Driving the length of Sandridge Road has finally become an exercise in the Use of Extreme Caution and its companion The Feeling of Foreboding. God forbid that you need to pull over to get out of the way of a speeding vehicle heading straight for you as it passes four other over-the-speed-limit nitwits.
The wayside is cluttered with all manner of artifacts — from “take me” refrigerators and soggy “free” oversized sofas to the county’s own tsunami signs and mile markers — to say nothing of telephone poles and broken down ditch barriers and reflectors on tall white sticks. It reminds me of the streets of San Francisco years ago when the garbage men were on strike.
At least there was a little humor to that situation. It was around Christmastime (in the late sixties, maybe) and people were desperate to get rid of their garbage. It became popular to wrap up your kitchen refuse in fancy Christmas paper and leave it on the front seat of your parked, unlocked car. Many-a-thief scored boxes filled with potato peelings and egg shells and moldering meat scraps to say nothing of empty tin cans and glass bottles.
But, let me be clear: along our County byways, the mess has nothing to do with our hard-working Sanitation crews. Those of us who have garbage pick-up service can count on those workers to empty our dumpsters on schedule, rain or shine. And, I might add, most of the garbage dumpsters appear and disappear quickly — they don’t sit on the roadside adding to the clutter.
And never mind the rusting cars and boats and collapsed abandoned buildings that clutter up our fields and woods and “vacant” lots. Sometimes it seems that we live in the middle of a gigantic dumpsite. I do believe there are ordinances that deal with such matters. Why are they not enforced? I’m sure the answer would be something to do with money.
So perhaps the County needs to refocus its priorities. Like maybe we need to consider taking care of what we have before courting more building, more population, more need for county workers to help “expand” our economy. It’s election season, folks, and we’ll be choosing a brand new County Commissioner. Let’s find one whose first priority is keeping our County clean and green and fit to live in. What a treat that would be!