I gave you all the news about ten days or so ago that Bob Loucks is intending to run for the office of First Selectman here in Sharon. When I spoke with him at that time, he shared with me about his concern for the infrastructure of our roads and bridges, and what he said is the extremely sad condition that so many of both are now in. He spoke of thirty or more bridges and culverts of all different sizes I believe. Some which may even force road closing before cave-ins do occur. So my logical questions..... Where have our town supervisors (road boss, selectmen) been for the last five, ten or more years? These didn't all go bad over-night. Sounds to this writer like Sharon is falling apart, culvert by culvert, bridge by bridge. Was our management all worried about keeping the taxes down, and just wait till it breaks, then fix it? Hello! Didn't we go thru that at the school? Or were they told what they could spend by the tax board, who always seems endlessly worried about possibly raising taxes? And if that's the case, wasn't Bob on that board for some of that time? Why do small towns do so many things right, but then basically turn their head on other things?
In my walk last Friday morning before work I was going out Sharon Mountain Road, just a few hundred yards east of Lucas Road I found this lovely little section of town road. Can you imaging being an unsuspecting motorcyclist or bicyclist who might round the corner just above this spot? Its about three feet to four feet wide and more than twenty feet long... Its not a series of cracks or a single pot hole. Its more than 60 square feet of missing pavement! And what is left there on either side is so thin, it must be cracking and just more and more disappearing with each passing car. I knew that upper Fairchild was in really rough shape, and I might share some photos from there perhaps soon, but wow do we need to do some serious repairs around here. Last week the town crew with their backhoe, a dump truck and and a man with a hand-held iron rake(seriously) started doing some work up there. A start?
Maybe its time to fix the foundation, so it's sound, so that what they build on top will last. Just like building a new home. I don't care if they do 200 feet of a road a year for the next 190 years, but let's start to do it right. Don't we deserve it? Why do we have to make-do?
I am sure Bob, if he goes unchallenged, will make a fine first selectmen. He sure seems to be tuned into this matter now in a really good way. I hope he and our boards can do more than what apparently the last few have not been able to, for whatever reasons .
The comments in this blog is not to point blame at anyone, but to point out the time to get this straightened out is now, before someone gets really hurt.
Sounds like we all have work to do.
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