Published: May 16, 2008 10:47 pm            

TUCKER: Signals driving you crazy? Try this

This is for all of you who complain about the number of signals in the Twin Cities and how they waste gas, are poorly timed, unnecessary or just plain a nuisance.

A reader, who asked not to be identified, suggested in a fact-filled letter about NT signals, that anyone who is annoyed by those atrocious signals on the Twin City Memorial Highway should call the state office at 649-1426 and complain.

The signals on the highway (I use the term lightly) were installed and are controlled by the state and if there’s enough complaints, something might get done.

She said she noticed people on the highway turning left on the red left-turn arrows when no one is coming and frustration takes over.

“The signals in North Tonawanda are terrible,” she wrote. “How can a city expect to attract new life in a city that is 50 years behind when it comes to traffic signals? This city is the kind you slowly wander through on your way some place else, not a modern, fast-paced city ready for the future.”

Does anyone remember the survey sent out from Tonawanda several years ago about how to improve the city?

“Whatever happened to that,” this reader asked.

“Once a year we have Earth Day where people recycle for a day,” she noted. “What a joke! Get ride of half the stop signs and make a real, permanent impact.”

Here’s something she’s noticed that perhaps we’ve all seen. On one-way streets like Adam and Morgan in Tonawanda, people drive in the right lane as if it were a two-way street and then make their left turn from the right lane. Accident waiting to happen.

Realistically, it seems as though nothing will be done. Never mind the price of gas, the anger of drivers over waiting a red lights for no purpose or all the complaining in the world: My money is on status quo, the only way politicians know how to work.

•••

Do you remember as a kid getting an eight-pack of Crayola crayons? How about when a wonderful grandmother gave you a pack of 32 or even 64 with its flip-top box?

Those memories came back as a Crayola commercial came on TV touting the newest in crayon/paint products: Paint that can be made three-dimensional with special 3-D glasses.

And to think my grandkids love the fact that all the old crayons are in a cigar box — hundreds of crayons in a myriad of colors — better than any flip-top.

•••

Speaking of various kinds of crayon products brings to mind the hundreds of choices we all have in a supermarket.

Came to mind as my daughter said she taught her fourth-graders to remember “north, south, east and west” with the phrase, “n e s w” which stands for “never eat shredded wheat.”

Yikes - it’s one of my favorites. But try to find it among the choices of cereals on the store shelves. The same with almost any product, not only name brands, but off-brands and store-brands. For myself, I buy the old favorite name brands that can be trusted.

•••

If you have a dog and think you’ve heard of every product imaginable for him or her, listen to this.

A press release came in for a CD of songs that dogs love. Seems the music was tested for more than two years by individuals, rescue groups and animal companies for their rehabilitation and entertainment attributes.

One woman wrote in this testimony: “My Rottweiler Virgil loves the music so much we had to get two CDs, one for the house and one for the car.”

Sometimes I’m glad my dog is deaf.

Contact community editor Barbara Tucker at 693-1000, ext. 110 or tuckerb@gnnewspaper.com.

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.