Marc of OBX
January 5, 2011 - by
Let others talk about what Marc Basnight did for the university system, clean water, open records, the Democratic Party, etc., etc.
Those of us who love and live on the Outer Banks have selfish reasons to thank him.
When Governor Hunt put Marc on the Board of Transportation in 1977, getting to Nags Head was a harrowing, exhausting five-hour drive along two-lane roads that wound through every city and little town along the way.
Today, it takes just over three hours to get from North Raleigh to our condo just north of Jockey’s Ridge. Along smooth four-lane highways where the biggest danger is running into a black bear.
And there’s more to come – like four-laning the final stretches of US 64 in Tyrrell and Dare counties. And replacing the aging and dangerous Alligator River Bridge
Not to mention replacing Bonner Bridge over Oregon Inlet. Obviously, the new bridge should be the Basnight Bridge
Then there are the bike and walking paths. The public beach access areas. The four-lane beach bypass. The big bridge from the mainland to the beach that bypasses Manteo – saving another 15 or 20 minutes’ drive.
There’s an old joke that someone wanted to name that six-mile, high-rise, four-lane bridge – the Virginia Dare bridge – for Basnight. “No, no,” he supposedly said. “Too small.”
Don’t forget the commercial fisherman who are still in business. And all the locals who got good state jobs. All the businesses – and jobs – that sprang up. The new Jeannette’s Pier. The road scrapers that showed up promptly – prompted by Marc – after every storm.
There’s another old story told by a DOT hand who got a call from Basnight late one night about a road problem. “We’ll get on it first thing in the morning, Senator,” the DOT man promised. “The hell you say,” erupted Basnight, who has a legendary temper. “I want somebody there TONIGHT!” And DOT did.
And I should mention that our condo development got Marc’s help on its wastewater system.
Call it patronage and pork barrel. That’s what we all call something that somebody else got from government.
And it wasn’t all for the good. Catch me on a summer afternoon stuck in unending traffic with cars from Virginia , Maryland , Ohio and Pennsylvania
But for making the OBX an easier place to get to and enjoy when you’re there, we owe Marc Basnight.
And we salute him for showing that politicians could serve average people – figuratively and literally.
He may not be serving up the pork from Raleigh
Posted in General, North Carolina - Democrats
Marc of OBX
January 5, 2011/
Let others talk about what Marc Basnight did for the university system, clean water, open records, the Democratic Party, etc., etc.
Those of us who love and live on the Outer Banks have selfish reasons to thank him.
When Governor Hunt put Marc on the Board of Transportation in 1977, getting to Nags Head was a harrowing, exhausting five-hour drive along two-lane roads that wound through every city and little town along the way.
Today, it takes just over three hours to get from North Raleigh to our condo just north of Jockey’s Ridge. Along smooth four-lane highways where the biggest danger is running into a black bear.
And there’s more to come – like four-laning the final stretches of US 64 in Tyrrell and Dare counties. And replacing the aging and dangerous Alligator River Bridge
Not to mention replacing Bonner Bridge over Oregon Inlet. Obviously, the new bridge should be the Basnight Bridge
Then there are the bike and walking paths. The public beach access areas. The four-lane beach bypass. The big bridge from the mainland to the beach that bypasses Manteo – saving another 15 or 20 minutes’ drive.
There’s an old joke that someone wanted to name that six-mile, high-rise, four-lane bridge – the Virginia Dare bridge – for Basnight. “No, no,” he supposedly said. “Too small.”
Don’t forget the commercial fisherman who are still in business. And all the locals who got good state jobs. All the businesses – and jobs – that sprang up. The new Jeannette’s Pier. The road scrapers that showed up promptly – prompted by Marc – after every storm.
There’s another old story told by a DOT hand who got a call from Basnight late one night about a road problem. “We’ll get on it first thing in the morning, Senator,” the DOT man promised. “The hell you say,” erupted Basnight, who has a legendary temper. “I want somebody there TONIGHT!” And DOT did.
And I should mention that our condo development got Marc’s help on its wastewater system.
Call it patronage and pork barrel. That’s what we all call something that somebody else got from government.
And it wasn’t all for the good. Catch me on a summer afternoon stuck in unending traffic with cars from Virginia , Maryland , Ohio and Pennsylvania
But for making the OBX an easier place to get to and enjoy when you’re there, we owe Marc Basnight.
And we salute him for showing that politicians could serve average people – figuratively and literally.
He may not be serving up the pork from Raleigh
Posted in General, North Carolina - Democrats