DO YOU SUPPORT RAINBOW PAINTED CROSSWALKS?
Although my mind seems to lead me in a lot of unconventional directions, I have not really considered the colour of crosswalks before. I just read an article where the Moncton NB City Council has been having a difficult time deciding how they really feel about the issue. Just a month after they voted against painting rainbow coloured crosswalks, they changed their mind. This is obviously a much more serious topic than I imagined.
After initially vetoing the multicoloured crosswalks, the city compromised by installing rainbow flags along a couple of the main streets. The city had painted some crosswalks in 2017 to show their solidarity to the LGBTQ community, but it abandoned the practice last year citing safety concerns. To further complicate the issue the provincial Department of Transportation told municipalities it did not approve rainbow crosswalks because they violated federal guidelines. You can only imagine how my mind is trying to grasp the aspect of “safety concerns” and “federal guidelines” when it comes to coloured paint on a city street!
Do you sometimes feel that our local and provincial (and probably federal) government are inhabited by a species that is lacking common sense, is short of meaningful work to do, and have difficulty separating the wheat from the chaff? Whether a crosswalk is marked with yellow or white stripes or a rainbow of coloured stripes can hardly present a safety risk. And having a government department develop guidelines for this issue simply baffles me.
If I prefer black and white stripes, and the LGBTQ community prefers rainbow stripes can we expect other groups to submit other alternatives? If the French majority in Quebec request blue, white and red strips to symbolize their French flag and heritage would it be allowed? Could Italian communities appeal for red, green and white stripes for the same reasons? How about no stripes and let everyone play Russian Roulette in the streets like they do in Viet Nam. Possibilities are endless.
Well, this story does have a very happy ending. The Moncton Council has again approved the rainbow crosswalks, and along with the flags they have approved, they are probably leading the country in this critical issue. I didn’t know that New Brunswick was that progressive!
Again, it baffles me that such controversial issues as crosswalk paint colours or public art projects can consume so much political time and effort. I would have thought, probably mistakenly, that roadway repair, drinking water purity and low cost housing projects would be more important issues on local government agendas. But again, what do I know?
2 comments:
What is even worse Ken is now I read where some of them who changed their gender now want us to pay to turn back to the original sex they identified with, personallly I am so sick & tired of pandering to these people makes me sick and my wallet keeps getting tired of being open for minority groups
You need to join the ranks of ranting bloggers like me. We can take over the world!
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