Sad ‘state’ of streets

Dear editor:

I recently read in this paper City Manager David Frasher’s “State of the City” two-part submission. For those who missed it, it was mostly vague self promotion and aggrandizing, which could be summed up in a whole lot fewer words than he used. Basically, to summarize: “Hot Springs is great, I am great, I am the reason Hot Springs is great.”

There was an interesting tidbit in the second installment, though. Frasher bragged about road paving last year, citing a total of 25 streets that had been paved for a mere $550,000. He then went on to say that this project that cost taxpayers over a half-million dollars “covered a total of 4 miles.” Yes, let me repeat that: $550,000 worth of paving for 4 miles. That’s exactly

$137,500 mile to pave. Where are these streets at? Eastgate, Lotus Valley, Hidden Forest, Red Oak Ridge or some other exclusive enclave? l can tell you where they are not: St. Louis, Greenwood, Hobson, Emory or any of other dozens of inner city streets that are falling apart and reducing the life span of cars people in our part of the city can ill afford to replace. I know someone of my stature can’t drive on a mile of road worth twice what my home is, but if someone could tell me where these 4 miles are, I’d sure like to look at them.

Well, with all the fuss over immigration these days, Frasher may be onto something. Immigrants came to America based on the popular conception that “The streets are paved with gold.” I don’t know where these 25 streets in Hot Springs are, but it sure sounds like he’s making it happen!

Casey Alexander (Residence next to the pothole) Hot Springs