There is something especially satisfying about a walk down Charles Street or anywhere on the hill when the leaves are falling and the weather is unusually warm at the end of September.
When September is nearing its end and we are in shortsleeves and mingling with one another in this neighborhood, walking brick sidewalks, admiring fine architecture, tasting of all the food treats available, and just minding our own business enjoying the day, well, life doesn’t get much better than this when you are healthy and alive.
A stroll down Charles Street or a walk around the hill, up to the State House and then around it and down Beacon Street and then back onto Charles, give those who do it a respite from the wearying and stale news abounding around us.
That news is like bothersome noise, dangerous static, or debilitating nothingness. The politics of the fall of 2011 are taking down the nation.
It is politics over common sense, party and dogma over doing the right thing. There appears to be no end to it.
The folks in Washington like to point out that this is how it can be in a democracy. That the endless and frustrating debate over party and dogma is as good a condition as jettisoning stale politics and sticking to sensible policy and finding solutions absent of politics.
Well, it isn’t the case.
We have some real time problems with the economy that need sorting out in a big way. That need transcends dogma and politics but you’d never know it listening to our leaders squandering away what remains of the national wealth.
Neither party knows the way. Even the economists don’t know the way.
To take a line from Ecclesiastes – even a wise man doesn’t know the way.
Enjoy the privacy of your own thoughts on a stroll down Charles Street in the early fall when the weather remains warm and the leaves are falling.
It is better than anything else for a mental boost when you are healthy and alive.
View Comments (1)
To the Editor,
I wonder what Ecclesiastes would have thought about the beautification project at the corner of Charles and Mt Vernon St. The amount of money needed for the project and future maintenance of the paved area was immense; at the neighborhood meeting this week, a number of attendees felt that those funds could used more constructively to clean up and maintain Charles St itself.
Another issue discussed was safety. To widen the sidewalk and pave the area may leave the impression that pedestrians can walk to and fro. The corner is used as a cut through to Beacon St to avoid two traffic lights along Charles St. Without somehow decompressing the traffic, there may be a number of pedestrian, bicycle and car accidents..
One way to reduce traffic at the intersection is to reverse the direction of River St. There are three streets going toward Beacon St- Charles, River, and Brimmer. The reversal of the direction of Charles St years ago by Mayor White reduced the traffic and speedway of Charles St and subsequently accidents also. A reversal of River St would do the same.
Other issues brought up were loss of parking space and obstruction created by the tour and school stop. The stop could easily be moved to make vision easier in the area; loss of parking space is not so easy to solve.
As a Mt Vernon St resident who lives close to the area in question, I can not consider supporting the project without the reversal of the direction of River St.
Michael Ross et al did a good job of presenting the project; in addition, Ross and his team kept their composure in the face of some rather acrimonious comments during the Q&A from a few attendees who tried to dominate that part of the "discussion."
It was great to see alot of familiar and new faces, over 80 people, at the Fire House.
Tris Dammin