#1501: LaBoule Toll Road Proposal: Paryski comments

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From:PPARYSKI@aol.com

Anybody who now uses the Laboule road can easily imagine the traffic jams or 
rather total blockages that would be caused by a toll station not to mention 
the strikes and barricades by the truck and camionette drivers.  

This being said the idea of local people managing their own infrastructure is 
commendable.  A first step might be a special tax on the sable laboule 
trucks.  These trucks cause most of the damage to the road and certainly are 
some of the most irresponsible and dangerous drivers on the planet.  Perhaps 
a local board could be established and voluntary contributions requested from 
the owners of the more substantial houses.  Very strict guidelines and 
contractual proceedures should be established to avoid any magouille.

Of course one of the major underlying causes of the problem are the quarries 
in Laboule.  These quarries are a threat to the lives of the poor who work in 
them, (roughly a dozen die every year) and an environmental threat to the 
area.  The reason that this sable exists is presicely because the zone is 
unstable and on a fault line the movement of which created the sable.  The 
slightest tremour might bring the whole mess down.  There have been numerous 
efforts to close the quarries but the financial rewards, usually reaped those 
in power at the time, are so great that these efforts, mostly undertaken by 
the Bureau des Mines, come to naught.  

Paul Paryski