Noon, from a Highlands Neighbor:
”I called Christine Poe around 9:30 and was transferred to her after a short wait. She was very understanding of the frustration we are all experiencing in getting through the Rio Road/Hwy. 1 intersection. I mainly spoke with her regarding the safety issues of having that intersection blocked if there an emergency, the possible impatience of a driver deciding to pass other vehicles, and the lack of well timed traffic lights. She did tell me that engineers were scheduled to be at the site today to discuss the traffic situation and she would add my safety concerns to their discussion. She also suggested having Highway Patrol there to control traffic in person might alleviate the problem. Unfortunately, the CHP site notes that they do not have the man power to do so.”
6:30 am – With the road work at Rio Rd. to last through the summer, this will be the 3d summer in a row where local Big Sur businesses face challenges. Patience will be required, and weekend trips to town will be curtailed. Three big events are scheduled during this construction project: Big Sur Marathon, Sea Otter Classic, and Amgen. The Concours is scheduled for the end of August. Any bets on whether the construction will be finished in time?
I am taking this day off from Tourists and Tourism and enjoying the spring weather and planning for gardening projects. I need grounding and balance.
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If we were a coastal town in Europe, the government would have provided the local businesses with subsidies to keep their doors open. Why was this work not done when the bridge was out?
So do you want tourists or not?
One day complaining about too many, the next day not enough.
It seems like the government is going out of its way to make it unpleasant for tourists and locals. Garrapata basically closed all last year to put in stairs. Trails closed everywhere. No public access to cal parks decision making or planning. Seems like they all want Disneyland like attractions.
Does Big Sur exist to serve the businesses? Must every conversation begin and end with how it affects the few? As if a few ( treasured and valued, yes) businesses’ profits are the most important consideration on every subject? While the rest of us can just “ eat cake” while breathing emissions from thousands of cars idling, unable to run an errand or get to the Dr., while people are forced to use the roadside as a bathroom? All this tourist activity that threatens this irreplaceable area due to lack of infrastructure and coordinated stewardship, all discussions must revolve around the businesses that chose to locate where they are, employ very few, contribute little IMHO on the grand scale of things??!! Seriously?
The businesses are a very intricate part of out community. If it was just one summer, then I would agree with you, but businesses barely made it through the Soberanes Fire, then the floods and road closures, and now this. What we need to find is a balance. It is not easy.
ALL of Big Sur is “the few” not just the businesses.
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