Those willing to give up parking spaces for security deserve neither.
I had to go across the park to the courthouse today at lunch to pay my sewer bill (remembering to leave my pocketknives in the desk this time) and afterwards decided to go to Sophia’s to get something to eat.

[Tedious background information] Sophia’s is a little deli that sits at the ground floor corner of the county parking deck, across the street from the courthouse, the art museum, and the county jail. Great place to watch people. Howard was in a talkative mood today—he usually is very quiet. He started rattling on about something and asked me why they did that. Since I missed what he was saying (think Boomhauer from King of the Hill) I just sort of nodded in commiseration. This gave him license to continue, and I finally figured out that he was complaining about his new cowboy boots hurting his feet. I asked if he had one of those cushiony mats behind the counter and he said no. “I suppose if you were on a horse all day, they would feel better.” Blank look, then a slow “Yeahhhh. I guess. That’ll be $7.87.” Oh well. [/Tedious background information]

I got my food and sat down looking out toward the jail. There is apparently something going on today because the local new stations had their remote trucks parked all over the sidewalk by the big plaza in front.

Which is the source of my wonderment.

I’ve noted before that the county law enforcement types have instituted some pretty stringent security measures to do their part to fight the war on terrorism. One of these steps has been to install big sections of Jersey barriers to block the curbside parking spaces in front of the courthouse and the jail. It’s hard enough to find a parking space downtown, and this certainly doesn’t help, and it does nothing to thwart a vehicle packed with ANFO.

The problem with this and with a lot of the stuff going on right now is the thought process—we have tried to make note to our governmental brethren that this doesn’t enhance security because the street in front of these buildings is one of the busiest in town, leading from the Southside to the interstate, so traffic is constantly flowing by. The lack of some convenient parking is not going to stop somebody who is intent on being a martyr. All he has to do is stop the truck—he doesn’t have to park. And apparently, if he has al-Jazeera TV written on the side, he can pull right up to the door of the county jail.

Sure as heck makes it hard on the folks who have to come buy a tag.

My suggestion is that we mark the spaces “No Bombs.” About as effective, and much more convenient and inexpensive.

posted by Terry at 2:14:00 PM