commissioners have voted to accept the highway
plan as is, which includes a brand new road through pasture land that comes out
onto Hwy 133 at a round-a-bout about 100 yards down the road. Someday. (This is
CRMS land, and I’m sure they’ll give it to the town for a ‘good price’ in
exchange for the necessary zoning for it to become a development
build-your-own-sundae.)
What no one seems to give a scoop of you-know-what about, is
that Dolores Way is our only Way in and our only Way out. There is a county
road through CRMS, but Garfield County vacated vehicle access years ago, and CRMS
would like them to vacate pedestrian and bicycle access as well. (Or, CRMS
could hire a strategic planner who doesn’t recommend building up their campus
on a county right-of-way, just sayin.)
Good God, I never thought I’d be interested in something as
tedious as a future highway access control plan. But I guess that’s what
happens when you’re an earthling in her 40s and you live in a neighborhood “Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the
unfashionable end of the Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy…”
No comments:
Post a Comment