The Fifth Season

It is really, really sad that Utah has a construction season. They seem to be almost proud of it here that they have a road-construction season every year. What really bothers me is that they battle for a month to try in balance the budget. They balance the budget by cutting services and higher education budget. They are even now, talking about closing a high school because there isn't enough money. However, there is always enough money for the construction season. We're talking billions and billions of dollars in asphalt. And again, that doesn't ever seem like enough money.

I could see building and repairing roads if they were crumbling, but that is not the case. They are building roads and highways here just for the sake of building them. They are NOT needed, but since there is all this money, they build the roads. Even if building those roads means cutting education and schools and, in some places, knocking down people's homes, they still build the roads. Remember, it's the season for construction. I have never lived in a state where they schedule a construction season. I have a huge problem when the state places a huge priority on their roads and there is always enough money for them regardless of how useless they will be, but there is never enough money for education and sevices. GET YOUR PRIORITIES STRAIGHT!!!! Placing so much emphasis on the roads will not get you anywhere. They say that road construction creates jobs. Ya, for how long, the season? If you don't put money in your education, your citizens cannot afford to get the education needed to get a good paying job and will be stuck doing the seasonal construction jobs for your state.

Wait a minute, maybe that is already happening. The state probabaly already knows they have started the cycle of pushing everyone into road construction jobs and can't find a way to stop the cycle, or they are too afraid, too. Utah, if you don't start pushing money into higher education, you will start to see your education base disappear. Actually, Utah, you probably already see this happening as is. Good luck getting out of the cycle. I'll give you a start: Stand up to the Utah Department of Transportation and give half their moey to education. Your citizens and your citizens' future will definitely thank you.