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Margaret's Obstacle Course
A simple trip downtown has turned into quite a battle. Used to be just the potholes one had to contend with on some of our city streets. Now it's much worse. I know when it's finished we will all be saying that it was worth it, or it wasn't that bad now that the streets are all smooth and perfect.
But right now it's an obstacle course. I know many residents, especially some older drivers, who, in the past, have avoided the upper Cornelia Street area because of the four lanes and hectic pace of the vehicles. Can you imagine downtown driving being worse? I'm at the point, though, where I may avoid good old Margaret Street and the several other downtown streets that are torn up and scattered with heavy equipment.
Now this isn't to point a finger at Luck Brothers, the lucky bidders for this job. The job has to be done, and I'm sure their engineers know the best way to go about their business. It's just that my daily drive to the post office, bank or favorite restaurant for soup is starting to get the better of me.
Make sure you don't bother washing your car if you're going to be driving downtown. Mine is covered with dust from my daily treks, and it's going to stay that way until I finally decide to head west on Cornelia to go to the bank, the post office annex and a different restaurant for my daily lunchtime soup.
And this doesn't even take into account the parking places lost due to the street construction. Parking has always been a challenge downtown, especially around lunch time. Some might say, there's plenty of parking in the huge city parking lot, but that's not true, not during the daytime when it is really employee parking for the Social Services Department, Westelcom, and the several other businesses on Durkee Street, Bridge Street and City Hall Place.
I know a guy who got a parking ticket two weeks because he hurriedly parked in the "taxi stand" in front of Trinity Park. He had to make a business dropoff at a downtown bank. When he got back he was nailed with a parking ticket because that area is "reserved" for taxis.
Guess what? I have checked that spot randomly for the past ten days and not once have I seen a taxi parked there! Couldn't that area be temporarily re-assigned as "general parking" during our construction parking crunch? Couldn't our city's parking officer be a bit more understanding and issue a "warning" until parking isn't such an issue for those who have to do business daily at a downtown bank?
Our City Fathers have asked us all to be patient while we drive the Margaret Street obstacle course. As I sit and wait for dump trucks to navigate the course, and for the diligent flagwomen to drop that orange flag and wave me on, I am patient. I use the time to sit in my car and think about all the good things about my city, Plattsburgh.
Comments
well now you know 2 guys that got ticketed in that spot ... I appealed and still lost .. what a bunch of bs ... it's bad really bad .... and I mean disgustingly bad ... there's gotta be some changes and sooner the better!!!
Posted by: the carver | September 21, 2006 6:17 PM