Monday, April 4, 2011

Keep Road open

I just got this note from "Taxpayer":

"I have had several calls today about highway 101 closing at 6:00 pm tonight, Monday. tell your friends to call cal trans, highway patrol, supervisors and tell them there is no way the road needs to close. There is k rail in place. There are spotters on site if the slide were to move again in such a matter to be of concern for the traffic. The sun and wind are drying the mud slide as we speak. People who are working in areas both north and south that would be impacted by closing the road needlessly. Make your calls. it is important to let them know we are watching."

If there is no good reason to close the road, it should be left open. Much of the economic engine of Humboldt county runs at night. Most all of the freight come in and out of Humboldt county at night UPS, FED-X, Efficiency Service, and general trucking runs at night. If they are closing the road for the convenience of the contractor, that is a poor excuse. His contract should include opening the road and leaving it open.

With the whole north coast shut down, this would be a typical example of a dollar waiting on a dime. I personally have two jobs in progress that I'm waiting on parts for. I hate to think what the road closure is costing us collectively.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Have a little patience and respect for the workers. It's much more dangerous to work a road job at night. Especially in the middle of a community known for having some of lowest standards in the world when it comes drug abuse.

Ernie Branscomb said...

I have the utmost respect for the workers on the slide. I know that they are talented and capable. I have some doubts about the people on the roadway that are allowed to have drivers licenses.

Anything in life comes with some risk. Whenever anyone gets behind the wheel of a car, they are taking a risk. If they wanted to completely eliminate all traffic accidents in the US, all they would have to do is close all the highways. At some point, it becomes ridiculous, and we have to understand that anything comes with risk. Keeping the road open is what is known as an “acceptable risk”.

Without sufficient evidence to the contrary the road needs to be open. But, from what I understand we are discussing a moot point, because the road has been opened.

thorngirl said...

you are a coward print your name you chicken, you have some respect there are so many good people here you keep talking about drug abuse maybe YOU NEED TO GO TO REHAB BECAUSE IT SOUNDS LIKE YOUR ON DRUGS! go back under that rock you climbed out of coward!

spyrock said...

everyone knows that the et has very high standards for drugs. in fact, the area produces probably the finest weed in the world. after all, it only is a weed. ironically made illegal because it was a lot cheaper than cutting down giant redwoods to print newspapers on. so the people like william randolph hearst who owned the redwoods and the newspapers ran a campaign in their papers demonizing a common weed which had been used for many useful purposes for thousands of years all over the world. this provided a market for the wood pulp by product of the lumber industy and made hearst and his friends very rich men. so what we have is another story about man's greed. now, these same greedy men get their wood pulp from china where their greedy grandchildren have moved all their factories. and where a 3 thousand year tree once stood a local who can't find a job within 200 miles has a bare patch of land to grow the finest weed in the world all thanks to the greedy corporate elite, the one percent who own more than half of america's wealth. so i would say we are suffering from the lowest standards in the world when it comes to ceo abuse.