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Nick, you may remember that when you were hired, a mutual friend gave you a very positive endorsement. I was delighted to hear that another professional, and one of your peers, thought highly of you. I literally thought that, finally, someone had arrived who could bring some professionalism, efficiency, honesty, even pride to our Dept. of Public Works; I thought that the department would finally be able to plan and complete projects like professionals. Yesterday, I learned once again that my optimism was grossly incorrect. Having been visiting friends on the California coast and in 3 states in the Midwest, I have not traveled to the post office on Sylvan in several weeks. When I left, the roundabout at Roselle and Sylvan was open to traffic. Thursday, I attempted to go to the Hudson Station via that roundabout. As I traveled north on Roselle, I noted that there were 3 lanes open to traffic; one southbound, and two northbound. My default would be to take the middle one, but instead, in a moment of intuitive rationale, I stayed to the right. That was a great choice, as the middle lane ended up in a ditch!! There were no signs, no pylons, no warning, just an open ditch. I wonder how many late night drivers found themselves slamming on the brakes to avoid disaster. But when I got to the roundabout, it was closed to thru traffic!!!!!!! Again, no signs, no warnings, no human to direct traffic. There were, however, many thoroughly irritated drivers, going to and fro, trying to figure out how to get where they wanted to go. Several teachers and other friends complained that they were forced to travel long detours to get to work. Because I had been driving on excellent freeways, streets and even mountain roads, I was reminded at how inconsiderate the bureaucrats and elected officials of the City of Modesto are. This totally callous disregard for citizens, especially the safety of drivers is grossly unconscionable. Then I remembered the hideous wait for Briggsmore, between Claus and Oakdale to be finished. It sat there, half done, for month after month after month. Now, the Oakdale and Briggsmore intersection has undergone several long days of disastrous fixing and rebuilding. The busiest intersection in the City is a disaster, and it is virtually impossible to avoid, esp. if you live in or near Village 1. The Sylvan/Roselle build out was scheduled to be completed in 1995, 12 years ago. Public Works started to do the project over 12 months ago, and it is not even close to being completed as of today. What are we talking about here, Nick? It is not even a mile of roadway!!!!! CalTrans rebuilt the bridge destroyed in Oakland in 20 something days! Modesto still cannot do one mile in over a year?? And it is only a roundabout, as well. I understand from friends that I should avoid the roundabout at Coffee/Pelandale/Claretina, as it is a disaster/death trap waiting to happen. Believe me, I can avoid that one, and I shall never again attempt to negotiate the Sylvan/Roselle one either. I was so irritated on Thursday, I waited till this afternoon to write this. In the meantime, I scanned several weeks of BEE stories. I read of murder, gang shootouts, bank robberies, vehicle deaths, ridiculously increased sewer rates, water rates out of control, a DEFICIT budget for the city, and so on. No wonder Modesto is ranked 373 out of 373 cities as the worst city to live in, in all of the USA. Then I read that you have proposed to split your empire into two parts. I remember that they teach that in Bureaucracy 101, don’t they? Split the pie, hire more minions, insert cronies just below the Director, grow the empire. Of course, this Council has no appetite for oversight, and has never said “NO!” to the bureaucrats. Even when the City Manager, or for that matter the Finance Director, lies to them, they just sit there like cardboard cutouts and vote “AYE”. I bet George and his crew go to bed every night and thank your lucky stars that you have such a compliant 7 bodies on the council. Dave P S Now it is Tuesday. I bet you think this is a rude letter. Well, let me tell you that I, and plenty of others like me, consider this city’s bureaucrats and council people to be far more rude. The callous disregard for the citizens of Modesto has become a topic for daily conversation. Public input to the leadership is simply not allowed. Council decisions are made well in advance of any public input, behind closed doors. Citizen’s comments are regulated by stopwatch. City bureaucrats squander $40 million or more on consultants, because they cannot do the job. Budgets are a joke. Even when well meaning citizens offer real solutions and honest evaluations, Staff and council blow them off as irritants. Real rudeness in not speaking out to criticize lousy behavior and performance. Real rudeness is committing lousy performance. Dave
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Opinion 
