Road project not needed
To the editor:
Here is my view on Gray Rohrer’s story:
We really have to question how really smart our representatives are when in the middle of a major economic downturn they turn to their constituencies and ask them to spend millions on projects that lack any relevance to the realities around them.
I am not only referring to the boondoggle of shoving utility enhancement down the throats of Cape Coral residences but also the efficacy of widening Pine Island Road for – as they would put it – the future good of this area.
Right now, people are not headed west, they are headed east and north, leaving the Cape and Lee County by any means necessary; it’s the new version of California or Bust, it’s Busted and going somewhere else for a job and decent housing. You can see tumbleweeds on parts of Del Prado during rush hour, and like an episode of After People plants and animals reclaiming parts of Lee County.
But Rep. Aubuchon, Mayor Jim Burch and Councilwoman Gloria Tate of Cape Coral’s Board of Dictators: “We know what is right for you; we have seen tomorrow and decided it’s made of asphalt”. As for me, I don’t know why they are stopping there. Why just six lanes, and why just east and west, how about north and south? If you do something, do it right. How about 16 east and west lanes, and 16 north and south lanes with a four leaf clover interchange where they meet?
Cape Coral’s former mayor saw the problem with that venue, the cemetery at Chiquita and Pine was in the way of lane expansion; get it right folks they are DEAD, and cannot vote against you.
While we are at it why stop with the current westward expansion, keep on going. These politicians are so worried about the future then how about just keep on dropping the asphalt till you reach Hong Kong? That will impress those northerners, help bring people – especially Texans -back to the Cape and will make Alaska’s bridge to nowhere pal(in) in comparison!
When it comes to opening transportation venues why is it we never hear about shade tree park and rides where green, efficient and reliable public transport can take the place of all those vehicles that are eventually going to – and by the way, I’ve been down here six years and still have to see a real live traffic jam; I guess people from the backwoods areas think two donkeys in a line constitute a traffic jam; but I digress -fill up those lanes sometime in 2080.
There is no reason NOT to devote a piece of that money to developing a reliable surface transport system that will help reduce congestion, noise, bring people to work, school and play, and yes reduce the tons and tons of poison that are being pumped into our atmosphere and lungs.
More lanes mean attracting more traffic, more pollution, and more noise and bringing the cape closer and closer to resembling the South Bronx; a goal if I had ever heard of one. Do not think that this is more a political move then one of caring about the future of this city.
Rep. Aubuchon, Mayor Burch and Councilwoman Tate move your home to Pine and Chiquita than tell me and all the others how wise your decision was.
Oh, and by the way, last one out of the Cape, turn off the lights.
Philip L. Abbondanza
Cape Coral