This is a busy corner, so don't try parking on the street. Cache is a nano. No need to unscrew or unbolt anything. Cache is on a public walkway. Gary Richards (Mr. Roadshow) is my favorite columnist in the San Jose Mercury News. He wrote this article published in the July 9, 2006 San Jose Mercury News about our bet (copied with permission):
This Roadshow stunt hurt -- both pride and wallet. I forked over $31.43 at a Shell station on Bernal Road on Friday, filling up Arlen Stone's thirsty silver Mazda. By more than a 5-1 ratio, readers decided I lost my bet with Stone on when construction would end at Central Expressway and Lafayette Street, one of those roadway projects that is small in scale but seems to take forever to complete. I wrote a few weeks ago that work would be finished July 4. My prediction drew this challenge from Stone, a quality assurance engineer who commutes from Morgan Hill to this Santa Clara intersection each day: ''I'm so confident it won't be done by then that I'm willing to bet big bucks -- a tank of gas -- that work isn't done by July 4.''
Pshaw. I know roads. The new lanes were almost in, most of the wiring was completed, paving was about to begin. Finish by July 4? Easy money. You've got a bet, Arlen. Prepare to fill up the guzzlin' Richards minivan. Oh, a few minor details remained. Crews had yet to install the final lane markers. Manhole covers needed to be fitted. Signals needed testing. Sidewalks weren't in. Ticky, tacky. Nothing to it. County deputy roads director Dan Collen began sending constant updates. He sounded so hopeful. Then, an ominous e-mail two weeks ago: Striping is going slowly. If it's not completed, Collen suggested, ''You might want to call it a draw.'' A draw? No way. If the lanes are open, as they were when July 4 rolled around, then the project is complete -- striping or no striping.
I decided to conduct a little poll. Readers, surely, would agree that I had won. I was calling in my chits. Remember those potholes I've filled for you, readers? Remember the long red lights I've shortened and the murky rules of the road I've explained? Now it's time to help me. It was ugly. Of 79 votes, 66 slapped me down. ''You must pay up, Roadman,'' said Del Barrett of Auburn, adding that ''anyone who is willing to believe that a government project will be completed on time or within budget deserved to lose.'' And . . . ''Work is not done until it's done,'' said John Lebya of San Jose. ''Striping is part of the work. So I say you owe this chap a tank of gas. And why is it that if you win, he has to fill up your minivan? What happened to that Prius?'' The clincher? ''A Porta Potti is still set up'' at the intersection, said Bruce Lang of Sunnyvale. Yet another vote against Mr. Roadshow.
In desperation, I turned to Roadshow contacts like Sean Comey of AAA, Lauren Wonder of Caltrans, John Pilger with the city of Sunnyvale and Jim Helmer, head of San Jose's department of transportation. Maybe I could pad the final count. Turncoats, all of 'em. ''Sorry on this one, Gary,'' Helmer said, so coldly. ''I vote for the reader.'' Even Collen chided me. ''I tried to give you an out when I became concerned about the contractor meeting the schedule,'' Collen said. ''But nooooo. 'I want to win. I want to win.' '' Help me, someone. ''I say you win -- hands down!'' said Helen Wong of Los Altos. ''Temporary lane markers work, and that counts. I don't know why people can't get that.'' But there weren't enough Helens.
So I marched out the door Friday morning, telling Mrs. Roadshow that I was about to spend our cash to fill up a stranger's car. ''The paper is paying for this, right?'' she said. Well, dear, nope. Stone proved to be a good guy. He could have run his gas tank to empty, but didn't. No surprise. After all, he grew up on an Iowa farm. ''You're the biggest celebrity I've met since I talked to Dustin Hoffman at a party in L.A.,'' he said, adding: ''As a fellow Iowan . . . I like you, despite your support of carpool lanes and hybrids.''
Stone began driving through the Central Expressway intersection in October and saw the torn-up islands, sidewalks and lanes, all at a time completion was promised for March. But what really got his attention is what he didn't see -- workers. A subcontractor didn't show, causing a four-month delay. Fines could reach $20,000. Heavy winter rains caused more trouble. The opening became July 4. Almost. Stone smiled -- wouldn't you if someone filled up your gas tank? -- as I fumbled with the pump for $3.17 a gallon. ''Maybe,'' he mused, eyeing the $3.39 tag for premium, ''I should go with the Super V-6.'' Ah, no!