Soapbox

Paying for more than tourism

As a local business owner and nonprofit volunteer, I ask you to consider voting “Yes” for the lodger’s tax. One of the goals of the tax is to help reestablish city funding for our beloved cultural nonprofits, which ended in 2008 due to the financial crisis. If the lodgers tax passes, 14 percent of the lodger’s tax will be dedicated to arts and culture.

With this funding, our local cultural nonprofits, facilities and events can do even more to increase our residents’ quality of life. Grantees would include the Powerhouse Science Center, Art Center, Concert Hall, public art, etc., and also cultural events, such as the Taste of Durango, Film Fest and dozens of others. Every town has sidewalks and streets, but the ones you want to live in have a vibrant arts and culture scene.

With 45 percent of the tax going to the city for public uses, the lodger’s tax will also fund transit, which helps alleviate the parking downtown and is vital to many of our community members to get to their jobs and other essential travel needs. The other 55 percent will go to sustainable tourism marketing, targeted to marketing groups for the shoulder/off seasons when so many of our local businesses need more revenue to keep their workforce employed. – Bill Carver, Durango Creative District board member

Jessika: 100 percent effort

It is with whole-hearted enthusiasm that I am casting my vote for Jessika Buell for Durango’s City Council. I have known Jessika both personally and professionally for 15 years, and throughout all this time, she has demonstrated an exceptional ability to accomplish an extraordinary amount. Everything she does is with 100 percent effort as she is committed to this community, her employees and her family. Through her strong entrepreneurial experience as an employer and owner of three local businesses and co-founder of the Women’s Professional Network, she understands these challenges and opportunities. She understands the critical need for housing and the creation of diverse opportunities throughout the community. She is a problem solver, and with every challenge, she works hard to understand differing perspectives in order to move forward to achieve successful outcomes. Jessika’s enthusiasm for learning and supporting her community is strong, as demonstrated most recently with her efforts to help deliver meals to healthcare workers through our Feed the Frontline initiative. Jessika is a uniter and someone who couldn’t be better to work together with her colleagues on Council to represent our community.

– Christina Rinderle, Durango

Go back to drawing board on tax

The lodgers tax increase, if passed, will have no end date, and the allocations will be permanent. Fifty-five percent of the funds will go toward marketing to increase tourism, 20 percent is allocated for transit, 14 percent is for the arts and culture, leaving only 11 percent to address any above shortfalls and other tourism impacts.

Durango has too many unmet and unfunded community needs to justify those allocations. We need funding for workforce housing, a new police and fire station, a new water treatment plant and storm drainage system, and funding to manage parks, trails and open space – all services that support our tourism economy. The impacts of a doubling of the tourism office budget to roughly $2.2 million per year has not been studied. And, the approximate $500,000 for transit is far from adequate, despite what the tax proponents suggest.

Transit is a critical city service and a basic public good. Adequate dedicated funding is central to reducing vehicle congestion and adverse air quality tourism exacerbates. In 2018, due to a 50 percent reduction in state funding to be phased in over five years, the City’s Transportation Department cut the Crestview-160, Three Springs-Mercy, and portions of the FLC Transit routes. The Three Springs-Mercy route, a critical link between the hospital and Durango, was reinstated this year with COVID grant funding which will expire in December.

The approximate $500k the lodgers tax could generate is entirely insufficient to reinstate and sustain these important bus routes or increase the service frequency our community desires. Furthermore, this allocation does not consider the millions in unfunded projects our community has prioritized in the Multimodal and ADA transition plans.

A properly crafted lodgers tax will provide vital support to transit and many other city services that make Durango a great place to live and an attractive place to visit. Yes, we do need a lodgers tax increase, but not this one. It’s time to go back to the drawing board! – Ellen Stein, Multimodal Advisory Board Member, Durango

Capability, character: Frank

As a former city councilor and mayor and a good friend of Frank Lockwood, I know he has the characteristics needed to be an excellent city councilor. 4

City runs smoothly with Youssef

Warren Buffett is quoted saying, “It’s only when the tide goes out that you learn who has been swimming naked.” Looking back, our community managed better than most through this horrible time in no small part because of the effective and tireless leadership of Melissa Youssef.

