The Secret Cornell

In Tompkins County; while you may question the motives for an official’s actions; you know that they’re never acting alone – and always in the best interests of Cornell.

The following is an example of how the government operates.

Our rural road became a shortcut for commercial and industrial traffic avoiding the state highways: some days a couple of hundred gravel trucks alone; would barrel down the middle of its 20-foot wide strip of asphalt. We asked our County Legislator to request the County for a 4-Ton limit on “through haul trucks” [Something that is commonly done on the smaller connecting roads in Cornell’s nearby bedroom community.]

This is the County Highway Directors reply:

“Couple of quick thoughts:

Trucks using this road are likely Agriculture or local and there would be no way of limiting either.

If they are Through Haul Trucks I don’t understand why they would be using this road?  Do you know of any reason?”

The first roadblocks of bureaucratic denial: 1) “You don’t recognize what they are.” 2) “You don’t understand the law.” and 3) “Why would anybody do this?”

Not only are agricultural vehicles familiar; the gravel trucks are uncovered, emblazoned with the names of gravel hauling companies, and coming from another county – and “local delivery” means you're delivering: not driving through. And asking for a “reason” is as relevant as needing the motivation for a drunk driver being drunk.

But these were just knee-jerk responses. When we informed him that we understood the situation, and again pressed for a 4-ton through haul weight limit: he responded:

“I have researched the area and talked to highway officials in Lansing and they report there are no large through haul trucks utilizing Lansingville Road.  What is using the road is as I thought, Agriculture Vehicles.”

The only answer to this outrageous statement was to send photographic evidence of these trucks – which we did. There was no response, ever.

Sometime later, a sign suddenly appeared on our road: “Weight Limit 20-Tons - Except Local Delivery.”

This is five times the weight limit of every other through-haul weight limit sign I had seen on any road in the county.

I then noticed the same sign posted on another nearby rural road: a hilly, winding 25 mph road that connects the state highway with the same state highway; in a circuitous, and much more time-consuming route. Obviously, this unneeded and unasked-for sign was posted to pretend that we were not the sole target.

Our County Legislator had already faded into the distance; so I put the matter before the County Ethics Advisory Board: enumerating the Highway Director’s puzzling conduct and public denial of the facts. With College Town cleverness; they came back at me sideways – ignoring the substance of my letter, and responding that the Highway Director:

“posted the road at 20 tons to limit through traffic of large trucks”

When I wrote back that this, in no way responded to my complaint – they ceased all communication.

You could put “Misconduct” on a billboard; and no County authority would admit to noticing it.

This is only the beginning of a runaround that has gone on for years: the “catch-22” of rural participation. [I may recount the full script of the puppet show in this book.]

Cornell’s Policy makers do whatever they decide: and they’ve decided that rural people are disposable.