Trinity toll road: no, it’s not “see, I told you so”

Naysayers who unsuccessfully tried to shoot down the Trinity toll road erroneously believe they are in the midst of a “see, I told you so” moment. Angela Hunt says “None of [recent challenges are] new to anyone who was paying attention to the toll road debate.  … They were certain about the time line, and now that seems not so certain.”

The toll road’s likelihood is decreasing, but it’s not because of anything the naysayers could really predict!

Did Angela Hunt and Jim Schutze foretell that credit markets would evaporate? Did Angela Hunt and Jim Schutze do the more detailed technical and traffic studies, the ones which are starting to trickle out? Did Angela Hunt and Jim Schutze do geological studies? (Oh, wait, that’s about to start.)

Hardly. They mostly shot from the hip with paranoid conspiracy, greenwashed illogic, or wild guesses.

Let me be clear: there’s a lot about the Trinity system plans that bothers me. Among them is this expensive drainage ditch park, to be build between two tall levees. But I will not cut off my nose to spite my face; the toll road is one of the few productive parts of this boondoggle.

Hopefully everything will work. But if the toll road fails, at least it will fail on its own merits. That’s better than tuck-your-tail-between-your-hind-legs, “give up before we even tried” defeatism.

Party gift bags: who invented that crap?

Every time my son particpates in a birthday party for a daycare classmate, he gets a party bag. Invariably it contains a #2 pencil, erasers, a piece of candy or two, and cheap, plastic junk.

Summary of inevitable outcome:

  • Plastic junk goes in the trash.
  • Bag goes in the trash.
  • We don’t have a pencil sharpener, so pencil goes in the trash.
  • The kid doesn’t use pencils. So we don’t use erasers. So they wander around his room for a couple of days before hitting the trash.
  • Most the time, the candy is nasty and gets trashed.

What purpose do gift bags serve?