March 29th, national-vietnam-war-veterans-day

 

 I honor the valor of those who served in Vietnam. May they all know this country will never forget your service to this nation. 

 https://nationaltoday.com/national-vietnam-war-veterans-day/

 

Rte 9 & 126 flooding fixes

 

Like many I was surprised to read that the Mass DOT has already stated that the drainage improvements planned for that road will not cure the problem of storm water that floods Rte. 9. According to highway director Barry Lorion for district 3, new drainage infrastructure will give excess water a place to pool other than the road. 

Larger pipes were considered as a way to move more water, but it would mean, causing neighbors and others to have water problems. 

That intersection according to the MWDN Lillian Edin reports that floods happen 8 to 10 times a year at that part of Rte. 9. 

Allyssa Jewell senior communications director is quoted as saying, Although the new drainage installation will not make the flooding go away entirely, this project will eliminate the majority of flooding, which is a significant improvement. 

Funding comes from a bond bill that gives Framingham $20 Million or projects in Framingham

The project should be done by 2023. 

My rant: As anyone who follows the weather knows, the springs are wetter, major storms are more frequent and severe and flooding is more wide spread than ever before and thanks to global warming these rain and storm events will not cease or be reduced anytime soon, IMO.

So come 2023 and beyond, flooding will only become more common place and we will be digging up that road years from now, to fix a problem that we should have fixed permanently now.

 

 

There is no escaping higher energy costs with Russia invading Ukraine.

 

As the horrifying news from Ukraine may be ignored by some, there is no denying that energy costs are rising and may continue to rise no matter what the NATO Alliance does in trying to persuade Putin from going further into Ukraine.

As the US and others try more sanctions against Putin and his oligarch friends, the noose around Putin may well be tightening, which has already made Putin respond with the threat of using nuclear weapons in a country that already is home of Chernobyl the worst nuclear plant disaster in human history, so far, and 5 nuclear power plants.

The largest plant has been taken over by the Russians after a firefight with the resistance fighters. I wonder if the Russians just want to cut off the electrify or something much worse.

The effects of gasoline prices have already happened in a week. I suspect that gas will go to 5 to 6 bucks a gallon very soon, whether we stop buying their gasoline of not. I would hope that the administration (Charlie and division heads) would call for an emergency meeting with the fuel eating departments like Police, Fire, DPW and make a plan to cut OT and unnecessary travel. And be prepared to increase budgets to keep everything running.

I do think the US will eventually have to defend NATO allies at some point.