This article (“Bury This Big Mistake,” Artvoice v9n9) I found very intriguing as a Dutch-American woman born in the city of Utrecht, the Netherlands. I emigrated in 1954 after having lived in that 250,000+ city for 16 years. This city has the usual multitude of canals (or called “grachten or singels”) just like many major Dutch cities, such as Amsterdam. These “singels” as they are called in Utrecht were dug hundreds of years ago to facilitate trade.

Back in the late 1950s, there was a push to fill in some of these “grachten” to facilitate anticipated increases in traffic.

Lo and behold! Today, funds have already been passed by the municipal, state and federal governments to “undo the damage” of 60 years ago.

Is this an international phenomenon? I hope so!

Joyce H. Bol, Amherst

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