Autumn in the North Cemetery.

Sixty miles west of Boston, Massachusetts there is the small New England town of Sturbridge. Located at the junction of I-90 (The Mass Pike), and I-84 it has become known as the "Crossroads of New England". The town was first settled over 300 years ago, and like other small New England towns it has grown just enough over the years to be in a difficult place today. How do we embrace the future without forgetting how we got to our present? How do we attract the right kind of growth, and maintain who we are? And, what about our culture out here in Central Massachusetts?



These pages will cause one to think about how to protect what we have, our future direction, and how to move on in the very best way.


Those thoughts, and other ramblings, will hopefully inspire more thought, conversation, action, and occasionally a smile...

...seems to be working so far

Saturday, October 16, 2010

A Saturday Morning Thought Bubble

Just because they say they met, and they put thought into a project doesn't mean that the right people met at the same time, and the right thoughts were thunk.

The issue is not about the number of accidents a place had in the past.  Never was.  The issue is that a place was already compromised to its efficacy, and could have been improved so that damage to personal property, and town property would be minimized, and that the road could be used as a road, and that sidewalks could be used as sidewalks, not an extension of the road.   The right people were not at the right meetings to share the right thoughts, and make the right plan.

No amount of past meeting minutes, or drawings of intersections, will ever correct that.  All they do is confirm that the plan could have been vastly improved.  Instead, we settled.

The entire matter is spilt milk now.  Next time I hope we'll hold a bit tighter to the glass.

2 comments:

  1. It'll never happenSaturday, October 16, 2010

    I have a broken stair. It's been broken for 5 or 6 years. I have never tripped and fallen because of that stair. Therefore I will never trip and fall on that stair. We talked about fixing it, but went to the movies instead.I am now happily going down those stairs - oh, here comes my football player kid, coming up the stairs. "How ya doin', Kiddo? Good to see...Oh! Help, I've fallen and I can't get up!"

    ReplyDelete
  2. Suggestion for new signage and flier verbiage to be placed near all approaches to the Haynes St., Maple St. and 131 intersection:
    SIGNS
    HUMANS: Stay off the sidewalks when you are aware that large vehicles are coming.
    LARGE VEHICLES: Stop if there are humans in the area. If clear, proceed over the sidewalks with caution.
    FLIERS
    LARGE VEHICLES:Scan sidewalks for flattened humans. If sidewalks are clear, proceed with caution. If flattened humans are detected, honk three times, and stop, honk three times and stop, honk three times and stop until help arrives.
    HUMANS: If you notice flattened pedestrians, yell loudly, until help comes, "Flatman down! Flatman down!"
    Other than sidewalk removal, it's the best cheap fix I can think of right now.

    ReplyDelete



Anonymous comments not accepted, and will be rejected. Please use your full name. Choose "Name / URL" and enter your name, and your name ONLY. Leave "URL" blank.