Letter: Nelson Road residents suffer county’s neglect

EDITOR,
As one of many residents of Nelson Road in Scotts Valley, I think I can speak for most when I say that this road is one of the worst and in need of resurfacing. The farther up one travels, the larger the impact. Of course, I am nearly at the end, 2½ miles in.
This road was originally constructed by one of the original property owners with his tractor (no proper road base or engineering standards applied). I moved here five years ago, and the road has deteriorated greatly since, with only spotty pothole patching — which consists of the county road crew tossing a couple shovels of patch into the holes and driving the truck over it to pack it down. It doesn’t take long for the patch to come out again.
This road is less than two lanes wide, has fallen into the creek in places and is overgrown with foliage in other spots.
Now, I don’t even want to bring up the slide, but as mentioned in the recent story (“Road maintenance falls behind as funding disappears,” Page 2, Nov. 18), the county has no money to clear it out.
Had this slide occurred on a larger arterial, such as Graham Hill Road or even Glenwood Drive, it would have been addressed posthaste.
For (Director of Public Works) John Presleigh to suggest that us “folks” look inward to get our roads fixed, I suggest that he look at who is paying taxes every day to have our roads kept up.
It’s “we, the people,” and as one of those people, I have to ask why the road to my family’s home isn’t as important as any other road. John, we are footing the bill, we just aren’t feeling the love.
Tom Burke, Scotts Valley