Well. They are putting a chicane on Almira Drive. For those of you who do not know what a chicane is — and I did not, fully, until Tuesday — it is when they make the road go a little sideways on purpose, like a gentle swerve built right into the pavement, to slow people down. And I want to be clear that I am not against slowing people down on Almira, because you and I both know there are drivers out there who treat that stretch like it is their personal situation to resolve at high speed — but I will say that the people who actually live here on that road were not exactly holding rallies asking for the road to wobble. The city decided. The city installed. And now we are all learning a new word together. That is just how it goes sometimes.
And another thing — the Tracyton Beach Road sewer project, which has a meeting scheduled for April 29th at five in the evening in the City Council Chamber, which is a fine time if you do not work evenings or have dinner to make or children or, I don't know, a life — now, I want to say I support sewer infrastructure, I genuinely do, because I remember when the conversation about expanding sewer service out toward that part of the city was the kind of thing people said would never happen in our lifetimes, and here we are, it is happening, and the city is at least holding a meeting about it before the digging starts, which is more than I can say for certain other decisions that have been made in certain other years that I will not name but that several of you remember perfectly well. You go to the meeting. You go and you say your piece. That is the whole point of the five o'clock.
Now here is where I have to say something about the CDBG process, the Community Development Block Grant situation, because the city is accepting written public comments through October 30th on how that money gets allocated — and written comments, to me, have always felt like the kind of participation that is technically available but not exactly warmly offered, if you follow me. I remember when grant money came through for downtown improvements — I want to say it was the early nineties, though I will circle back on the exact year — and the people who actually live here found out about it roughly around the time the signs went up. A written comment submitted to an administrator is not nothing. But it is also not a room full of people who have something to say and a chair to say it from. The chicane meeting gets a room. The five-year consolidated plan, which covers where real money goes for real needs, gets a mailing address. I am just noting that. I am not finished noting it, either, but I have run out of column.
That's all for this week. You know where to find me.