The image above is the CSX bridge on Washington Street in Cumberland Maryland. That bridge and the Cumberland Street bridge are 2 CSX bridges in town that are in desperate need of repair. Our City Council has been unable or unwilling to enforce the duty of CSX to maintain the bridges they own in our community.
The state of disrepair of the bridges create:
Several public safety issues that affect pedestrians, vehicles, and emergency vehicles.
The serve as shining beacon to anyone considering bringing jobs to Cumberland that our local government is proven ineffective in attending to one of the most basic responsibilities delegated to it: PUBLIC SAFETY!
The disrepair given businesses and individuals who already are located in Cumberland ample reason to consider relocating to another area!
The City Council has expended more time, effort, and financial resources into proposals to modify the Baltimore Street walking mall, which is functioning in a way that does not present public safety issues. In doing so they have left this major public safety issue continue to worsen. I can’t imagine how they have prioritized there in the way they have. I do know it has to change and it must change soon before their priorities cause loss of human life.
President Trump has gained a reputation for making a prolific number of tweets, more than any other president. He also has used the Twitter forum to lunch attacks on any person or group that annoys him. The news media report on the content of his tweets more actively than they report on what is printed in the Congressional Record which is an official governmental publication. Twitter has no official standing, yet it receives more media attention than is due it.
This week a Twitter employee left the company. His parting gift to the world was deactivating Trump’s Twitter account. It was only inactive for 11 minutes before the error was discovered and the account was reactivated. I thank this former employee for giving the nation and the world 11 minutes free from the ranting posts of our current president!
Everyone knows that “Obamacare” officially known as the Affordable Care Act has improved the health of many people who now have health insurance that did not have coverage before the act was implemented. Another side benefit of providing more insurance has been the significant and steady DECREASE in the bankruptcy rate since it was implemented. We have gone from 1.3 million bankruptcy filings a year to 770,846 annually.
Who would have known, as our physical health improves so does our financial health!
Until I watched the evening news last night I was unaware of the 3 pm attack on pedestrians in New York by a lone wolf terrorist. Many of you recognize the picture above as the sight of the attack. The striking part of the image is the crumpled bicycles laying on the ground. No pedestrian or bike rider is safe when a pick-up truck is speeding toward them. This path is supposed to be free from motorized vehicles, which further surprised the people there when the speeding vehicle appeared.
I am glad they have the person responsible in custody. More than that I pray for the victims both dead and alive and their families. Their personal world has been shattered and done so in a cruel and violent manner. I also pray for the health care workers, police, and others whose jobs require them to respond to what has happened. All of them will need the power of prayer support in the days ahead.
