DanMargarita.com

For this reason, I made my way to the Stoneham High auditorium last week where members of Mass. Highway met with Stoneham citizens to discuss future plans regarding the proposed Rt. 93/95 interchange redesign. It was the first time I sat for an event in this auditorium since attending the 1981 Carnival Ball. Had the king and queen of that ball, Amy Boris and Kevin Maguire, been on hand on this particular evening, they would have recognized it less as a ball, and more as a carnival.

Being a government bureaucrat speaking to a group of taxpayers, one tends to be about as popular as Al Sharpton at a Klan rally. As a result I actually felt some sympathy for the evening's moderator, Stanley Wood, the project manager who got booed when he introduced himself.

Mr. Wood, a quiet, self-effacing man was taunted from the beginning. One heckler accused him of just being there to collect overtime pay, which Mr. Wood initially ignored but later explained that he was on salary and thus not being paid for his appearance.

He started by telling us that we'd have to think "outside the box." I've never understood this expression, and have yet to find anyone standing next to a box, thinking. It seems to me one can think in a box, outside of a box, next to a box or nowhere near a box. He used the phrase "outside the box" a number of times, and I resisted the temptation during the question and answer period to ask him "boxers or briefs?"

He then asked to have the lights turned off to show us some projections on a screen. The lights were turned off and Mr. Wood realized then that he couldn't see and asked that at least one light be turned on so he could read his notes. The same heckler then shouted "Now your in the dark like we were!" which drew some "oohs" from the crowd.

Next came Rod Emery from Edwards and Kelsey, designers of the interchange. He spent most of his time at the podium telling us what he would talk about.

This brought Mark Abbott to the podium who had the lights dimmed again to show us what traffic projections would look like in the year 2025. I found this unconvincing however, as there were no hovercrafts included. I can't tell you too much about what Mr. Abbott said because, I don't wish to be unkind, but he was not the most scintillating speaker of the evening. In high school when the lights went off and I got bored while watching a filmstrip, my mind would wander and I'd think about girls. Needless to say, my mind wandered on this evening and I found myself thinking about women. I haven't really changed that much since high school.

A few speakers later Mr. Wood asked if there were any politicians who'd like to speak, which is like asking if there are any children who would like ice cream.

After some speeches by the local pols, there was a Q &A session in which citizens wound up heckling each other as much as the Mass. Highway officials.

I decided I'd had enough and decided to go home and watch the rest of it on local cable access TV.

There's an old saying that "You can't fight City Hall."

This may or may not be true and if you can't fight a stationary building, you probably don't have much of a chance against a moving bulldozer.