By Samuel Strait, Reporter at Large – February 27, 2021 t should strike the residents of this County after sixty years and a laundry list of Supervisors and City Councilors gone before, exactly why we are forced to continue with the travesty that continues on Highway 101 at Last Chance Grade? After CalTrans will have spent, no doubt, yet another multi million dollar outlay to unbury that section of the highway, at what point does the effort to keep the roadway open at the cost over the years as far more than the bypass will ultimately cost the State? It would seem that no one over the years can exercise a leadership role which says it is time to stop the pointless expense of keeping Last Chance Grade open and get with the program of bypassing the problem. Unfortunately our current heroes which appear to be speechless over the current closure of 101 South are content to sit on the side lines and hope that the State will come through after twenty more years of winter closures due to slides. The latest expenditures on studies have reduced the potential by pass routes from eleven to six. One only can wonder just how long it will take to get to one, then the fun starts. Without doubt once progress appears to be made, the environazis will be waiting in the wings. So doing something about Last Chance Grade will likely remain in limbo, the City is consumed with the pool, the park, solar power, LED lighting, the new city hall and front street. No one knows what is a priority for the BOS, likely traffic circles, pedestrian cross walks, and connecting the coastal trail with the harbor. All terribly useful stuff. The DNSWMA (transfer station also referred to as the dump) is laser focused on recycling and zero waste, to the detriment of the rate payers. The harbor is giddy with its new solar array and is looking to install more charging stations, in the process becoming entirely dependent on the sun. The airport flirted briefly with a change in destination, Sacramento instead of Oakland, neither of which is going to stimulate growth. The list seems endless as well as meaningless. High unemployment, abysmal performance from our school district, and lackluster leadership at all levels, how can anything get any better? I suppose there is always the total collapse of Last Chance Grade? Leaders have come and gone, yet nothing really changes. Important problems remain, minutia dominates the attention of our local leadership. Is it possible for those that are making the decisions be able to tear themselves away from the insignificant and address important problems of long standing? I suppose we shall see.