Friday, March 16, 2018

Why We Need a Dog Park and a Roundabout

MICROPOLITAN DIARY
Dear Diary,
Yesterday morning, I decided to take Joey to the dog park in Germantown, an outing typically reserved for the weekend. Joey loves to run, but I'm paranoid about losing him, so a fenced dog park suits us both. Forget that "if you love something, set it free" nonsense. Too many dogs end up on the Lost Pets of the Hudson Valley Facebook page, and I don't want Joey to be one of them. But I digress.
Heading for Germantown, I had merged onto Route 23 and made my way into the left lane when I saw a white pickup truck approaching. It seemed too close, and it was. Coming off the bridge, heading east, the truck had somehow gotten into the westbound lane, and it was coming straight at me. 
For a heart-stopping few seconds, the truck and my little car engaged in a frightening dance. I went to the right; the truck mirrored my action. I went to the left; the truck did the same. Fortunately, at that point, the truck had reached the place where only zebra stripes divide the west and eastbound lanes. The driver of the truck sped across the zebras onto her side of the road, and Joey and I continued on our way to the dog park, shaken but none the worse for wear.
The roundabout will deter people from getting on the wrong side of the road and threatening head-on collisions, but if Hudson had a dog park, Joey and I wouldn't have to venture afield for our morning outings.

"Micropolitan Diary" is Gossips' homage to and blatant imitation of "Metropolitan Diary" in the New York Times. The term micropolitan was coined (by Gossips) because Hudson is a metropolis in microcosm.
COPYRIGHT 2018 CAROLE OSTERINK

4 comments:

  1. It's shameful the dog park was stopped.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The roundabout will destroy a location known to host the incredibly rare Lawrence's Warbler.

    Still, the number of road casualties there is totally unacceptable. A roundabout is a good, smart solution.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The stretch of road between this intersection and the base of the Olana driveway is one of the most dangerous in the county, especially the northbound lane. I call it the ‘dead zone’. A cracked, lumpy, narrow-to-nonexistent shoulder; a cycler’s nightmare, with cars and trucks whizzing by at 55 mph. I hope they can include addressing this problem when they make the new roundabout.

    ReplyDelete