Mean streets: The people of Pemaquid Beach have some concerns about safety in their village.
Commonsense adjustments may help the situation — for example, a tweak or two to speed limits and the addition of shoulders on Huddle Road.
But other proposals are expensive and impractical.
Construction of bike lanes and sidewalks would require widening of these roads to the extent that the sidewalk might go through someone’s living room.
Moreover, neither local nor state taxpayers should have to foot the bill for this work, which would run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not more.
And finally, even if there were funds available, good luck hiring part-time, seasonal police officers to patrol the village. Our local law enforcement agencies are struggling to fill full-time union jobs with benefits, let alone to hire extra people to chase speeders around Pemaquid Beach.
Bristol should, however, work with these citizens to make practical fixes. OK, Pemaquid Beach residents, send us your angry letters.
(On a personal note, my family loves Pemaquid Beach and in my experience, including many visits to Olde Bristol Days and a summer working at Pemaquid Beach Park, I have never felt unsafe while walking through the village.)
Get it over with: On the subject of letters, thank you to the letter writers who are engaging in civil and respectful dialogue, even as the national dialogue sinks lower and lower.
I recently saw the movie “Irresistible,” in which Steve Carell plays a political consultant. It’s supposedly a satire, but I didn’t find it funny. On reflection, I think part of the reason the jokes didn’t land is because our current politics are more ridiculous than anything a satirist could imagine.
I was watching TV the other night and it was just one Collins or Gideon commercial after another, at least four in a row. The commercials alternately bashed one candidate or the other, then defended the other candidate and bashed the first candidate for bashing them.
I can’t remember what I was watching. Maybe there are no programs anymore, just political commercials.
Only 20 days to the election — let’s get it over with!
