Somebody Finally Listened

Does the government ever really listen to what the people want? Over the years, I’ve found myself pondering this question.
It’s been nearly a hundred years of people saying they were going to extend our street East from 1300 West, and West from 3200 West. The old house at the east end of our street looks like someone cut it in half. The reality of it is, that when the owner was building it, when someone said the street was eventually going to continue East, they stopped where they were and finished the house as it was without continuing further North.
As far as continuing West, with the advent of a large development a few years ago, the West end of the street was extended by a few miles. Just this last year, it was connected to another road which takes it to the further reaches of the valley near the western mountains.
It’s been more than ten years since we had a meeting where we each voiced our opinions about a route from the freeway to the western part of the valley. The zoning and planning committee agreed that it was best to move the road over about four blocks to the south so that it would have less impact on development. They gave their recommendation to the city council which totally ignored their recommendation and decided to leave it at 11400 South.
Somehow, this didn’t really surprise me, although I think that elected officials should be attentive to the voice of the people.
This past year, many meetings were held with respect to the upcoming construction. The voice of the government or its minions, again made itself heard. With the design complete, they told us that they had deviated from the original design in which there was to be a turning lane in the middle of the road. They informed us that they were going to put a barrier the complete length of the road, with turning lanes at the intersections. They told us that they wanted this barrier to have landscaping etc. so that it would look nice. They informed us that if we wanted to go the opposite direction, that statistics showed that it would be safer to go to the intersection and make a U turn then to have a turning lane in the middle of the road.
With many meetings on this issue, most people living on this street let it be known that the barrier was unacceptable. We felt we hadn’t been heard or were completely ignored. Neighborhood committee’s were formed and information was often exchanged. One of the state workers actually had the audacity to get up in a meeting about the barrier and say “it’s what everyone wants”! My response was “it’s good you’re serving cookies at these meetings, so at least one thing is not getting crammed down our throats”. I don’t know of anyone that wanted the barrier. Even our fair city didn’t want it, as they would have to help maintain the landscaping.
The design build team, a consortium of companies building the road, held a meeting about ten days ago. They wanted the people to know what was happening with the construction, its schedule, and to answer questions from the people affected by the construction.
It was a breath of fresh air to visit with these people. They’re the ones, basically where the rubber meets the road. They were considerate, polite, and as far as I could tell, want to make this thing work.
The best thing to come from this meeting was that in their design, they removed the barrier except at intersections where a turning lane was required.
At Last, someone finally listened to what the people want!