To no one’s surprise, Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed the budget passed by the Republican state legislature. It really doesn’t make any difference. The Republicans don’t care because they have the votes to override the veto. The Democrats in the legislature don’t care because all it means for them is that they get to vote against the budget a second time.
It is simply political theater. By vetoing the budget Cooper gets the headlines for a day and he can tell the teachers he would have given them far more than a 6.5 percent raise, but he should also tell them that in his opinion they should pay more taxes because there are more tax cuts in the state budget also.
It will be interesting when Cooper starts running for reelection. What is he going to claim that he did while governor? He could have tried to work with the Republicans and maybe come up with some wins, but he chooses to sit back and veto bills knowing that, on anything important, the Republicans are going to override that veto. It doesn’t seem like much of an achievement.
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I was shocked when I was driving on Davie Street last weekend and the traffic light at February One Place was blinking yellow instead of changing from red to yellow to green. I had assumed that there was some law against yellow blinking traffic lights in Greensboro.
The light at the intersection of February One and Greene Street is still there, ever changing from one color to another even though there is no intersection. February One and Greene Street are both one-way. So from Greene vehicles can legally either go straight or turn left. Why does the city think a stoplight is necessary?
It also kept the stop light at the intersection of Battleground and Smith Street even though the revised street pattern cuts Battleground off at Smith, so cars can turn right on to Battleground or right from Battleground on to Smith. So why is a light necessary?
Other cities, perhaps because they are concerned about climate change or even inconveniencing drivers, flash the traffic lights at times when there isn’t much traffic, but Greensboro won’t.
*****
Time is pretty fascinating and I don’t understand it at all. The Muse and I had a picnic with some friends at a farm in Guilford County that I had visited what seemed like a few years ago. But on the way out I started trying to remember the last time I had been there and realized that it was 1983. Only if you’re talking in geologic terms can 35 years be considered a few years.
And since farms and ponds operate pretty much in geologic time unless man steps in, the farm didn’t appear to have changed much. It was still a great place to spend the afternoon and the fish had not grown to like my lures anymore than they did 35 years ago.
