Pretty but dangerous

There comes a time in a person’s life that the desire to be polite goes out the window and anger fills its place in their heart. For me the time occurred when I heard that Smyrna Mayor Spivey was bothered by several mentions In the Smyrna AM of the delay in placing the streetlight at the Sam Ridley and Motlow Blvd.

He has voiced his unhappiness on the Smyrna AM commenting on the delays and that has bothered me.

For me the issue goes all the way back to the beginning of last year. The talk in the town council was about getting a light for the intersection. Sadly the meetings from then are not archived or I could quote the person specifically, but even then it pissed me off to no end. They were talking about the poles and how the normal creosote poles would look bad and they were going to do it right. Big pretty metal poles in the town's effort at pretty’fication.

Now on the surface that may just look like a wise investment until you look at it in more detail and reach a conclusion. Time’s a bitch when it comes to statistical chances and for many the odds kicked them a good one

Now the issue of needed lights there was first mentioned on “This is Smyrna, TN” By Michael on November 2006. The next mention was in January 2007 when I asked the town manager and he quoted the price of 200,000 to install the lights. The next month I mentioned that Mayor Spivey had talked about his contacting the state about assisting funds for the intersection.

Finally in April 10th of last year the DNJ reported that a light had been Okayed by the state.

Then three things occurred very close together and it has left a bad taste in my mouth since then and the recent news brought to my attention about the mayor has made me write this column.

The first is the season. Not the season to give or the holiday seasons, but tornado season and the extreme damage they can do to a village or town. When that happens many things occur, the first is to help people, but the next is to start rebuilding the damaged infrastructure. Crews in big trucks scurry about the area in a chaotic dance of repair and fixing. One of the things they fix is power and lights. Traffic lights to be specific and those lights can be rebuilt and running at an intersection in less then a day. Extra equipment can be brought in from spares and used to get things going. Keep this in mind.

The next was an accident. I blogged about it here on April 27th and was horribly impressed.

I was driving past the Smyrna video and saw that the whole row of stores had their power back on at 9pm. A total rebuild in just 8-9 hours by the city utilities. Consider me impressed.

In just one day they rewired, and put up two poles and all the transformers and damned if they did not have 5 plus trucks there with people doing it. I found out later that it was the power company and not the city, but was still impressed.

The third item was a city meeting. It was the sister city committee meeting and when I got there I found the door locked and no one seemed at home. Turns out there were there, you just had to knock to be let in. I mentioned that here and the next day I got a call from the town manager. I did not blog about certain parts of the town managers call until other things popped up.

The current problem I'm in started back in May. I had a question on a proposed ordinance that the city was thinking of passing. It seemed that the town attorney was the one to call so I left two requests to talk to her. I never got called back from her, but the next day I did get a very interesting phone call from Town manager Mark O'Neal. In what I best described to my wife as a "pissy attitude" he told me that I should address ALL questions to him in the future and not to anyone else. I did not mention this online in May because I figure that maybe he was having a bad day. We all have them.

He wants to be the wellspring of all information in the city hall. I can live with that.

Near the end of that phone call on May 2nd I brought up an idea that had come to me after the Smyrna Video Wire tear down.

Why not use extra spare parts and wires to put up a TEMPORARY light system to work until the poles came in, and I mentioned the crews and what I saw. I was pretty much brushed off.

So here we are today. 11 months since the plan to put the ‘pretty’ lights were Okayed, and damned if the mayor is upset that the Smyrna AM has mentioned a few times the delays lately.

You want pissed? Fine. I’m pissed that the town government of Smyrna TN did not put up emergency temporary lights for 10 months because they just had to have the pretty poles, and let the intersection stay dangerous . Every time a person drove through that intersection, and that includes my wife, family and friends, the chances of an accident that could financially, physically, and emotionally scar them for life increased till an accident did happen. Luckily not to anyone I care for, but the ones who have had accidents do have people that care for them. They should be enraged.

I lay at the feet of the town government every accident at that intersection for the last 10 months, all in the name of a pretty town, and a person's dismissive attitude.

Will this piss people off? I could care less. I plan on trying to get the recording of the town council meetings for the first 5 months of last year to find who made the disparaging comment about the black light poles and write a column that will make this one look like a damn walk in the park.

Time Line
2006 November: T.I.S.T. mentioned need for light
2007 January 24th: Town Manager mentioned 200,000 cost for pretty poles.
2007 February 14th: Mayor Spivey mentioned talking to state
2007 April 10th: DNJ reported light has state 'okay'
2007 April 27th: Post on accident and speedy repairs to poles and wires.
2007 May 1st: Mentioned sister city meeting locked.
2007 May 2nd: Call from Mark O'Neil and my suggestion of temporary lights. Dismissed suggestion.
2007 May 3rd to today: Smyrna resident and visitors left in danger due to need for pretty poles.

A truck hits a pole and tears down the lights and they can be up and running in a day, but when a dangerous situation occurs they do nothing. I'm more then bothered. I'm mad. A viable solution was offered and they did nothing, and now some in the government are bothered that the delay keeps getting brought up. Sorry but the delay is small fries when compared to the accidents that could have been avoided. But they are a small price when it comes to the town's desire for pretty poles.