“Thwap!” It’s the signature sound of bundled paper slapping
cool concrete, followed by the moan of an engine and four rubber tires on
asphalt. “Thwap… thwap…thwap”, retreating down the
street. The morning news arrives, sheathed in its protective plastic skin come
rain or poorly aimed Rainbird. In those good old days
newspapers were delivered by a paperboy or papergirl riding a fat-tired Schwinn. But something has happened out there; little
Johnny and Suzie have grown up, and they need extra income so they swerve their
old Toyota through pre-dawn suburbia, flinging this endangered news medium
through windows (of the Toyotas, not the homes… which reminds me of when I
played the first-generation Nintendo game “Paperboy” with my son. We liked to *aim*
for the picture windows, gleeful to hear that synthesized “crash… crash…crash”)
The morning paper, such a bittersweet ritual. There is always something to sink
your teeth into while you chomp your Cheerios: once it was the LTE wondering
why we now get plastic with our paper, protection that used to come only with
wet weather. Oh, that’s because too many people complained that their ArChroniCrat was getting soaked by their sprinklers. Hmmmm… chomp, chomp, chomp.
Look,
here’s
A few
things have happened since January, eh? Sweet housing boom is now housing bubble
popped like a flavorless gumbubble, stuck in our face.
Price of oil gone up like the stuff was made of decomposed dinosaurs. Santa’s elves taking swimming lessons.
Those
plastic newspaper bags… why? Why not run the risk of wettage?
Dude, one must consider the full lifecycle costs, compare the eco-carbon
footprint of the extra extra 100 bags to the impact
of a second drive out to the neighborhood to deliver replacement papers. Hmmm…
let’s keep thinking about full lifecycle costs, okay? (all
those who want to have a full lifecycle here on earth raise their hands and
holler hallelujiah!) Why not slow down the
Full
lifecycle accounting will aid in passage to the promised land
(my new motto: “Today as if Tomorrow Mattered”). Did the Current Occupant (Garrison
Keillor’s term for GWB) consider what might happen in
Cheers to
the Petaluma City Council of June for unanimously supporting the
requirement of Community Impact Reports for major retail development projects. Jeers to Councilmembers Frietas, Harris, Nau, O’Brien, and
Rabbit, who on July 7 back-flopped away from a strong CIR strategy by seeking
to exempt the large projects in the pipeline from CIRs.
Why wouldn’t they want to be informed of *all* the impacts these projects have
on our community, not just on water and traffic but on jobs, on shopping
opportunities, on the demand for social services. What do we gain by assuming
the developers will put the community interests above their desire for a higher
ROI? When shopping for
As for my life-cycle… I think about my six column-free months: I’ve spent a lot
of time at the Phoenix Theater and the