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Friday, Nov. 07, 2008

Loose Lips: Speeding cars? Not on my block!

Just when Lips thought Supervisor Kathleen Crookham was kissing her political career goodbye, the fire has been stoked once more.

And it's burning hot.

She's been tapped to be on the Ragsdale Steering Committee, a group set to work with (read: battle) the city on how the G Street underpass is to be built.

One resident fears 26th Street, a narrow, quiet tree-lined road, will become a highway for drivers jetting across town trying to get around trains. All of a sudden, driving on 99 doesn't seem so dangerous.

The supe put on her citizen's hat Monday to join her neighbors in pleading that the council not let the underpass ruin her quality of life. It's the city's oldest and most stable subdivision, and the project has the potential to wreck it.

"I just hope we're not forgotten in all of this," one resident said. "We've worked our whole lives for what we have. We've worked too hard to see it disappear."

Oh ... wait. That was said by an opponent of Riverside Motorsports Park. Perhaps Crookham took notes from residents before she approved the project two years ago.

Looks as though 26th Street may make a better race track than the area north of Castle Commerce Center. It'll probably be built sooner too.

Merced's City Council has a little more street cred than RMP, which has been silent since July and needs to win approval once more.

Crookham's stance proves that all politics is local, especially when you're trying to keep a project out of your backyard.

Mr. Popularity

Are commission appointments only a popularity contest? Does it only matter who has more friends in the MySpace of life?

Councilman John Carlisle thinks so. He lost a battle to get substitute teacher and part-time consultant John Meyer Jr. appointed to Merced's Economic Development Advisory Committee.

Lips has never heard of him, which may support Carlisle's argument.

Yet his resume sparkles. He chaired a NATO committee. He has an MBA from Pepperdine University and a bachelor's degree from the U.S. Army military academy at West Point.

He wants to develop Merced into a global center and focus on international agritourism. He wants to sponsor a convention here. The one question unanswered: Why is he in Merced?

Paul Lundberg, a minister at Atwater Baptist Church, got the nod. He has served on a handful of boards, including the Cal Works Advisory Council and the Mercy Hospital Advisory Board.

He says, "I just want to be available and of assistance to the community."

Councilwoman Michele Gabriault-Acosta took offense to Carlisle's suggestion that the appointment was merely a popularity contest.

But the council plans to make the process more fair next time. It's going to use rock, paper, scissors.

No words are careless. Loose Lips can be reached at editor@mercedsun-star.com.