Charlottetown, did you hear about this traffic light mess?
Good morning from the Atlantic — three provinces, five communities, and the stories that cross every border. Now look, I thought I'd heard it all when it comes to municipal missteps, bless their hearts. But Bay Roberts, Newfoundland, you've gone and outdone yourselves, b'y. Fifty-thousand dollars the town had to fork over to a Masonic Lodge because they went and planted a traffic light pole on private land without asking! Can you imagine? I mean, who plants a major piece of infrastructure like a traffic light on someone else's property and just hopes for the best? It sounds like something out of a yarn old Skipper used to tell down by the wharf in Summerside, only this one’s real and it cost the taxpayers a good chunk of change.
It just goes to show, doesn't it, that sometimes the biggest stories aren't the grand pronouncements, but the little, head-scratching moments that remind you just how complicated things can get in our communities. I'm telling you, the folks in Charlottetown's historic downtown, with all their talk of Confederation and grand plans, would have a field day with this one. It’s a good reminder that even in the biggest projects, you gotta mind your P's and Q's, or you'll end up paying for it, literally. Some shocking, isn't it?
Bridget Chicken-MacPhail, MiTL Sports Desk, Charlottetown.
My cousin Fiona and the gang are talkin' about this one all mornin' — catch them live at mornings.live.