Joy--Joy To the World

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yf-d-Ka30EY

                                                            Joy to the world,

                                                            All the boys and girls

                                                            Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea

                                                            Joy to you and me!

                                                            Three Dog Night

As Joy Smith Fenderson’s service wound down Tuesday at Highland United Methodist Church this now seemingly ancient refrain from a song out of my high school days rang out. It was one of Joy’s favorites, and for those of us who remember it from back in those days, it is an absolutely perfect send off for one of the most wonderful, giving people I have had the delight to know. Joy is gone, but joy lives on forever in our hearts, our minds, our souls—and her memory revives every time that song is played. For me, it can’t happen often enough.

Joy and her husband Tim are nothing less than great servers of people. Like me, they kept a busy life. Work, extra work, volunteering, picking up a few minutes to help whoever and whenever such help was needed. Personally, I relied on Tim, and therefore on Joy, to help me with whatever church fund-raising project I had going on at the time.

Most of the time, it was helping out with my fish fries. I knew Tim was a good cook, what I didn’t know was that Joy was the motor behind the whole thing. To some, it seemed like she was just helping out, just battering the fish, or hauling the trays back and forth. But to me, and I am certain to Tim, she was what made all of our efforts worthwhile.

Ok, yes, she managed to keep us in line. I know it’s a colossal effort, given the task, but she always seemed to know how to get and keep us on track. You see, Tim and I would much rather chat (call it by its real name and they won’t let you print it). But Joy knew better. She knew that if we didn’t get our collective tails in gear we wouldn’t be ready when our guests arrived.

And that’s probably how I like to remember her. Standing in the kitchen at Highland with a pan of Zataran’s breading in front of her and a full dusting of “Zat” powder on her apron, looking like an elf in a fresh layer of snow. Even on days when she had to work her real job, she was there for a few minutes to make sure we got started right.  Getting started right is half the battle, like writing a news story is easier if you write a good lead.

And to me, that is the story of Joy. Getting it right. And getting it right starts with attitude. Being around Joy was always a, pardon the expression, joy, because she made it that way. I am certain that there were other times, as there are for all of us, when things weren’t always smooth, but you could never tell from her demeanor. Well, at least I couldn’t tell, and really in my story that’s all that matters, right?

And so, sitting here on Christmas Eve morning, pecking out words on an uncooperative laptop, it’s difficult to find the right words, the right thing to say, the right expression of my feelings. And yet, I battle with my own guilt for not stopping by more often, for wishing that this never happened, for dreaming that somehow, some miraculous way, I can conjure up her image to help with yet one more fish fry, one more time to see the smile in her eyes, the wry grin, the ready laugh.

Many people like to say that writing is hard, writing is difficult. But really, it’s not, it’s just words and words are plentiful. There are many, many, many words.

There is also much Joy.

How to Build a Better Roundabout

For starters, don’t build a roundabout at all.

“Well how will we get off the Interstate then, David?”

Sure, I know there will be those who think I belong out there looking for big foot, or visiting Roslyn, New Mexico, or even developing a working model for cold fusion. I mean, even more than normal.  But it’s really not that.

Pay attention VDOT, what is about to unfold here is a design change that will provide a difference in Colonial Heights and likely for large Interstate ingress/egress designs in the future. How you ask?

Well, if I told you that there was a way to lower the potential for accidents at the I-95 exit/entrance area by 67 percent would you be interested in changing the roundabout design to make it happen? And what if it would not impact the majority of traffic on Temple, perhaps making it even less restrictive, and likely be able to do this at a budgetary wash?

Pipe dream, you say. Balderdash, you say. Poppycock, you say.

Sure, I know it sounds crazy, and maybe after you read this you will say, there goes that moron again proposing some kind of ridiculous idea, like flubber tires. But that’s not it at all.

The whole idea of the roundabout, which by the way I think is a good idea and will work, has been an issue within the community from nearly every corner. For some, just the idea of change is enough to wad their panties, others see a new design with a sceptic’s eye, and others just throw their hands in the air and slink off in defeat with visions of the Boulevard project in their heads.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

While looking at the VDOT model for the roundabout on the city’s web page, I was sort of spacing out on the traffic flow. Yes, the model shows how traffic will run through the roundabout, starting and stopping in appropriate places and then moving as the traffic cleared up. Truly, the model, based on GPS technology is a bit of a wonder. It resembles a huge whirligig.

So as I am watching the traffic swing out of the interstate and stop and start to allow cars and trucks to pass, I noticed that all the east-bound Temple avenue traffic was going straight through the whirligig. No one was taking a left and trying to spin back up Temple, or attempting to pick up the I-95 entrance lanes. They all went straight through as if driving directly from the Boulevard to the mall.

There are three places in the current design where an accident is likely to happen. They each involve the Interstate portion of the roundabout. Two for the east bound lanes, and one for the westbound, Interstate-bound, lane. If we could eliminate the intersections on the east bound lanes, two potential accidents points would go away.

In fact, the entire roundabout would go away.

