Psssst…….Remember Acid Rain?

Guess what? It hasn’t gone away. We’ve just had record rainfall, and it was all acid rain. Nope, they haven’t stopped using coal-fired plants in the Midwest to generate electricity. Yup, we haven’t solved this yet, but we’re already forgotten about it and moved on to Global Warming.

That’s what I hate about causes, once one becomes boring and passé people move on to some cause that’s new, exciting, and getting all the press. There’s no success story here like gaining in the war on water chestnuts here in Lake Champlain. It’s not like personal choices affect acid rain either, like reducing your carbon footprint. There is nothing individuals can really do to make a difference with acid rain other than try to mitigate its affects. What’s a person to do? Walk around with pieces of limestone tossing them here and there?

If acid rain had a headstone it’d read “RIP Acid Rain, There’s Nothing Any Of Us Can Do, So There’s Nothing Any Of Us Did.”

I worry about stuff like this. Will people get exasperated and give up on global warming too? Plant trees people! Global warming and carbon emissions are a much easier problem to keep up with. Just think, if people plant a dozen trees a year, and increase garden space in their yards (instead of mowing), you’re actually making a difference. Ride your bike instead of taking your can a few short trips a week and you’re a carbon footprint hero.

But what are we going to do about Acid Rain?

Shelburne Road; Vermont’s Newest Ghost Town

Anyone driven down Route 7 from South Burlington to Shelburne lately? Not quite the thriving business district it once was, to say the very least. At least a half dozen empty buildings that haven’t been reoccupied. Noted businesses that have left include the Tuscan Sun, Sirloin Saloon, Vermont Country Kitchen, and Climb High. Roche’s Casual Furniture/Kasazza Kids made the move across the street to the old Climb High building, leaving their old venue vacant.

Is competition from the box stores in Williston leaving Shelburne Road in the dust? Does Route 7 just not have the draw to bring people like it once did? Tough saying really, but every rush hour Shelburne Road is literally clogged with cars. The people are there, they’re just not stopping to buy or eat. Why is that?

Hate to point the finger, but it didn’t seem like things were this bad before the Route 7 redo a couple years back. Maybe all those businesses were right and their worst case scenario’s have been realized? Could it be that all those traffic medians in the middle of the road did hurt business? Could it just be that the area is so known for it’s traffic that it’s just avoided in general? Or is it simply that the State of Vermont played with the traffic patterns and was too successful? After all, they were looking to lower the amount of time it took to get from one end of Shelburne road to the other, kudos to Agency of Transportation for this success.

But the vacant businesses? I think a couple factors are at play here. While it is easier to get from one end to the other, it certainly is harder to cross the road and get from one business to the next. Not having people crossing the road constantly does allow for better thru flow, but makes it trickier to visit the places you want. You have to consciously plan out where you’re going to start and end, and how best to navigate the flow of traffic. That’s a feat for seasoned Shelburne Road shoppers, let alone the visitors in town for the first time.

Looks like only time will tell. Will Shelburne Road become a ghost town, or return the profitable business district it once was?