Entitlebury
When Christy and I were looking for a place to live, we first looked in Sudbury because we both work there, the commute would be a breeze, the schools are good, and it just seems like a nice place to live. Two things completely changed my mind this weekend and paints Sudbury in a completely different light. I am so glad we are in Hudson.
Christy Mae was looking for some hard work on the 4th of July and decided to enter the Sudbury Road Race and see how it was. When she got to registration, the women taking the entries asked “You don’t live in Sudbury do you?”
“No, just across the line in Hudson.”
“You know that only Sudbury residents can place and get prizes?”
“What?”
So the Sudbury road race is essentially just that, the Sudbury road race, where anyone from outside of Sudbury doesn’t count and isn’t really welcome, but they take your money and let you run, only with a big X on your bib like some sort of scarlet letter. Why don’t they just post that on their website? Who knows, but the whole thing just rubbed me the wrong way. I have no problems with people putting on a race with just who they like but that should be made clear before you actually get to the race. A big banner across the top of the web page saying “SUDBURY RESIDENTS ONLY” would do nicely.
The next funny thing about Sudbury was an article
Suburban Peace vs. Pedal Power in the Saturday Globe on the cover about the proposed rail trail through an old CSX rail line that runs north to south from Lowell to Framingham. These are the snobbiest, snootiest, most selfish type of people. They have property that abuts the old rail line, and they want it to be their own little conservation area of privacy and solitude and are obviously willing to say and do anything to keep it that way. There is absolutely nothing wrong with bike trails. They encourage exercise, give a way to commute to work without risking life and limb, and get people outdoors to safely recreate. We have one in Hudson and it is great. Families go out on Saturdays and Sundays to ride and cruise around from Hudson to Marlborough.
Here is a quick excerpt for those of you who don’t want to read it:
Looking out at a lushly wooded area beyond a stone wall on her 100-acre estate, Carole Wolfe's face darkened. There, in the distance, she said, nervously pointing a finger, stretches a former rail corridor that, if some have their way, could bring trouble upon this town where her family's roots date to Colonial times.
"Instead of solitude," Wolfe said, "you'd be having people."
Can you believe that! People!!! ON BIKES NO LESS!!! It would be Chaos with a capital C! I have seen these self described "people" in Hudson, Sommerville, and the cape on their fancy paths. These bike riders. They wear helmets, smile and laugh. They move from place to place without a car, enjoying each others company and the summer. Do you know what they do sometimes when they think no one is looking?
Eat ice cream. I have seen it with my own eyes.
Another gem from the article by Marianne Maurer:
Opponents of the "rail trail" say the path would draw hundreds of thousands of bicyclists who would bring with them noise and other disruptions into what is now a pristine landscape. Hordes of bikers, walkers, and rollerbladers would scare away wildlife, they say, and invite crime from trespassing to vandalism and assault.
"We don't have neighbors nearby," said Marianne Maurer, whose family's tree farm is bisected by the proposed bike trail. "If something happened, no one would hear us yelling."
As if no one can get to her home now. There is a road and a driveway right? Can anyone hear you yelling now??? She is just the typical selfish person who wants her own conservation area in her back yard. The only problem is, she doesn’t own it, it isn’t her land. Hordes? Honestly, like the Gallic hordes invading Rome? Yes, people may use the path, but 100,000’s is little bit much. She envisions the let out of the patriots game every weekend and what will happen is every 20 minutes or so a group will ride on by.
This is just comedy of the highest order.
If you really want to know what type of person we are dealing with, I will leave you with this. She is quoted so I have to believe she said it. Based on this one quote, I am convinced Marianne Maurer is one of the dumbest people in the world.
As far as Maurer is concerned, a better solution is for bikers to get their exercise indoors. "My whole theory is: Go to the gym that you got the membership for and that you know you are not using," she said.
To paraphrase: On a beautiful summer day, drive, go inside a large metal box, and pretend to ride a bike while not going anywhere and breathing computer controlled air.
Congratulations Marianne Maurer, you are an imbecile.
That’s all I got.