01/17/2007: "Tax Dollars At Work"

To the Editor:

Mankind has experience in road-building dating back some millennia now. Be that as it may, someone who keeps our tax dollars at work in San Juan County took the initiative last year to re-invent the wheel --- more precisely, the pavement underneath the wheel.

As a daily user of the full length of Cattle Point Road, as pedestrian, driver and/or rider, I feel qualified to judge that above-mentioned effort an abject failure!

The new pavement is rough to the user on foot as it is to a car-driver; riding a two-wheeler may not quite be suicidal, the rough road surface certainly makes it a masochistic endeavor. The inconvenience of some months ago of 'flaggers', single lane traffic, loose gravel etc., etc. resulted in a public roadway that seriously challenges a car's suspension and its handling predictability; it eats tires and regurgitates oversize gravel that pelts windshields, body paint and humans not protected by hard surfaces.

The dollars I paid in taxes were accepted as payment in full. That, I surmise, implies that each dollar was deemed worth its full face value. Would I be overly demanding if I also expect full value in return for that tax payment? Will the County financially assist me in the replacement of a windshield when yet another rock strike cracks it? Will the County contribute to the purchase of a set of tires some 10,000 miles before these would have otherwise worn out?

Will the County right a wrong and repave the road one more time; that time correctly?

Although intensely curious, perhaps I had better not ask if the entire process has anything to do with the "Peter Principle"

Ary L. Hobbel
Cape San Juan