The Register wrote about this pedestrian bridge in July of last year. The bridge is part of the flood project.

It’s on Coombs and Clinton, in the Community Heritage Park near Uva Trattoria, behind Mervyn’s and the bus stop. Most of the park is fenced off.

One of those areas is the bridge itself. It’s under construction now, according to city spokesman Barry Martin. The ramps and approaches to the bridge will be done in about a month, but the bridge may be closed beyond that while a bit of legal wrangling goes down.

There used to be a bridge further east in the park that was taken out to eliminate a floodwater obstruction. There’s a Cyclone fence around the river where that bridge used to be.

This bridge and park may have been hard to find because Coombs is interrupted at Mervyn’s plaza. I didn’t realize until recently that the street across from the Pearl Street parking garage entrance and the Cafe Kona yogurt shop is, in fact, Coombs Street. It runs about a block, dead-ending just past the intersection with Clinton Street.

Where did the gazebo that was in Veteran’s Memorial Park end up after the river front remodel?

The gazebo was never meant to be a part of the new Veteran’s Memorial Park, city spokesman Barry Martin told me. But it looked good and the city thought it may be good for another park. So when the contractor started the project, it carefully took the gazebo down and discovered dry rot. The structure wasn’t suitable for another location and the wood was recycled.

The new park won’t have the same kind of built up performance space, because it’s set up in an amphitheater shape, so people can sit on the grass and look down onto the performance space. It wouldn’t make the performers more visible to raise them on a platform, said Martin. Besides, any structure would have to steer clear of the river trail and couldn’t obstruct flood waters.

I like to watch cooking shows on TV and have noticed that the chefs always peel their carrots. I never have — I’ve given them a good scrubbing to get them nice and clean, but peeling always seemed to be a waste. Why do chefs peel their carrots?

I asked CIA instructor Chef Ken Woytisek to take me under the skin of this question.

“It boils down to personal taste,” Woytisek said.

For chefs, they want the dish to look as good as it tastes. If they’re sauteing carrot it can brown in an unpleasant way around the skin. Not so if it’s peeled. If a chef is making a stock — a clear elixir of pure flavor — the beta carotene, which is concentrated under the skin of the vegetable, can create some cloudiness.

If people are nutrition conscious, rather than presentation conscious, there’s more beta carotene for the chomping if you leave the peel on, Woytisek said.

For the record, my mom also said this when I was growing up.

What is Glad You Asked?

Glad You Asked attempts to answer readers’ questions. So if you’ve got a question that runs deep, send it to jdecker@napanews.com or 256-2215. I’ll get below the skin to find the answer.