Spend That Money!

Meg, from the All Point Bulletin, says we want trails.  Well, she doesn't say that's what we want, she says that's what the people at the Community Advisory meeting said they wanted. 

Maybe we didn't go to the same meeting.  Certainly there was some considerable talk about putting culverts in the ditches on a couple of streets and then, ideally, covering over the ditches with some kind of walking/biking surface.  And certainly Chairperson Reber is enthusiastic about doing that on Benson and on a couple of other roads.  Nevertheless, what seemed to me to be the underlying themes of the meeting were 'we're frightened, and we need life to be safer in Point Roberts' and 'we're lonely (or un/under-employed) and we need to give tourists more to do in Point Roberts so that more tourists will come to Point Roberts.'

People kept saying that something had to be done because it was so dangerous to walk or ride bikes on the streets here.  Although some other people said that compared to the bike riding they had done prior to coming to Point Roberts, they had never had such safe riding conditions as they had here.  Some people said that the traffic on Gulf was so fast (average speed: 34 mph in a 25 mph zone) that it was only a matter of time until someone was killed or badly injured.  Some people said that the traffic on Benson was so bad because of the narrow shoulders that it was only a matter of time until someone was killed or badly injured.  And also, the RV park down on Marine, I believe, was said to involve such dangerous walking out into the street practices that it is only a matter of time until someone is killed or badly injured.  The parking lot located across the street from the church?  Only a matter of time, and here you go to the chorus.  I almost forgot to mention the dangers of Goodman Road.

So I guess we're all nervous wrecks about the dangers of living in Point Roberts.  It's a wonder we live here, considering how dangerous it is.  The most recent injury I know of from traffic problems was Marco on a bicycle and the deer.  Maybe we should be getting rid of the deer in Point Roberts.

On the other hand, though, we could be using that money to build some kind of entertainment system for tourists.  (This was mostly about bike lanes/bike markings/bike racks/bike lockers.)  With these amenities, people could ride their bikes through the border, thus eliminating the lineup difficulties and spend vast numbers of dollars (collectively) in Point Roberts, thus perking up the economy.  Eco-Bicycling: an economic development plan.

I didn't hear anyone suggest that they just save the money for a rainy day.  It may be that telling people they have access to $386,000 dollars for traffic/roads improvement inevitably brings out their consumerist side.  Maybe I've been here too long and thus am jaded.  Nevertheless, it seems to me that we're safe enough and there are already enough tourists here and Point Roberts is unlikely ever to have a lively domestic economy and this money reminds me of The Man Who Corrupted Hadleyburg, by Mark Twain.  Well, I doubt if corruption is what is in store for us, but I also doubt that whatever this money eventually goes to will make us either safer or richer. 

And the speed limit on Gulf?  Maybe raise it to 30 mph? 

Addendum: You might think it would be worth painting new lines on the roads to spruce up the currently disappearing lines.  But it turns out that there is a national shortage of street line paint, and thus, new paint lines are unavailable.  The triumph of capitalism, or something.