Happy Wednesday,
On Tuesday night, I listened to my first Facebook Live event. Gov. John Carney has been holding the online sessions as part of the state’s technology focus.
The session was a joint appearance with DelDOT Secretary Jennifer Cohan. Cohan holds perhaps the toughest cabinet post in Delaware. Everyone has an opinion about DelDOT and many of those views are far from positive.
Facebook Live also offers a window into the basic lack of knowledge most of us have about transportation matters.
Some of us move in, buy a house in Sussex and then wonder why the roads are crowded. Others don’t realize that fares pay for only a portion of commuter train and bus costs. A few drive by a slow-moving project and make sweeping generalizations.
After all, DelDOT touches our lives every time we get into our vehicles.
Lately, there has been a fair amount of pain as decades of underinvestment manifest themselves in emergency projects like the bridge repairs on Route 141 in the New Castle area and increasing congestion in Sussex County.
Based on the Facebook questions and comments, Kent County was rarely, if ever, mentioned – one exception being the lack of commuter rail service between Dover and Wilmington.
Some participants posed excellent questions to Cohan and Carney.
For his part, the governor has been wrestling with the de-hubing of DART bus service at Wilmington’s Rodney Square.
DelDOT’s DART finally did something about the diesel fumes and congestion in the area. It triggered an outcry from confused bus riders as routes were changed.
Carney explained the need to move the bus routes as a way to retain and attract business to Wilmington, a city that has seen the loss of thousands of jobs.
Accompanying the questions and answers were numerous comments that somehow veered into gun rights, transgender bathrooms, pay raises for state workers and Wilmington’s murder rate.
Carney, like most public officials, gets his share of Facebook trolls. That comes with the territory when you have been in the public arena for nearly three decades.
Still, if you have some time, it may be worth checking out the Town Hall. The comments that accompanied the discussion provide some comic relief and a few head-shaking moments.
Here’s to a productive hump day. If you were forwarded this newsletter and want your own, copy click here to subscribe free of charge. – Doug Rainey, publisher.
