When Wifey-Ki-Yay and I lived in Alaska, I had fairly regular contact with local elected officials, including very liberal ones who wouldn’t have considered voting for me on a bet when I was a candidate (and the feeling was certainly mutual, as a rule). But when I wanted to get the borough assembly to adopt a resolution calling on the federal government to loosen a rule then in effect regarding the international use of internet encryption tools, the elected official I went to with the idea (borough assembly seats in Fairbanks are elected at-large, so I had a choice), and who introduced the proposal at my urging, was one of those very liberal people. Our political differences aside, we were actually very cordial to each other all during our acquaintance.
Which is one of the reasons why the venom that flies around on the internet these days doesn’t sit well with me, but I digress.
A couple of weeks ago I emailed my county commissioner—whom I last mentioned by name, not kindly, here. The subject of the email was the fact that the two developer-erected street signs in my neighborhood were damaged by termites, and asking whether this was something for the county to attend to since we don’t have a homeowner association.
Commissioner Schlumper passed it along to county Public Works, but not before seeing that above-linked commentary.
Today while taking my still-not-regular-enough walk I noticed that the more badly damaged of the two street signs had been reset on a termite-proof mount. The original post and sign was still there but the wood was no longer in contact with the ground; it no longer leans 30 degrees off vertical. The other sign, though damaged, was apparently judged still straight enough that immediate repair wasn’t required. I had expected (and half-feared) that the signs would be replaced by standard county-made street signs, but I have no doubt my neighbors prefer to keep the originals if at all possible.
Had I genuinely doubted Ms. Schlumper would help, I would have found some other way to bring the signpost damage to the county’s attention. And I’ve already had reason before this to reconsider my previous unwillingness to vote for her.
Update: Turns out that termite-eaten street sign post was repaired by our neighbors, not the county. But the county did put up a regulation street sign at the entrance to our neighborhood, where it was, actually, needed. So, Commissioner Schlumper is still okay.