You don’t make the national news when the power stays on, the water is clean and flowing, and businesses survive against unprecedented challenges. Melissa Youssef helped keep day-to-day operations of the City running smoothly; Melissa advocated for the policies that made this year bearable. My personal favorite is the bump-outs, but there are many accomplishments supporting both businesses and people through this time. Reading about them at www.melissayoussef.com/ year-in-review/ is a great way to reflect on the positive in our community.

Now is a time to be grateful that we live in such a wonderful place, but also not take it for granted. Extremes in leadership fail, but community-centric leaders make sure we all win. Melissa has kept us going in hard times, let’s see what she can do with the bright future ahead.

– Jessica Wheeler, Durango

Passion, poise and promise

Melissa Youssef has the experience we need for City Council in these troubling times. With passion, Melissa has taken on many challenges and has led our community to a promising future. She is resilient and poised under pressure, capable of making tough decisions on many of Durango’s most serious problems. From the beginning of her tenure in City Council, Melissa has set in motion solutions to critical issues: affordable housing, homelessness and small business financial assistance, all while holding city government accountable and being bipartisan during times of controversy.

Durango, like every community in the nation, is faced with enormous challenges. We have endured the hardships of the pandemic and the economic, social and emotional problems that are associated with this disease. Fortunately, we have a community leader who has persevered and worked tirelessly to help us overcome these hardships. With strong leadership in local government, Durango will emerge to a brighter future. The promise of that future will be a reality when we reelect Melissa Youssef. – Brent Brown, Durango

Youssef agent for positive change

As a member of the Mayor’s Youth Advisory Commission (MYAC), I have had the privilege of working with Melissa Youssef, and I can say that Mrs. Youssef is one of the most caring and supportive people I have had the pleasure to work with. I joined MYAC because I wanted to represent the students’ voice in local government, as well as provide meaningful services for youth. I was skeptical at first if I, as a student, would truly have the power to make a difference. I was proved wrong working with Mrs. Youssef. It was very evident she had the youth’s best intentions at heart. There was never a meeting that she missed. Even with her busy schedule as mayor, she always found time to work with the youth. She always offered assistance in any project we were working on. For example, she helped us kickstart a T-shirt drive in which the shirts were converted into reusable bags. Not only did she help with our projects, she always asked for our perspective on local government issues, allowing for everyone to feel heard. Mrs. Youssef is clearly a leader driven by a desire to allow everyone to make a positive change. – Thomas Pope, Durango To the editor,

I want to offer a comment on your editorial cartoon of March 11, in which the conversation focuses on the Chief sign, which remains in place in the parking lot at Toh-Atin in spite of the many complaints lodged against it. I am respectful of others’ opinions and all for engaging in “healthy (civic) discourse,” as your letters policy states. It also says that you will print almost anything, with the exception of “personal attacks.” Granted, the cartoon is not a letter, but in my opinion, it is indeed a personal attack, in that it accuses both the owners and their customers of being racist. But what really annoys me is the total ignorance and tastelessness of the rationale for that accusation, which is that the owners “abuse indigenous culture.” This is absolutely without merit and so far off the truth that when I read this, I actually thought it might be intended as satirical.

I know the owners very well, and I know how incredibly supportive of Native culture they have been over many, many years, including, just this past fall, organizing and promoting a hugely successful clothing drive, and gathering, splitting, loading and hauling a semi-trailer of wood to the reservation. I don’t see other indigenous activists’ work in support of Native culture, so I can’t speak to their support, but to me, it is outrageous to allege that the owners of Toh-Atin are abusing indigenous artists and indigenous culture by keeping the sign, when the practical and plain truth is that they are much more supportive than anyone else I know and have done more for good for Native communities than anti-sign activists give them credit for.

