PHIL IN THE BLANK: Memories of time gone by

Wonder Woman holds a special place in my heart, as it probably does for lots of guys my age on whom Lynda Carter’s portrayal of the super-powered Amazonian princess in the 1970s, when we were 6-7 years old, made quite the impression.
So I was looking forward to the new version starring Gal Gadot in theaters, and caught a showing opening night.
I’m not in elementary school anymore, but it still made an impact.
She didn’t have to block incoming bullets from a tommy gun fired by a sweet little old lady like Lynda’s Wonder Woman, but German machine gun fire and mortar shells while crossing no-man’s land works too.
Nostalgia like that is awesome, and seems quite common nowadays as men and women of my generation remake just about everything we liked when we were kids.
I also felt a bit of nostalgia at last week’s parking committee meeting. Discussion about the need for more information about parking seemed like something I remember hearing about years ago.
Something like “Business owners chafe under parking enforcement,” in the Clarkston News, February 2014, about people parking more than two hours downtown; or September 2015, “Owners, officials call for parking consistency,” with people saying things like “If people can’t find parking, we’re going to lose business. It’s imperative we do something.”
Or “Info needed before paid-parking meeting,” in the News in July 2016. At the time, Clarkston City Council put on hold a proposed joint meeting with the Planning Commission and Parking Committee about charging to park in city-owned lots.
“It’s premature to do that until we get the results of the parking study,” they said. “I’m not sure what we would discuss – we don’t know the facts, figures, or costs. I don’t see where it would be fruitful if we don’t have the data.” At that time, the study was to be done by the Traffic Improvement Association (TIA), which the city joined for the parking study.
It took about a year for the study to be complete. Turns out, we still don’t know the data, or at least the right kind of data.
So now there’ll be more studies, discussions, and delays, just like the old days. This remake doesn’t look to be nearly as wonderful.

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