What you would have left is elevated Temple Avenue east lanes (yes a bridge), and then a left turn from the Interstate exit onto Temple west bound, and a left turn from Temple avenue west bound to enter the Interstate.  That would be the only place where roads would cross creating a need for people to merge to get into the lanes they want to go on.

It might even be possible to engineer it in such a way that the cross traffic for the west bound lanes would be eliminated. But doing that would probably end up looking like the I-95 north bound exit to the Downtown Expressway.

Take a second and go look at VDOT’s whirligig design which is intended to make us feel good about the change. Wouldn’t it be a change if the flow of traffic on Temple Avenue in either direction was unimpeded from the Boulevard all the way to Conduit Road?  Wouldn’t it be nice to eliminate the biggest driving hazard in the city?

Here’s why it won’t work.

It makes sense. It makes sense, and VDOT has already sold the farm on their own whirligig design. As a certified project manager, I would suggest that now is exactly the time to look into a change like this. It takes little money to do it; just a few technician-hours on an AutoCAD. And if it would have the benefit of improving traffic conditions in the city and improve safety at the same time, doesn’t that make sense?

There is some question about whether the change would increase the cost. I’m sure building a bridge there would tack on some cost, but at the same time you would be saving the cost of the roundabout itself. Also, it would make the whole project easier to build. VDOT could construct one side, say the west bound lanes and move traffic there, and then build the east bound lanes. They do this all the time, it’s just a matter of figuring it out.

And the redesign?

Well that’s pretty simple too. These designs are a made using AutoCAD computer systems.  A good engineer ought to be able to modify the model in short order. If the proposal has so many positive aspects, isn’t worth looking at?

But ha. I forget, the current design is in the works, God forbid we suggest something that may be better. And besides, I’m no engineer so I can’t have a good idea either.

Hey VDOT, take a look. It will work, it will be better, isn’t it worth taking a look at? Oh, by the way, you can have the idea free consider it a present.

If you think this idea might be a solution, consider contacting the city or VDOT. While it’s past the input time, they haven’t started building anything. The suggestion does not affect right of way and only moderately changes the design. Without actually working out the financial details since I don’t have them, it seems to me that there would not be that large a difference. And, if it would be simpler and safer wouldn’t be worth a contract mod?

Come on VDOT, after that mess you hung us with on the south end of the Boulevard don’t we citizens deserve some consideration for this kind of change? Bleh, my bet is bureaucracy will raise its head and stupidity will flourish yet again.

Democracy--or Might Makes Right

Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.

H. L. Mencken

 Oh the world of local politics. It would be even more comical if it didn’t have the serious side behind it. And I’ll be darned if it isn’t happening over and over again right before our very eyes.

You talk about political grid lock? Just look at how some of those “my group your group” decisions have panned out over the years. Perhaps the biggest fiasco in local politics took place many years ago in Petersburg when their City Council opted out of helping their largest employer at the time, Brown and Williamson.  B&W was looking for some tax help, the city said no way, and Brown and Williamson moved to North Carolina.

Who won that decision?

Bad decisions are almost always the result of “group think” instead of working to the benefit of whatever municipality we happen to represent.  Politicians are elected; and they believe they are elected because of the policies and planks that they ran on. In reality that has nothing to do with it at all. In local politics who’s in and who’s out almost always is the result of popularity. Not too much different in reality to who gets named Home Coming Queen and King.

It’s by popular vote. How many people can I get to vote for me, support me, and put a little muscle behind my election campaign? Hold aside your personal feelings and that is exactly what democracy is all about. In truth, it’s the absolute worst form of government, next to all the rest.

What’s a constituent to do? Vote, for sure, because if you don’t vote you might as well just give up. You have no say in who is doing what. You deserve whatever you get. And for those who vote and lose, at least you were in the game. In some ways it’s a lot like the lottery. You can’t win if you don’t play.

But there are other things. Just because “I am more popular than you” does not mean that I will be a better judge of determining the course of the good ship over the next however long my term or terms last. In and out, up and down, in the end it’s all about groups and whether I have the swing vote.

In Colonial Heights, it’s very easy to see the gyrations between the two factions. What you don’t think there are two factions? My my, we have been napping haven’t we?

To me, City Council’s job is to set policy. According to ehow.com their purpose is:

A city government's mission is to use financial and human resources to provide services and ensure civil order for residents.

So how does that pan out in our City and how can you tell which way the pendulum swings?  Really, that isn’t hard to figure out at all. If you know what the real issues are in Colonial Heights you already know how council breaks in dealing with certain matters that come before it. It’s all defined by the votes they make.

You want to know how Council is going to determine the course of events in the city? Just look at who they “elect” as mayor. Whoever gets that position is the person leading whichever faction has the swing vote.

There is really only one way to change that. It has to do with the election. Pay attention to who is sitting on City Council and if you are dissatisfied with what comes out of that office you can make a change.  If they happen to be following a course you prefer, then keep on truckin’. But if you do not like the things that City Council is doing or promoting, then you have a moral imperative to make a change.  You can make a change by electing other candidates whose ideas and ideology more closely fit with your beliefs, or at least not with those of the faction you do not care for.

Choose not to vote and you get what you deserve, plain and simple, and exactly as H.L. Mencken suggests.