Three glorious examples of what is wrong

In the past week, three things happened, each totally unconnected to each other, that illustrate part of the problem.

First, three hikers were found dead in the mountains where they had gone winter camping and killed by an avalanche.

Second, a car plunged off of a suburban freway on-ramp.

And third, someone had driven off of a busy highway (though not a freeway) and hit a guardrail, leaving a large piece of metal astride the sidewalk, effectively blocking any but the youngest and nimble pedestrian.

Here's the important part of the story: the government's response to these incidents.

The bodies of the three dead men were left up there on the mountains, awaiting better weather when a helicopter could get them out safely.

The car that ran off the on-ramp in the suburbs was immediately pulled out of the ditch. This required the shutdown of the on-ramp, the police were tied up for hours, and it caused an unholy mess in the morning commute.

The guardrail is still blocking the sidewalk, five days later.

Now, I agree that the mountaineer's bodies ought to be left up there. They have already been there several months. Certainly, even their living loved ones would not have anyone jeopardize their lives to bring down the bodies even one day earlier than safe.

But couldn't the car that went off the ramp be brought up in the middle of the night? When there is no one around. When the cops aren't busy? When there is a better chance of doing the operation safely? The car could have been covered with a tarp and retrieved at 4:00 AM when the traffic would be thin-to-non-existant?

And the guardrail blocking the sidewalk? It speaks for itself. The City cares nothing for pedestrians. If there were a guardrail sticking as much as an inch onto the roadway, the city would be on it. If a guardrail was blocking nearly anything other than a sidewalk, it would be taken care of immediately--blocking a business entrance, a parking space, even hoisted in such a way to block a billboard, it would be removed, right away.

The City has lost its way, sadly.