Editorial
Friday, July 18, 1997

The power of the press

Speed demons and muscle car mavens beware. Highway patrol is on to a new method of racking up those moving violations - this newspaper.

Indeed, if we publish a photo of you burning rubber or running a red light, highway patrol, with a copy of the Yellowknifer in hand, might just be waiting for you.

While we are always glad to be of service in the maintainance of the public good, it seems to us that hopping in the patrol car and turning on the speed gun is the preferred route for apprehending traffic offenders. After all there are readers out there you will tell you we never get anything right.


Community spirit

If there's one thing Yellowknife can always use more of, it's neighborhood and community spirit. It's not that we don't have enough, but community spirit is something that a town, city or hamlet can never have enough of.

So it warms our hearts to read about and see photographs of events such as the fifth annual School Draw barbecue, at which people from all over the neighborhood get together for food and fun and to get to know the new faces on the block.

Wouldn't it be great if every neighborhood had people ready, willing and able to organize a block party once a year? I'm sure the morale of the entire city already benefits from such celebrations and could only benefit from more.


Some battles you just can't win

Yellowknifer is in the news business, and we have no intention of diversifying. But if we were, automotive tire supply might not be a bad idea.

City works maintenance crews do their best to keep our streets in drivable condition, but let's face it: Northern elements are going to win the battle, every time.

Anyone who spends any amount of time behind the wheel these days can't help but be reminded that our roads are in a perpetual state of repair. The Franklin Avenue-McDonald Drive approach to Old Town and Latham Island is often mistaken for a rollercoaster ride, and the surface isn't even broken.

This time of year, the big problem involves monstrous holes, blasting and flag-people. There's a good reason why the old line about Yellowknife's two seasons -- winter and construction -- crops up so often. School Draw, Forrest Drive, the Causeway ... the list seems endless and the detours so common that it's near impossible to remember which roads are passable this week and which aren't.

Granted, some of the construction has more to do with water and sewer lines than road surface replacement, but the end result is the same -- driving in Yellowknife can be a literal pain in the you-know-where.

Indeed, it's remarkable that the most affected residents, particularly those of School Draw Avenue, which seems to get dug up every year, haven't mounted their own rebellion. Patience, in addition to community spirit it would seem, is not in short supply in that neighborhood.

Perhaps they have come to same conclusion that we have. Inconvenient, lengthy, dusty and noisy construction projects are as much a part of life in Yellowknife as the mosquitoes and never-ending winters. And there's nothing much we can do about it, no matter how many complaints we file with city hall.

Even editorials are of little use. Death, taxes and roadwork in Yellowknife. Sigh.