Takin' it to the STREETS!

Street maintenance, that is. We’re getting major road repairs in my neighborhood and it’s a welcome site. (Pun.) Road maintenance is something I’ve always favored be done by government, though I can see the merits of having some private highways (usually tolled). My street historians tell me it’s the first time in the 17-year history of our street that it has had extensive (any?) work. It has remained in good condition despite the length of time, which attests to the quality of the original construction. (Must not be the same guys that built my HOUSE!)

I shall miss the now patched street-wide crack that was in front of my domicile (pictured). We didn’t lose any children in that crack, and it didn’t get tooo much bigger during the nine years I’ve lived here, but it sure was a crack, never sealed, never filled, just there. When they tore it up you could see the pavement was at least 8-10 inches thick, so no wonder it lasted so well.



A couple of months ago we had these weird-looking reddish pads installed on the street corners in the neighborhood. I assume they are a traction or skid plate to prevent you from slipping or falling. I had never seen the likes before and we already had the handicap accessible, gently sloped to curb-less road entries as I believe were mandated ages ago by the American Disabilities Act. Anyway, Thoutt Construction had the honor to totally tear up all the corners, install the pads, and repave around them. (Glad to see the govt. money going to private companies I presume.) They were so dedicated to doing a good job that they actually tore up at LEAST 3 of the finished corners and redid them because something wasn’t right. I haven’t slipped since! (Or before, actually, but…)

...


About a week ago we received a notice that the streets would be milled (ground to that corduroy surface you see during repairs sometimes, I presume) and paved in the near future. Then came the “crack” repair crews. (Pun.) They have since finished most of the cracks in my immediate area and today were doing all four corners at once at my nearby intersection.







LaFarge Construction has been doing the honors for much of the current repair. They are efficient, well-organized, and fast, from my uninformed point of view. It seems too soon for this to be the result of Stimulus money, especially considering the advance planning required. I did find this document: 2009 ASPHALT OVERLAY PROJECT, PROJECT LOCATIONS specifying the work. It came from this page of the DougCo website: http://www.douglas.co.us/publicworks/engineering/Capital_Improvement_Projects.html. Glad to be seeing it done, regardless.

DougCo Term Limits

There was a front page headline article in the recent Highlands Ranch Herald about efforts to remove term limits for the county sheriff and coroner. It seems like a newsworthy subject, but the article didn’t say: a) what are the lengths of the term, b) how much of the term is left, c) is the current office holder up to the current term limits, d) who is the current sheriff and coroner (not names I recall on a daily basis).

a) From this: http://www.douglas.co.us/clerk/elections/documents/2006primary-officialcumulativereport.pdf it states the terms for sheriff and coroner are each 4 years.

b) & d) From this: http://www.douglas.co.us/government/Elected_Officials.html I deduced that current sheriff Weaver has been in office since Jan. 2007 and his term expires Jan. 2011. Current coroner Riber has been in office since Jan. 2003 and his term expires Jan. 2011.

From this: http://www.state.co.us/gov_dir/leg_dir/lcsstaff/research/termlim.htm I found that the term limits are 2 consecutive terms if the terms are longer than 2 years.

c) Thus, private “I” that I am, I’ve deduced that Sheriff Weaver can serve another term if elected and Coroner Riber cannot run for re-election in 2011.

Well, I’m glad I figured THAT out! I’m not going to pursue the respective office holders for their opinions, though that would have been newsworthy also. As for should we have term limits, I can’t decide. There’s an argument for having continuity and experience in office and an argument for having a fresh, new (but less experienced?) perspective every so often. Hmmm. Something to keep me awake at night.

Colorado H.B. 1299 -Electoral College Reform (NO!)

Well, ask your state representative to say no, as this isn’t currently scheduled to be voted on by the citizenry.
Senate contact list.
State Senate districts.
Douglas County senator is Ted Harvey, ted.harvey.senate@state.co.us .

IMO the bill is yet another ill-informed and extremely unwise alteration of our constitutional rights and protections.

“The National Popular Vote bill would guarantee the Presidency to the presidential candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states (and the District of Columbia).”

I don’t WANT to be governed by 51% of any gang of thugs that can be assembled (or more politely, by whatever the majority FEELS like doing).

“…this meant that some men (the majority or any gang that claims to be its spokesman) are ethically entitled to pursue any whims (or any atrocities) they desire to pursue, while other men are ethically obliged to spend their lives in the service of that gang's desires.” (A. Rand, The Objectivist Ethics.)


Actual text of the bill.


Good articles:
WSJ

Amy Oliver Blog (EXCELLENT academics’ articles linked in this page’s margin.)

InDenverTimes (At the end of this article there is a VERY lengthy explanation FOR electoral reform from commenter “Susan”.)

Explanation of National Popular Vote Bill The national website FOR electoral reform.

Editorials and commentaries:

Electoral Nonsense Grand Junction Sentinel

Electoral College: The system works

Gen. Info:

What is the Electoral College?

Constitutional Topic: The Electoral College

The Pursuit of Happiness ~ Democracy or Republic?

The Electoral College: Enlightened Democracy

Cheapening Murder?

(Well, for title the instructions sometimes say "give us something catchy".) This is about the Colorado legislature bill to repeal the death penalty. ( Denver Post article and discussion.) In a TV panel discussion a couple of years ago about dropping the death penalty I heard Dennis Prager say "It cheapens murder". The rest of the panel looked at him aghast, and I didn't get it at first either. But what he was saying was, if the price for taking another person's life is not expensive, such as the death penalty, it cheapens the crime, making it no big deal.

With no death penalty a person may be more inclined to take another's life if they know they can only get jail time, even if it's life in prison, for doing so. On the other hand I've often heard it said that if you take one life you might as well take as many as you want as you can only pay with one death penalty. (And you still may have a chance at jail time.) Lovely logic either way.

Certainly taking a human life, whether as a crime or a legal punishment, is a horrible thing. Death could be said to be a cruel and unusual punishment, as might be said about a life without parole spent in incarceration (except that the incarcerated IS alive, but his murder victim is not).

I have often felt that someone taking another's life has given up their own right to life. (Just talking crime here, not war and "legitmate" (?) life-taking.) If we want to hold life as extremely precious then the penalty for taking another's life has to be extremely expensive. My vote would be for the death penalty. Could I throw the switch on a convicted killer myself? I don't know, but if it was because I'd lost a family member or loved one I'd have to give it some very, very serious thought. Who is going to fire the last shot, the killers or the victims? What do you think?