I can\u2019t go anywhere these days without people asking me about what I think about the heated sidewalks.
\n<\/br>
\nSome Great Barrington merchants believe that since we are going to rip up and replace our Main Street sidewalks, we might as well be proactive and deal with another major problem.
\n<\/br>
\nAccording to Craig Okerstrom-Lang, a local landscape architect with experience installing such systems, installing heating tubes beneath the new sidewalks would effectively keep them clear of snow and ice.
\n<\/br>
\nGreen people like the idea because you use less salt and chemicals. Medical professionals are on board because less salt means lower cholesterol.
\n<\/br>
\nHaving gone to Carr Hardware in December where I bought a pair of those weird rubber thingys with the metal spokes, my poor man\u2019s approach to icy sidewalks, I really wish someone had told me about the heated sidewalks a bit sooner. But I\u2019m willing to put my own selfish interests aside for the greater good.
\n<\/br>
\nAs usual, the big issue is cost. Like who will pay for the plastic tubing and the glycol you use to fill the pipes with. Not to mention, of course, the continuing expense of heating that antifreeze stuff.
\n<\/br>
\nThere are two ways to go. Every merchant can pay for the section of the sidewalk that borders their establishment, or the town can pay for it as yet another worthy public service.
\n<\/br>
\nAs someone who occasionally votes Democratic, I was a bit worried about what our Republican friends would say, especially after the acrimonious health care debate.
\n<\/br>
\nImagine my surprise when my closest Republican friend, Anthony, endorsed the idea without hesitation. While the prospect of Washington-sponsored death panels and incompetent bureaucrats performing open-heart surgery clearly unnerved him, the idea of our town paying for snowless sidewalks seemed a reasonable function of government.
\n<\/br>
\nSo government-sponsored heated sidewalks are not what I feared they would seem: just one more slippery step (and I assume the ice and snow may very well turn to slush in the short term) on the road to socialism.
\n<\/br>
\nIt turns out that clean, clear, heated sidewalks are a basic American right, like maybe #5 on the list: just a few small steps behind your basic life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness and the right to carry a concealed firearm.
\n<\/br>
\nI must admit, up to now, I haven\u2019t weighed in on the issue, sidestepping every direct question in the same way I try to avoid the ice.
\n<\/br>
\nBut having watched Rep. Bart Stupak maximize his influence over the last few weeks, I\u2019m inspired. Bart forced his fellow Democrats to swear up and down all over the place that there\u2019s no way federal money will be used in the new health care bill to underwrite abortions. So I\u2019m prepared now to announce that I have seventeen Great Barrington taxpayers and voters who will endorse the public option for heated sidewalks in exchange for a promise that our Main Street benches will remain in place all year long.
\n<\/br>
\nThis might sound like blackmail to you, but to me it\u2019s just old-fashioned democracy. The eighteen of us have been meeting day and night on this issue and please believe us when we say this is a matter of principle. Up until now, the excuse for removing the benches has been that they make snow-removal too difficult. Well, no snow, no problem.
\n<\/br>
\nHot sidewalks, warm benches.
\n<\/br>
\nWe\u2019re all winners.
\n<\/br>
\n____________________________________________________________________
\nMickey Friedman is an unpaid lobbyist for American Benchsitters, a non-profit corporation dedicated to helping people spend more time sitting on public benches.
\n<\/br>
\nThe Berkshire Record, Thursday March 25, 2010. \u00a9 Mickey Friedman. All rights reserved.
\n<\/br>
\n<\/br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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