Save the trees, damn the bike path

So the illustrious town Select Board voted last night to oppose a waiver from, you know, the state on widening--but mainly repairing/rehabilitating--the Norowottuck rail trail which produces flat tires way quicker than those industrious beavers build dams.

Years ago the state built the bike path using recycled glass. Except they forgot to grind up the glass. Did not take long for shards to work their way up threw a thin layer of asphalt and wreak havoc on tires that require air pressure. Gotta wonder if it was the same engineering firm that designed the $10 million Umass heating plant that never threw a BTU of heat.

Finally, they want to make amends and do the job right. And since it is kind of a sunk cost getting construction equipment into out-of-the-way areas, they figured why not expand the width of the bike path by 25% creating a safer travel experience for more people.

Not in the People's Republic of Amherst. Losing trees is just too much to bear. So we will have more delays, more expenditure of tax money and eventually the job will get done--beavers and trees notwithstanding.

As usual the 45 minute meeting with this item the only one on the agenda was almost entirely one-sided, although Princess Stephanie did allow 45 seconds for another viewpoint. Hardly fair and balanced.