Bob CollinsThose of us in the news business tend to think the audience is preoccupied with the big stories we deem worth covering.
Here’s the reality: most people aren’t.
A survey a week ago, for example, found that only 13 percent of people were paying any attention to the trial of President Trump’s former campaign chair.
That’s an important story, for sure. But so is a bumpy road, which is why a protest that’s broken out in Duluth is a good reminder to the nation’s highfalutin journalists: Potholes trump just about everything else for many people.
It’s gotten so bad on Thurber Road in Duluth that the residents are creating roadside art out car parts that have fallen off, KBJR reports. It’s a you-can’t-fight-City-Hall-but-people-try-anyway” story.
Inspirational, indeed, on the road that was damaged during the 2012 flood.
You have to about 5 to 10 miles an hour. You have to swerve to avoid the dips,” says Jeanette [Olson] says.
Vehicle damage that includes broken ball joints, springs, and shocks. The wife says, “Unsuspecting people that don’t realize how bad it really is because you know when you look at it and you’re driving at 20 miles an hour you don’t really see how bad it is until they hit that first bump.”
Each sign is spaced out at a location where residents claim vehicles have been knocked around. The sign at the very beginning of the street reads “Cars’ worst nightmare ahead” and from there, ten more.
Jeanette says, “finally this morning we just decided okay, let’s just this. We’re going to do this, we’re going to make the signs, we’re going to put out the parts.”
Ultimately a warning to all those who travel down the dead-end road. “Hopefully the people in charge of doing the road repairs will realize what a hazard it is and take care of it.”
City officials say they’ll keep patching the road but are using the situation as a chance to do a little campaigning, saying the road could benefit from a 0.5 percent transportation sales tax program that the city intends to lobby for in the next legislative session.
