We have watched the Mayor initiate a lot of street repair and other projects which appeared haphazard in conception. One of the reasons we have cut him slack is because he is new and enthusiastic.

The Mayor’s decision, however, and, in real terms, he waited for the rains to begin before doing this, to dig up the northern approach to the Belcan Bridge without any warning on Tuesday afternoon, demands critical comment.

Belcan is a terrible traffic bottleneck during rush hours and whenever there is the slightest accident or other disruption, because a new bridge should have been built over the Haulover Creek from Southside to Northside fifteen years ago. But, the people on the Northside don’t want the bridge, and their area representatives have fought against it. So, Belcan is just a traffic jam waiting to happen for fifteen years and more.

The new Mayor, in effect, touched something that was waiting to explode. The Belcan approach repair was not any kind of emergency. It was cosmetic. First, he waited for the rains. Then, he has not treated this situation with the absolute priority it deserves. This is one job, if you insisted on doing it now, which cried out for 24 hour a day work urgency.

They should raise Kenny Morgan’s pay for trying to do an impossible public relations job on this matter. This is not good stuff, Mr. Mayor. If you don’t want to talk to Mr. Torres or Mr. Day, form a small committee of taxi drivers and consult with them in the future before you make arbitrary and unilateral street decisions. Consulting does not mean obeying. You could not possibly have consulted on this Belcan approach decision, or you would have known you were picking up an improvised explosive device. Straight like that.