Dear Councilman Krantz,

Thank you for the invitation to the meeting concerning the recent pedestrian accident at Co. Rd. 81 near 48th Ave.

While I don’t mean to belittle the accident, it was an isolated incident, and certainly not any kind of trend. The accident rate for Co. Rd 81 is far lower than anyone would expect; given the volume of traffic on 81, and the neighboring population density. Therefore, to suddenly come to the decision/reaction that, '...something must be done to make this stretch of road safer...' is a poor one, when compared to other areas we could focus resources on. For example, on 12 October, 2005, a group of masked men broke into the house next door, and beat and robbed their family at gunpoint, which, to me is much more horrifying than a traffic accident, and if you will check the statistics; Much More Common. I don’t recall any mailings sent out about it, or meetings to discuss '...what we want done, and how we should go about getting it done.'

I don’t agree with using up resources on sensationalistic and extremely rare occurrences, when they could be used more effectively to handle daily problems like crime, pollution, disabled access, etc... In other words, I would rather see the City of Crystal install cameras at major intersections to deter crime, than to install a giant grounding rod because someone walking through town was hit by lightning.

The meeting is a good idea - it allows those feeling outraged and powerless over this extremely emotional event to vent their frustrations, and feel as though they have ‘done’ something. But, before anyone decides to build a bridge, or fence, or tunnel, or run floodlights down the entire length of 81, please make sure the decision is based on reason and statistics, not emotions. Otherwise, we end up with a really expensive memorial that provides little value to the people who have to pay for it.


Respectfully,
Conrad...

Labels: americans, idiots, Open Letter, political