One of the hopeful things that has come out of the decades-old Ericksen-Hildebrand debate (see last story post) is that people have done more than complain and dig in their heels. They’ve offered a range of compromises and solutions, and several have e-mailed them to me after the story’s publication.

I didn’t have the space in the story to get into all the ideas, so I’d like to offer this blog as a venue for people to post ideas on how to solve the Ericksen-Hildebrand conundrum.

So, what do you think?

Leave the park green, the streets unconnected, and let the walkers and cyclists rule?

Strike a balance, perhaps with a winding, narrow connection that paves a portion of the park?

Or, as one commenter offered after the online version of the story: “Thank you Mr. Blue Truck for doing what I have wanted to do for some time. You are my hero! Bring in the dozer, cut the road and we’ll find a way to name the street after you!”

So, there you have another option: pave the park and name the newly connected thoroughfare “Mr. Blue Truck Street.”

The city’s long debated it. Business leaders have long demanded it. The neighborhood has long feared it.

A big blue pickup truck last week rammed through and created it.

The ‘it,’ in this case, is a connection between Ericksen Avenue and Hildebrand Lane, two Winslow roadways that have remained a few yards apart while fostering decades of debate.

The unknown truck driver added his two cents by crashing through traffic cones, sandwich boards, plastic signs and a thick steel chain.

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