Links and Rants on a Friday

Here is a clever approach by Utah to trick you into giving up valuable personal information. Why they can't I cannot guess but if you live in Utah, lie! Perhaps it is all a clever ruse to find all the chronic patches.

Here is a link to a fellow who wants to shoot at Seal Rock. I know people who live there but no one answers their phone so I can't give you any inside information. Perhaps they were all killed by errant bullets.
However you can rest assured that if real estate developers and the government are on the same side in an issue the other side is probably the correct side to be on.

The City of Amity is run by idiots.
Here is a link to a PDF of their application to "improve the downtown."
They purposely restricted downtown parking with "bulb outs" and  made these huge wheel chair ramps at all the intersections. There will also be bike lanes on both sides of the road.
The application stresses that the roads are too narrow.
Bike lanes and "bulb-outs" (there is a name to those abominations) effectively limit 99W through Amity to to 2 smart cars and a bicycle.
All they really had to do...
1. Fix the damn sidewalks so you didn't trip.
2. Put moderate wheelchair ramps that don't force wide loads down the middle of the highway.
3. Paint a @#$%^ing white line on the side of the road for the $%^&*( bicyclists
4. Fire the City Manager
5. Fix the shoulders of the main roads through town so you can pull over with out dropping an axle in a pothole.
6. Fix the intersection by the old US Bank building so you can turn on to 18 without hitting the telephone pole or hitting oncoming traffic because you can't see due to the one car parked right at the intersection in front of the bank building.

But no, hundreds of thousands of dollars later we've got park benches and trees. Something I for one, have always thought would look nice in downtown Amity with its crumbling brick buildings.
At least they did eliminate the parking in front of the old bank. AND five other spaces.
I'm sure this will bring the winetasters in droves. And of course the city will certainly benefit from more bicyclists. They absolutely contribute the local economy. Witness the five bicycle shops in town and the bike racks outside the Blue Goat. (one of the few business that survived the renovation)

And now I think I will go to work...