06-24-2005, 09:23 PM
(This post was last modified: 06-24-2005, 09:25 PM by Rhydderch Hael.)
Having gained a new job some two years ago, I had to move back into the Antelope Valley of southern California. Dirtland. Not as bad as, say, Riverside, but close.
There's a stretch of road some 8 miles long separating Palmdale from a small community called Littlerock (where Charlie Brown's Farm makes a famous home for milkshakes). At the intersection of 47th/Palmdale Boulevard and 90th/Palmdale Blvd, a pair of big honkin' lightboard signs were erected: the 90th street sign servicing westbound traffic, the 47th servicing eastbound. Fancy, high-tech yellow LED arrays with monitoring cameras. I saw the suckers pop up years ago whenever I came by to visit family.
I don't think those things were ever switched on for the first two or three years. Then, lo and behold, one day a test pattern came online and continually flicker through these signs. Then the rains came and the Littlerock wash coming out of Littlerock Dam was soon flowing over Palmdale Boulevard with a swift current. Then the ultimate purpose of those electronic signs was made manifestâ they were put to work, giving drivers approaching the wash this warning: "Road Flooded Ahead" "Icy Conditions"
Apparently this multi-thousand dollar electronic message system was designed solely to supplant $20 metal signs mounted on an $8 metal pole. Which is further troubling in my mind since the City of Palmdale still made the effort to erect $20 metal signs stating "Road Flooded"/"Icy" on the same roadâ right next to the electronic signs.
Somebody got rich over that "civic improvement". Nobody I know, though... :whistling:
Second case in point, on that same stretch of Palmdale Boulevard: within the past year, access roads from the quarry (or 'them there Dirt Farm', as I call it) were cut to put a lot of gravel hauler and cement mixer traffic onto this eight mile stretch of two-lane road. At the exact same time, those eight miles were re-striped into double yellow no-passing zones. That's right: put a whole bunch of slow-moving trucks on a two lane road, then re-zone it so that it's illegal to pass.
No accident. Somebody thought it up and thought it was a good idea to execute. Most probably so that they have a "civic improvement" to work upon in the future. I swear, it is in the city's mindset to subtly wreck something during a change to ensure their job security by coming along and fixing it up some years later.
This is not the sort of local government I'd trust to wisely wield the power of eminent domain for public use, much less for resale to private companies.
There's a stretch of road some 8 miles long separating Palmdale from a small community called Littlerock (where Charlie Brown's Farm makes a famous home for milkshakes). At the intersection of 47th/Palmdale Boulevard and 90th/Palmdale Blvd, a pair of big honkin' lightboard signs were erected: the 90th street sign servicing westbound traffic, the 47th servicing eastbound. Fancy, high-tech yellow LED arrays with monitoring cameras. I saw the suckers pop up years ago whenever I came by to visit family.
I don't think those things were ever switched on for the first two or three years. Then, lo and behold, one day a test pattern came online and continually flicker through these signs. Then the rains came and the Littlerock wash coming out of Littlerock Dam was soon flowing over Palmdale Boulevard with a swift current. Then the ultimate purpose of those electronic signs was made manifestâ they were put to work, giving drivers approaching the wash this warning: "Road Flooded Ahead" "Icy Conditions"
Apparently this multi-thousand dollar electronic message system was designed solely to supplant $20 metal signs mounted on an $8 metal pole. Which is further troubling in my mind since the City of Palmdale still made the effort to erect $20 metal signs stating "Road Flooded"/"Icy" on the same roadâ right next to the electronic signs.
Somebody got rich over that "civic improvement". Nobody I know, though... :whistling:
Second case in point, on that same stretch of Palmdale Boulevard: within the past year, access roads from the quarry (or 'them there Dirt Farm', as I call it) were cut to put a lot of gravel hauler and cement mixer traffic onto this eight mile stretch of two-lane road. At the exact same time, those eight miles were re-striped into double yellow no-passing zones. That's right: put a whole bunch of slow-moving trucks on a two lane road, then re-zone it so that it's illegal to pass.
No accident. Somebody thought it up and thought it was a good idea to execute. Most probably so that they have a "civic improvement" to work upon in the future. I swear, it is in the city's mindset to subtly wreck something during a change to ensure their job security by coming along and fixing it up some years later.
This is not the sort of local government I'd trust to wisely wield the power of eminent domain for public use, much less for resale to private companies.
Political Correctness is the idea that you can foster tolerance in a diverse world through the intolerance of anything that strays from a clinical standard.