Stand in the place where you live-Thoughts on bridge building and burning

Somebody once told me that you shouldn't burn bridges, and I agree. I am going to roll with the analogy however and hopefully the reader can figure it out.

Sometimes bridges are built in the wrong location and for the wrong reasons-like as a memorial to the builder or financier. Sometimes the world changes and a bridge is no longer well placed to provide access to where people want to go. This is when a new bridge needs to be built. A bridge that serves the true purpose of what bridges are for-giving traffic a way to get to the other side at the right spot where it is most needed.

When a bridge is built that makes more sense in terms of where it gives access to and from, and if it provides that service universally as opposed to selectively, traffic will naturally flow to that easement and access. As less traffic uses the old bridge, preferring the alternative, the old bridge may feel burned. It's not, it still exists, no one burned it down, it is just less relevant to the present public.

This is why Clutch Couriers was built-because the old bridges were no longer providing for the public at large. Santa Cruz needed a better alternative for providing professional courier services. Santa Cruz deserved a professional bike messenger company that was not wedded to a political ideology, and a better choice than the unsustainable all-motorized companies.

This is why the traffic is flowing to our bridge-because we are providing a legitimate link between commerce and ecology, and universal access to where it is most needed.

There are still many bridge building opportunities in Santa Cruz County. This is a beautiful place-why wouldn't you want to help make it work?

"That's why we got P.M.A." (Bad Brains)

In all sincerity,

Rick Graves