Local economics: Paint first, then asphalt?

As a high school student, I often find myself questioning the logic of adults. Nowadays, people seem to be focused on keeping their money, what with our economic recession, unemployment rates rising higher than they have been in years, and a recent war that has cost the U.S. billions of deficit dollars.

People wake up, turn on their televisions, and see their investments fall every morning (unless it’s a good day). With these circumstances, it is no wonder that everyone would like to keep their hard-earned dollars. This brings me to an important question: Why are we wasting our money?

I drive to high school every day. I commute down Crescent Harbor Road, turn onto Regatta, then onto Whidbey Avenue and on down to Oak Harbor High School. One day, maybe a week ago, when I turned onto Crescent Harbor Road on my way home, I found the road had been re-striped. It was a welcome sight because the road needed to be repainted. However today, when I turned onto Crescent Harbor Road, I found that part of it is going to be repaved. This brought a question to mind: Why would they re-stripe the road BEFORE they paved it? Where is the logic? Have we not just wasted our money in repainting the road before we repave it, or is this orange paint some sore of primer? Does it make the asphalt stick better?

Perhaps a little more planning could save a little more money.

Shanna Montross

Oak Harbor

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