I should be in bed
Fresh when it gets here from
Julie Barrett
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
But I can't sleep.
Hormones, what can I say? And sinuses. Oh,
and the barking dogs. I don't know if those dogs ever sleep. I can
understand them barking when the garbage or utility truck lumbers down
the alley, but all morning while people are leaving for work? At
midnight? There are two dogs next door to the barkers, and I hardly
hear them. They've been trained. They're probably laying in their yard,
paws over their ears, wishing their neighbor mutts would shut the heck
up and stop giving the species a bad name.
I did manage to get
the current database project under control, which takes a load off of
my shoulders, at least in the short term. There's more work to do, but
for now I can take a couple of days and relax.
I've been watching the comments pile up on this article
in the local paper. (Update: Now that it's moved from the front page to the archives all of the comments are gone. Figures.) It's nice to see the paper doing some reporting on
what's going on over here. The area in question is just about a mile
from where I live. It's a mixture of older, gnerally well-maintained
middle-class housing (larger than the post-war crackerboxes a few
blocks to their east, and probably built better than the homes in this
neighborhood) and apartments that have been neglected by their owners.
Crime, drugs, and prostitution apparently thrive. The one apartment
complex noted in the article is an eyesore. Once in a while someone
slaps some paint on a couple of doors, but maintenance doesn't seem to
be a priority.
The comments range from the uninformed to blaming
the police to the east-west divide in this city to yet another tirade
about DART. Light rail is the root of all evil, apparently, and is
apparently relevant to everything from the the doings of a Cub Scout
pack to the kid who won a scholarship to a privately funded event. The
person leaving comments all over the web site doesn't seem to get that
the tax dollars we pay DART wouldn't go back into the city coffers if
we were to pull out. Our sales taxes would drop slightly, as the
transit tax is supplemental. The city is already charging the maximum
allowed by the state. If you're going to bang on about the transit
system, at least get your facts right.
But I digress.
Several
residents take the city council to task for ignoring the east side to
develop the west side. Sadly, I have to agree. We're full of mostly
empty shopping centers on the east side, yet the city bends over
backwards to give a developer a variance to build on the west side.
Yeah, I'm upset. This is very close to home. Not as close as the body found a block and a half away
from the Manor last year, but very close. But they're mostly illegals,
so if they kill each other off, who cares? Well, I do. But I'm not rich
or powerful, so my opinion doesn't mean a whole lot. Seriously, I do
fear that nothing will be done until something very tragic happens. I'm
also very afraid that the tragic event will involve children. I hope
I'm wrong.
Well, I suppose I'd better try to get two or three hours of sleep. If the dogs will ever shut up.
Tags: Life
Filed under: Life
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