Sidewalks in Bowdoinham

Oh so that's how it works...spin the story with a conservative stance and the pork tastes better. Nice. I will have to try that next time.

We will see if it works. You are not the first person to give me a hard time for being on the spending side of this one.

But if the feds are handing out $500K, I am willing to take it. And we are just talking about sidewalks -- not welfare or more government employees.

We have spent over $1 million fixing roads over the last three years.

But will the sheriff patrols be sufficient to enforce jaywalking violations, by pedestrians
utilizing sidewalks ,which of course will have to be promulgated ?

Will the town have to buy a sidewalk plow ?

But since it is for the children it is a good use of federals' dollars,ever meet that guy?

Oh that pesky free money that govt hands out, wonder where it comes from. Oh that's right they run a business that hires people to make/print/tax money so they can give it away and say how wonderful they are. Dan will you dedicate the sidewalk and call it the Obama Way?

Dan, I am just giving you a hard time. We have sidewalks in my town and they do just the things your article talks about. Connecting local stores with the Town Office, Bank schools, church etc. They've been here so long people take them for granted but if we didn't have them I know people would miss them. And, NO you don't have to buy a sidewalk plow. We've had sidewalks for over 50 years and the town has NEVER plowed them in the winter.

Dan, all joking aside do not have brick sidewalks. We have them in front of our store and in town and they heave and buckle causing people to trip etc. Also very hard to clear of snow, constant maintenance.

No bricks for sure.

The money is going to build sidewalks somewhere. Since we have the chance, I would like it to be in my town.

Islander - PERMISSION TO QUOTE, SIR???
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I second that motion - NO BRICK SIDEWALKS.

Meanwhile, Dan, if you'd like some expensive plans for festive new sidewalks and granite curbing (gray granite instead of pink, *sniff*), trees, twinkle lights, outdoor seating plazas, etc., just apply at the Town Manager's office in Kennebunk. Since our town has already spent well in excess of $130K for the planning on this fiscal boondoggle, it would be nice if somebody could use them. If the project goes down in flames at the polls again, I hear there's a few Power Point presentations that will be going spare after November 3rd, too.
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Meanwhile, I can't help but note the irony- Bowdoinham is proposing a total expenditure for new sidewalks that matches the amount spent by Gold-Coast Kennebunk on just the PLANNING/STUDIES/ENGINEERING for new sidewalks.

Dan - how much would it cost to get you to move to Kennebunk?
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No brick sidewalks, aye.

B-town is loaded with them; cute, but very high maintenance. And they make cigarette butts and dog crap look that much worse.

And potentially dangerous with random crumbling and heaving.

Naran, quote away! lol

THANK YOU, SIR!
:)

Your comments and observations echo the exact sentiments of many in town, ever since our own proposed brick boondoggle came to light. Bricks and Northeastern winters just do not mix well on pedestrian surfaces. There's a reason that the Northeastern Americans of old moved to asphalt and concrete as soon as those materials became cheap and available.

Forgot one other drawback, they are a son of gun to shovel and keep clean, not to mention the granite curbs that cut tires! Good luck Dan.

The brick sidewalks in Kennebunkport don't seem to have these problems, but it should be noted they are laid on top of a couple of inches of asphalt on top of well a compacted base. I suspect this added considerably to the cost.

charlie

Islander - Yep - we've had more than one cut tire ever since the state "gifted" us with an expensive roundabout that has granite curbing. (NO, NOT ME, NORTHARROW... lol.. although I remember former selectman Dan Boothby saying that he'd popped a tire on that curbing himself. I learned to drive in Beantown on Route 128, and something like a roundabout don't scare me, no suh).

AS for the brick sidewalks in the Port, you'd have to ask the town management about their maintenance. I can personally attest to their slippery quotient when icy, however. Christmas Prelude can be a challenge, some years.

So, the moral of the story is that pork is bad...unless it's spent in my town? Tip O'Neill was quite right - all politics is local. I guess it's okay, so long as those mystical, magical "federal funds" are involved.

Let's all go out and vote yes on question six...it's only federal funds.

We could get the federal highway funds without borrowing if the State of Maine managed its budget better.

The $535K grant that Bowdoinham can get will be used to build sidewalks somewhere. Voting No will not give the money back to taxpayers. It will just be spent somewhere else.

Well Dan,

It just goes to show you, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Haven't the AMG regulars beaten up anyone who's suggested,"It's federal money, not...." In fact Dan, maybe even you.................................

lol....before long you may be sharing columns with Niemitz

Dan...

being Chairman of the Finance Advisory Committee doesn’t sound like it would be as fun as being Chairman of the Bowdoinham Walking, Biking, and Paddling Committee.

Finally... a committee that’s willing to “walk the walk” while suffering through the discomfort of spandex covered derrieres on cold Town Hall folding chairs. Do they televise those meetings?

Naran:

I’m pleased to see it wasn’t you that cut a tire on the granite curbing along our Roundabout.
That tells me you followed my advice and took the Parks & Rec course:

City Living Series: Remedial Roundabout Navigation for Older Drivers.

Congratulations...

Yes! You're correct, and as promised, the course was most informative and enlightening. Here's a photo of the instructor (as you can see, the course was all-inclusive, and ADA-approved):

Bowdoinham is one of the most quaint and charming villages around, but it doesn't really have a "problem" that requires "fixing" with sidewalks. Who is walking from point A to point B in that town. It's the tiniest little nothing town, no destination stores, just people getting into their cars and going to work somewhere else like any other suburb. There's not really a town there. There's like, one store and it's a convenience store.

There are actually two stores, and one has a small restaurant. We also have a nice waterfront park.

People walk for pleasure and for excercise. On a nice spring or summer evening, there are lots of people out on the streets. Many people from the Village walk on the road that I live on because it has wide shoulders and good site lines, making it safer to walk on than the streets in the Village.

It has a nice little credit union too. If you want to go from the credit union to the little diner, you might need a sidewalk.

Are there no sidewalks in Bowdoinham now? How does one get from the credit union to the diner now?

There are no sidewalks now. In some areas, there are areas where there used to be sidewalks where one can walk off the road. In the area, where the credit union and the stores are, one would have to walk on the edge of the street. Where Route 24 goes through the middle of town, it is quite dangerous to walk along the street.

Well Dan while I am usually against Fed money this seems to be money that is actually going to be used for what it was intended, just rember no bricks!

Dan, you need a strategic plan to save the earth from humanity while consuming taxpayer dollars. Build your sidewalks AND remove the roads, it is time to change the attitudes of people in Maine toward automobiles. We can no longer afford the luxury of driving everywhere, your town is a good place to begin. Start a trend and provide a walking campus atmosphere for your town, remove nasty asphalt and replace it with grass and trees. Protect your mother-earth!

Politics make strange bedfellows. There are those in favor of the sidewalk proposal who have argued for it from an environmental perspective. You will note that argument was not made in the op-ed that I co-authored.

Argued FOR the measure from an environmental standpoint??? That's different.
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