So I’ve been through our “new and improved” downtown a few times and a number of things have become painfully obvious.

Backing into traffic when parked next to anything other than a convertible with its top down is not fun and I see the potential for accidents as a deterrent for some folks. I notice that there is no longer a traffic flow through town and have seen backups and confusion around the lights at Artie’s and at the bottom of Midway at Pioneer.

I think that these things are going to become issues in the near future and there will be growing demand to return to the two-way format. Sadly  (perhaps due to metropolitan narcissism and having a used car salesman for a mayor), it will cost  us another large fortune to re-convert it.

I wonder why the initial design did not take into consideration the possibility that it might not work and make it possible to easily revert back to the logical two-way format? Given the depth of the controversy, it seems that this would have been the most prudent course of action.

I give it two years max before the construction equipment is back at work and we start throwing more scarce money and resources at the area.

It sure is pretty, though, ain’t it?

Mike O’Connell
Oak Harbor