Play Nice

With age comes wisdom........hopefully..........if you're payin' attention.

It's easy to rant, rave, accuse and name-call when you're wearing a cloak of invisibility. When your words have your name attached to them...............you think a little - maybe choose those words more carefully. Why do you suppose that is?

Blogs, posts and comments aren't personal diaries or journals. They are public. Anyone with a computer can read them.

Years ago - when my older children were in elementary school - there was a song that was in the Top 10. It's chorus was also the title, and was repeated over and over throughout the song: "French kissin' in the USA". Stupid song. Catchy melody though.

Everytime it came on the radio, I would switch the station. A friend observed this once. Her children were toddlers at the time. She asked why I was bothered by it. Besides promoting an activity that was inappropriate for an 8-year old, I was disappointed.

If I had the attention of millions of ears, several times a day, I know I could find something with some measure of value, to share with that audience. That's the way I feel about blogs, posts and comments.

Trading barbs and venting anger - what does that accomplish?

Good Turnout

Well, we did have a few people standing at last night's Candidates Forum. That was nice to see.

It was also nice to see the quality of questions that came across the desk. This town has so much to treasure and be proud of. Our residents being the most valuable asset.

The candidates gave us the opportunity to see each of them answer questions from the public without the benefit of much time to consider their answer. Very informative. Body language and facial expressions are also interesting to note. I wish there was a camera poised on the audience so we could watch their facial expressions as the candidates replied.

So overall I'd call the night a success. Thanks to all who turned out for it.

Got Questions?

Tonight is your chance to participate in the democratic process. This is a real opportunity for all the people who blog and comment on our website to actually come in person, face to face and pose your questions to the people who are willing to serve this city as YOUR representatives.

Several people have asked me if I think the council chambers will hold the crowd. Yes I do. The answer is based on past experiences. I wish we could have so many people turn out for these evenings, that we would need to hold it in a gymnasium. That has never been necessary.

If every person who complains about Patterson, and it's lack of this or that, would actually care enough to go to city council meetings and planning commission meetings, there might be a capacity problem. If people exercised their right to address these panels, at the meetings during the public comment period, they would find the councilors and commissioners very responsive.

So it will be very interesting to see how many people take a couple of hours out of their evening, away from their televisions, to come and see a reality show, that will impact their lives for the next two years, and possibly beyond.

Football time is here again

How 'bout them PHS Tigers? Wow. What a great time it is to go to a home game. Everyone there is rooting for the same team. How refreshing, during this political season.

It was just so nice to sit in the stands, perfect weather, beautiful stadium, a new group of cheerleaders with all their energy and enthusiasm. And the PHS band! They sounded so grrrrrrrreaattt! Having the band in the stands during the game - with their special brand of musical humor and well timed bits during time-outs..........fun stuff.

Here at the PI, we're working late on Fridays to get the game on the internet and some video for all the fans to see on Saturday morning. It's a labor of love in a town that loves it's high school sports.

Thanks to all of you who log in to PI. We're doing it for you!

You never know......

Development west of I-5......what a surprise. The results of the very unscientific poll that we had up for over a week, came as a real eye-opener to me. So did the video we shot last week, for our Street Beat, posing the same question to residents at the local donut shop.
Our poll showed 244 votes were cast. "Yes" votes totaled 151, or just over 61%; "No" votes totaled 93, or just over 38%. For some reason, that really caught me by surprise.

I really thought people here had an emotional tie to the foothills west of town. The natural beauty, the solitude, the sunsets......... guess I thought wrong.

There's a new poll up now. Equally unscientific, but it may prove to be just as enlightening as the last one.
Who knows? Maybe my grandkids (mere figments of my imagination as of right now) will someday come down I-5 and see high rise condos in them there hills.

Learn the rules of the round-abouts!

What is so difficult about negotiating a round-about? The approach is marked with "yield" signs, "One Way" signs, and in some cases, even a cute little circle of arrows showing the way.

Yesterday evening, as I approached the Plaza circle, I saw a small pick-up truck going the wrong way, hugging the inside curb, at about 5 mph. The poor driver had one passenger and they both looked very intense as they tried to decide where/how to get off the merry go-round. I tried to wave to them - didn't want to honk as that may have scared him - but he finally turned off on South Third street.

This is not the first time I've seen this happen. But that's not the biggest problem. The real mess comes when the traffic is heavy, usually around 3pm.

That circle becomes a 3-lane game of Frogger.

There are cars backed up waiting for the light at Hwy 33, cars driving on the outside (along the right-hand curb) exiting on Salado to avoid the back up, and then the cars trying to exit past W. Las Palmas, that hug the inside curb to pass the standing line of cars.

God help the poor pedestrians who may be trying to use the cross walks - hope they were good at Frogger!!!

So here's my advice on how to drive in Patterson............

As you approach any roundabout - you should expect to yield to any traffic that is either: a) already on the round-about; or b) entering the roundabout from a street to your left. This is one case when the driver on your LEFT has the right of way.

Try some patience and courtesy too. Maybe we should add road signs: "Entering a patience zone"........... or "Courtesy required next 1/4 mile" . whadaya think?