Kudos to the Town of Speedway

I got an email alert today about how the Town of Speedway is getting ready to start clearing dead trees from Meadowood Park. I have so many good things to say about this on so many levels:

1. As someone who lives in the Meadowood Park neighborhood, I am glad that the property owners are removing dead trees that tend to devalue the park. This goes back to the old "broken windows" theory - if people see that the little things aren't addressed (i.e. broken windows or dead trees), they will assume that big things won't be addressed either (i.e. selling crack on the street corner or perverted acts in the park). I generally discount the broken windows theory as oversold and overstated, but in this instance, I believe that it has some limited applicability.

2. As a civil litigator, I am happy to see that the Town is addressing some of the liability that those dead trees represent. It seems to me that there is no way to predict when or if a living tree will fall down and hurt someone; however, a dead tree puts the property owner on notice that it will come down eventually. Accordingly, the Town of Speedway is, rightly in my opinion, taking steps to address its possible liability.

3. I hate to see valuable resources wasted. That's why I don't leave my vintage guitar amplifier outside in the rain; I value it. Similarly, I believe that Meadowood Park is a valuable resource. Not only will neglecting it lead to additional problems (see point 1) but neglecting it also wastes the potential that it carries. The developers of this neighborhood could have built more houses on that land; instead they chose to build a park there. I believe that park is an asset. I don't want to see that asset wasted.

4. I can use the firewood. I know this is a bit silly, but dead Ash burns exceedingly well, and a backyard bonfire is an excellent opportunity to hang out with my neighbors.

I could go on, but I am so impressed with our local government for the simple fact that they actually address the actual problems facing their constituents.

Look, I know that I have strong disagreements with some members of our community, particularly around issues pertaining to parking, the Redevelopment Commission, Wilshaw, etc. Nonetheless, I think that we should all congratulate our local officials for doing the un-sexy work of addressing mundane, everyday issues affecting the citizens of Speedway. This congratulations extends to the Town Council, who sets the spending priorities, Jacob Blasdell (sorry if I mis-spell his name, but he is our town manager and a damn good one), Wendell Walters (Director of DPW, I think) and any other officials I am forgetting (I promise, it is not personal).

Bravo!