March 2003

Craig Mongeau - March 2003

Have you ever had something in your memory but you don’t remember how it got there? Well, a long time ago – I think – I heard a story that goes something like this:

A mother and her young son are standing on the porch of their house, which sits in the mountains of some state that I can’t recall. Their front yard is a dirt road that leads into the woods as far as the eye can see. The boy asks his mother, “Where does this road go?” The mother answers, “ This road will take you anyplace you want to go.”

What’s missing in this little philosophical tale is that although just one road can lead anywhere in the United States, you won’t even get out of your driveway after a snowstorm if not for the hard work and long hours of countless snow plow drivers and an effective DPW strategy that more resembles a defense against an invading army than a fight against the fluffy, white stuff.

This year, it appears that “the boy,” otherwise known as El Nino, is back with a vengeance, already wreaking two- to three-feet of havoc several times this winter. And with that comes the task of removing all that snow with few gracious words from the hundreds of thousands of people who must get to work, drop their kids off at school, or go shopping.

However, you can bet that you’d hear a few thousand gripes if the roads weren’t cleared within a “reasonable” time. But it’s these complaints that prove how important passable roads are to the economy and our ambitious way of life in this country. Everyone has someplace to be, somewhere to go and every road truly does connect us to each other.

And so on behalf of all the people of New York State, I send out this “thank you” for helping them get to anyplace they want to go.

Think Spring