A little jingle from an 1856 issue of Punch magazine is appropriate here. “It ain’t th ‘unting as ‘urts ‘im, it’s the ‘ammer, ‘ammer, ‘ammer along the ‘ard ‘igh road.”
It is my good fortune to own a four-wheel drive pick-up, because there are days when, after a heavy downpour, drastic measures are needed to traverse the main road/street leading to my house. Having worked up the courage to email the commissioner of my district, the gentleman gave me a call. I won’t mention names, but he was the only incumbent re-elected in my county last November. After exchanging pleasantries, we cut to the chase.
First, I owe the reader some overview. My street is one of many formed in a grid of roads and streets running north/south and east/west. If I understand correctly, this development, which is approximately eight square miles, was subdivided in the 1970’s. Consequent with the growing population and the stout real estate market, this once sparsely populated area is rapidly changing. Ninety percent of these streets are unpaved dirt. A large majority of the dirt roads in this development are maintained by the county (I’ve seen county road department maps) and graded on a regular basis.
The pertinent question put to the good commissioner was this, “Why isn’t our street on the county-maintained list and graded?”
The gentleman’s response, “There is a county law from 1996 which stipulates which county roads and streets are maintained.”
At this point I was optimistic that logic and reason would prevail. “Well sir, since 1996 the neighbors have moved in all over the place. Progress has finally arrived in this part of the county! Surely, the county is concerned about keeping pace with progress, if not getting a leg-up on it. Besides, this well-traveled road reflects a poor image of the county to those considering a homestead.”
“Well, there’s this here ’96 law…”
“But, laws can be updated or rescinded, especially where a county is changing so rapidly!”
The statesman rebuts, “Let’s look at it this way…I have a house on the end of a half-mile driveway. That driveway is a private roadway, not public. I grade that driveway myself. The county does not grade my driveway.”
“Mr. Commissioner, are you saying that my road is a private road?”
“Yes.”
“Well, this road is in the same development as all those other roads that are maintained by the county, so why is ours the exception?!”
Being wary of pushing the statesman over the edge, I did not refer to the scent of cronyism, antagonism to change, and so on.
“It’s the law,” rejoined the statesman.
The wind had gone right out of my sails. It occurred to me that I was wrangling with a man who knew his history, so I closed my interrogation. I meekly solicited the statesman’s support in case I decided to pursue the matter, albeit, within the constraints of the law!
There are options which don’t necessitate any undue effort from the statesman. For $25 the county road department will gouge, I mean, grade our road when they happen to be in the neighborhood, grading the two maintained roads that intersect ours. The problem is that some of my neighbors will not contribute to the fund because they prefer the craters in front of their place because it slows down the traffic…
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