For all its scenic beauty, the Golden Gate Bridge still needs a makeover - and a grim one, at that.
Each year, about two dozen people choose to end their lives by jumping off the side of the San Francisco monument. The Golden Gate Bridge board of directors voted 14-to-1 to install 3.4 miles of a plastic-covered metal net 20 feet below the bridge's deck to curb this practice.
What a dismal necessity. The bridge is one of the most easily recognizable monuments in the United States. It's kind of depressing to think that it would require such a gloomy addition.
We at the Editorial Board think of one thing when the Golden Gate Bridge is mentioned, and it certainly isn't suicide. The thought of the giant red suspension bridge immediately conjures images of Jesse and the Rippers, the Olsen twins and Dave Coulier with his hand up a woodchuck puppet's ass.
Call us old-fashioned because the early- to mid-90s feel like yesterday to us, but "Full House" was our childhood representation of the Bay Area (not Tampa, the real bay area).
Obviously, we aren't native San Franciscans, but that's how we grew up envisioning north-central California.
The societal prevalence of suicide never crossed our minds when Steph was whining about "How rude!" D.J. had been, or when Michelle said, "You got it, dude."
We know there are greater factors at hand, and we're glad to see the bridge is getting its necessary upkeep. It's just disheartening to realize that something you've always seen as wholesome has a dark side to it - just like Bob Saget.
