Toppled in the median near my home, roots to the sky, lies a very expensive tree.
Not expensive merely because it was a fully-grown palm, which means a price tag in four digits, possibly five.
Expensive because, in this case, it cost two Gainesville teens their lives.
When the median decorations first went up people complained that they were dangerous, that they blocked the view of oncoming traffic, that they could become obstacles in an accident.
No one listened.
Perhaps they’re listening now.
*Roads are not parks.* They are not Commons for grazing. They are not opportunities for beautification. They are tools, and any beauty they possess derives primarily from their functionality.
From that perspective, our roads are uncommonly ugly.
It seems that we have all the money in the world to build bike lanes, and sidewalks, and landscaped medians, and curbs, and fancy illuminated “No Turn On Red” signs, and intersection cameras, and so on and so on.
When asked to make the roads actually work, to make traffic actually *flow* for a change, our commissioners and the DOT turn out their pockets and weep big crocodile tears and moan, “Poor! Poor!”
It’s time for a change. Now we are not merely wasting money. Now we are not merely wasting citizens’ time.
Now we are paying with lives.
We must make the roads functional and safe. No more games. No more hidden agendae. No more political maneuvering.
I’ve been complaining about this problem for some time.
No one listened.
Perhaps they’re listening now.
The no-name, non-tropical storm currently spinning off the Jacksonville coast has been driving the detritus of fires in the area down our way with gale force.