I'm back after all the prodding

Howard seems to think someone cares what I have to say so here we go again.



What memories that brought back reading my last post from Hawaii. After a hard winter in Minneapolis I am looking forward to going back again after tax season.



I want to write something about politics then I say naaaaah. I think the economy of this country is living proof of what is wrong and frankly I don't think it is going to change when John McSame gets elected, in fact it might get worse. Hillary and Barack are killing each other and destroying the best chance we have for change.



I am on the Minnesota Department of Transportation again. Finally the legislature has the good sense to fire Carol Notnow. I have lived in these cities off and on, mostly on, since January 1974 and I can say this, what the hell happened? If anyone is paying attention they know things are not getting better. When I first moved here this was a wonderful place to live, sure there were problems and some things have gotten better for some but for the most part it is not an improvement. We used to be able to drive around here without all the traffic worries we have now. Sure we have more people, a lot more people, but we should have a bigger tax base to provided the basic services we had in the past and by now you would think there would be some improvements, but NOOOOOO. Gridlock is awful during rush hour, traffic lights used to be timed so if you obeyed the speed limits on city streets, especially one ways, you never had to stop unless you turned and went another direction. Now I think MDOT is purposely trying to see how much aggravation they can cause. For what reason, I can't figure out, but aggravation is the name of the game.



Just tonight we went to a movie and getting back on the freeway was a guessing game, the signs are so misleading. Freeway entrance ramps are sometimes on the right and sometimes on the left, but do you think they might tell you in advance with all the signs which lane you are going to have to be in, no, let's aggravate everyone and wait until they are 100 feet from the entrance and then they tell us. Howard says you have to live here to know which lanes you need to be in, I say if the freeways are only for those of us who live here, why waste the money on signs at all?





The potholes, man alive what the heck is going on? Last night we were in Edina and as we were entering on crosstown 62, we hit the edge of a pothole on the entrance ramp that could swallow a Yugo and pop the tires on any other car with a direct hit. It has become common knowledge that the streets are no longer maintained in Minneapolis, they just do emergency repairs. You know, fishing Yugo's out of potholes. The rest of us just keep on repairing tires all the time. It all seemed to go downhill starting with the election of the wrestler in 1998. He was good at writing checks to all us for a tax surplus that existed during the Clinton economy but what I got would just about repair one tire. I guess Jesse Ventura had some mammoth SUV and did not like the license fees so he slashed them, really slashed them. Of course everyone thought that was great until now that we realize...hey there is no money to repair the roads. After all we had a interstate highway bridge that feel into the river at rush hour last summer. You would think that would get every ones attention, but no.....not here.



Our wonderful governor Pawlenty vetoed a bill the legislature passed to address the issue. Finally they had the "balls" to override his veto this year. So guess what, we are getting a 3 cent per gallon gas tax increase and a lot of folks, and especially the tax payers league, are so pissed they can't stand it. When gas goes up 15-30 cents per day sometimes, I want to know just who is going to notice 3 cents? At least now there will be some money to do some catch up and get some of the bridges repaired and finally build a transit system that works. Let's just see if they can figure out how to do that?



I have written about the practice of hiding access to Hwy 55 from downtown before. It is a mystery. Last fall I spoke to the Senate majority leader personally (he was at our house for a fundraiser for our favorite city council member) and he and his office made numerous attempts to get something done, but still, there are no signs. I guess someone wants that one hidden, again from anyone who does not live here. That is a main artery from downtown to the airport, I would hope that more than locals are going from downtown to the airport, but hey who am I? Call me stupid, but I thought making visitors welcome and helping them find their way around would be good business.



Do you think this is enough for now? I do.

Good night.



Post a comment so I know you are reading my ramblings and rantings.



Aloha!!