Update: I wrote the rant below before coming to understand Governor Lujan Grisham actually excludes “exercising” from the list of activities requiring face protection. I leave the following unchanged after learning this, as excluding exercising is a really stupid fucking idea, particularly when most “exercising” in the Bosque Path mentions below were those walking no more intensely than they would at the mall on the way to the Orange Julius. 

Yesterday I made the mistake of riding the Bosque Bike/Ped/In-Line Skate/You Name It Path. You really shouldn’t do that these days, not that I’m telling you what to do. As Yogi put it, “Nobody goes there anymore, it’s too crowded.”

I’ve been avoiding the Path, taking Isleta Blvd. instead. As anyone who have ridden Isleta between Rio Bravo and town knows, it’s not much fun, even during lower pandemic levels of driving (you know, the good ‘ol days of the pandemic when there were fewer drivers?). Yesterday I was running a bit late though, so I gave the Bosque Path a shot.

Don’t do it. Not that I’m telling you what to do.

Evidently the Governor has included a codicil in all her stay-at-home orders, an addendum previously unknown to me. It appears everybody but Scot has gotten a memo that it’s okay not to wear a face-covering if you’re outside. Supposedly the Governor and everyone else but Scot has concluded that transmission of COVID-19 is literally not possible if you’re “exercising,”, particularly on the Bosque Path, even/especially if you’re in a large group of people haphazardly strollign down the busy path, everyone taking in “nature” by looking at their phone the whole time.

So the question is: Do I, or anyone else not getting this mysterious memo from the Governor, tell 90% of folks on the Path to “put a goddamn mask on motherfucker!”

Or not.

Yesterday I kept my face-covered mouth shut. We’re all a bit short-tempered these crazy days, me very much included, and who needs to find out who is not wearing a mask but is carrying a gun? The art of telling strangers what to do is generally best left unpracticed.

But there were so many out there and so few wearing masks. I find myself perserverating about pretty much everything these days, and this crisis gives one plenty to obsess about. Best follow Yogi’s advice and practice avoidance of the Bosque Path instead.

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While I’m ranting, I might as well also mention how unsatisfactory the new striping job is on Rio Grande Blvd. between Central and I-40:

 

Regular BB readers are probably aware that neighbors and Council Isaac Benton have been pushing a new “Complete Streets” approach for Rio Grande Blvd., one that’s been haggled over, unfunded, and haggled over some more for at least five years. So instead of waiting until the haggling is over, the City blows a bunch of money to do the same lame-ass, out-of-compliance striping job that led to the haggling in the first place.

<sarcasm> Nice job, City of Albuquerque! </sarcasm>

The one currently saving grace of such striping is that nobody in their right mind would bike Rio Grande with this new, same as the old, shitty striping, so the not wearing masks thing is less of an issue. That good health news is unfortunately outweighed by the incredibly high chance of immediate death/injury trying to ride this stretch of Rio Grande Blvd.

Funny, I feel so much more comfortable telling the City what to do. Complete Street the goddamn stroad, motherfuckers!

Have a good day, everybody.

 

 

*Technically, the work is in violation of the draft, still pending for what is about 18 months by this point “DPM” because the Mayor won’t get off his ass and finalize approval of the damn thing.