Finally, I’d like to remind people that the sign in question is not a public monument (and therefore not under

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the jurisdiction of the city, county or state). It is locatedon private property, and the property owners have every right to do with it as they choose. No doubt that is why your cartoonist and indigenous activists are so virulent in attacking it – because they have no power or legal recourse to change it. But in the court of public opinion, I want people to be aware of the facts in this case, and the fact is that the Clark family is a tremendous and valuable source of support for indigenous people and Native art and culture. – Maureen Neal, Durango

Bent on inciting controversy

The recent political cartoon of the “Chief” illustrated in the Telegraph with its rhetoric is uncalled for and inappropriate. First, the cartoon doesn’t show the top of the Chief who is smiling and waving a friendly welcoming hand. This is a piece of American folk art that Toh-Atin Gallery purchased and preserved. Antonia Clark, Jackson Clark and their family have for decades showcased fine Native American art in our community and perhaps done even more to preserve Native American art and heritage than anyone else in Durango. The Clarks have supported Native Americans both in the past and during these difficult times. They have reached out to Native Americans to resolve any misgivings about the Chief sign.

If this sign was a “cowboy” rather than a Native American, would it be considered offensive by ranchers?

This one-sided misrepresentation seems more bent on inciting controversy and divisiveness than anything else. – Tim Wolf, Durango

A breach of integrity

I was horrified to see the cartoon in the Telegraph directed at the Toh-Atin Gallery. Political satire is one thing, slander and falsehoods another. Very embarrassing and a breach of integrity for your paper.I hold the Clark family in high esteem for their community contribution and their contribution to the Native American communities. – Chris DeNier, Durango

... and everything else

Remembering the OG Laker

Some of my brothers and I had the opportunity to see Elgin Baylor play in person as a member of the Minneapolis Lakers. He was a genuine “super star” and a great role model as an athlete. In the 1959-60 season (I was a senior in high school) Elgin, for the first of two times, set the NBA single-game scoring record with 64 points. This was during the time that Bob Short was a majority owner of the Minneapolis Lakers. Unbelievably, the Lakers were having a tough time filling up the Minneapolis Auditorium and were a candidate for sale. Tickets were readily available. The night that Elgin set the then-record of 64 points was incredible to see. He was absolutely unstoppable. Unfortunately, the auditorium was not even full that night. He broke his own record again the next season 1960-61 with 71 points. The Lakers were gone to Los Angeles within a year or two. – Terry Votel, St. Paul, MN (Editor’s note: Elgin Baylor, the Lakers’ Hall of Famer and one of the N.B.A.’s greatest players, died Monday in L.A. He was 86.)

Changing names not minds

I recently read the article about the City Council of Durango being concerned about some of the names of the streets and trails in and around Durango. I would like to give a different view of that decision: I lived and worked with Native Americans for years. When something was named using their tribe, heritage or whatever, they considered it to be an honor, not degrading at all. Most of the “stuff” going around is thought up by the “white” population ... bleeding hearts is what they were called in the day.

Most of the other people could care less what the schools, teams, streets, buildings, etc. were named. This racism dilemma has grown out of proportion and causing more problems than necessary. There are racists in every culture and nationality, but these proposed changes are not going to change their minds. The change they are considering is going to be costly; the money could be put to better use. I am originally from the South and the majority in our area lived in harmony. – Phyllis Ludwig, Bayfield

Virus cannot be controlled

We need to stop fooling ourselves into thinking that a virus can be controlled. And why should we trust an industry that makes the majority of its money from prolonging the inevitable? There is nothing that prevents death except becoming a borg. People get sick, most of us get better for a time but we all die at some point. Let’s stop this ridiculousness of trying to control what we can’t control. Life is to be lived. A person’s health is their responsibility and we all have choices to make. The medical industry is not the only choice for health. Vaccines, masks, isolation, the whereabouts of a person and who they’ve been around do not prevent sickness or death.

– Daniel Wilson, Durango

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