Ever since Friday, I've been hoping an op-ed column would determine how much Arnold's pothole press event had cost, or whether the pothole he filled was really dug specially for him prior to the event.
Schwarzenegger strode toward television cameras on Laguna Seca Way to the sounds of the Doobie Brothers' "Taking it to the Streets,'' while flanked by 10 San Jose city road workers wearing Day-Glo vests and work gear.
After speeches by the governor and city officials, a dump truck backed up and unloaded a mound of black asphalt and, as television cameras recorded the moment, Schwarzenegger joined the work crew, taking up a broom and filling the 10-by-15-foot hole, later smoothed over by a massive roller truck.
Somebody who lives on this street said there hadn't been a pothole to begin with, only "a few cracks" that were "unsightly". And he also reported that crews had been in the area for a few days anyway.
So it seems that the crew that was working in the area already found a likely street and dug out the 10-by-15-foot hole (which is bigger than what you could reasonably call a pothole) just to take care of a problem with cracks. If they jumped the gun on that particular street by a few years, hey, who can say. I wish they'd picked my street for the job - there are so many cracks it looks like a roadmap.
As far as the taxpayer expense of the repair, I don't think there's a story here. What galls me is just the fact of all these ham-fisted circus events. He's trying to impress the people, forgetting he first has to impress the media that reports to the people - and he really doesn't. If he put half this much effort into working seriously with the legislature, maybe we wouldn't need this upcoming $100 million special election in November.
Government as May Sweepstakes event: just what our already dumbed-down electorate needs to navigate the tumultuous and complex waters of 21st C politics...
I guarantee you there will be no "investigations" of whether or not the street in question ever had potholes. The Chimpy-Boy Adminstration is making sure that ANY questioning of the Official Mandate Indirectly From God is met with the most savage reprisals imaginable, and Guvenator is quite the tool of Chimpy-Boy and Boy Genius (KR). So it doesn't matter that, in fact,that a Qur'an may very well have been needlessly desecrated at Guantanamo--"liberal orgs" such as Newsweek (which is about as middle-of-the-road as one could find) are being told to Behave or ELSE!
Or so I sound paranoid?
Posted by: Anthony | May 31, 2005 at 09:16 AM
Thank you for stopping by and I'm glad you enjoyed the essay about Pixie's 4th birthday!
Yes, Grace is the finest... LOL, and as far as the love affair she reported, the story continues... :-D
Posted by: Jim | May 31, 2005 at 10:38 PM