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Health & Fitness

Fire and Asphalt

A little over a decade ago, there was a plan - a plan to connect Highland Valley with Highway 78 through the general area of the airport. This would have allowed a second route from the west to the east. The people of Highland Valley were collectively spitting in anger. Their apoplectic rage over the idea that other people would be driving along "their" road effectively halted the project. (A few carefully placed kangaroo rats also helped, although recently indicted Dave Bittner could offer a better history on this topic than I.)

This is a common theme in Ramona; we have a fear of roads. The Ramona Street extension and San Vicente road widening projects are the most recent examples. If you browse the local comment sections of any of road related stories you will always find the following arguments:

  • We are opening the floodgates for more people moving to town.
  • People will drive faster and cause more accidents.
  • I am afraid of young people, and their recklessness scares me.
  • This will inject smog directly into my living room.
  • You might as well shoot golden eagles directly in the face.
I don't like to see Ramona change either. I have lived here all my life, and I like the way things are. Yet change is inevitable. Nobody has been successful about stopping growth, because people have property rights allowed by the General Plan (and a lesser-read document called the Constitution). We have, however, been successful about stopping new roads.

I understand "not in my backyard," but now there is a fire in our backyard, and nobody can get to town. That North bybass road sure would have come in handy today.
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