August 28
...serving up your daily dish.
This little sign with a blue circle and a white arrow caught our eye this afternoon. It says "evacuation route" and it popped up suddenly at the intersection of Ridgewood and Bloomfield Aves. in Glen Ridge. The Glen Ridge police told us the sign, and others like it, were put up by the county over the past week in case of a weather or terrorist emergency.
Sure enough, we found news of the signs, with a picture of the chief executive holding one, on the county website.
According to the county's news release, "North–south roadways will funnel the public to the west." We're not exactly sure what this means, but we just hope that the terrorists don't decide to attack Essex County at 3 pm on a school day. It takes half an hour to get through this intersection with just the regular posse of moms in SUVs.
August 28, 2004 in Paranoia Beat, Seen around town | Permalink
I saw one of these today at the corner of Watchung and E. Passaic, pointing towards Bloomfield and the Parkway.... Thought I was down at the shore for a second - glad to know they were actually new.
Posted by: Tom | Aug 29, 2004 1:01:27 AM
"North–south roadways will funnel the public to the west." I'm not sure what that means either, but it sounds like another great reason to remove tollbooths from the GSP!
Posted by: Chris | Aug 29, 2004 9:13:06 AM
Geesh. I live near the corner "Tom" mentioned. As I drove to the Shop Rite this morning and saw the sign, I almost swerved off the road. Like the intersection you highlighted, Barista, traffic at 8:30 any weekday morning, September - June, finds the corner of Watsessing and East Passaic jammed up with traffic, sometimes half way toward Centre Street in Nutley. And the parkway itself, oh boy. You could evacuate faster on a pair of roller skates.
I can't decide if these signs are supposed to give us a false sense of security (Oh! There's a PLAN!) or if they're supposed to scare he hell out of us.
One thing for sure, I definitely do not feel we live in a safer world than we did four years ago.
Posted by: GC | Aug 29, 2004 11:56:02 AM
If only Bush hadn't ignored the Osama sign and driven straight into the Iraq cul-de-sac, we might have been feeling safer by now.
Posted by: Chris | Aug 29, 2004 1:51:15 PM
North–south roadways will funnel the public to the west."
Wow, JoeyD must have a Homeland Security 'Advisor' less competent than Golan Cipel.
Ah, well, 'special skills' do not need to go to bid.
Posted by: Kevin Lee Allen | Aug 29, 2004 5:01:46 PM