What were you thinking?

Dear editors,

I’ve complimented you on the Telegraph and my high opinion of your publication. That high opinion is in doubt following the half page ad on page 13 of the Sept. 4 edition. Initially, I found the ad for River Trails Ranch quite funny, especially the part about reminding us of 3rd Avenue, in fact an “improvement” on 3rd Avenue. “And, a river runs through it!” sounds like Calthorpe uses the same copywriter as the Well’s Group. Hilarious. An ad for something that will virtually ruin our little town in the paper that stands stridently opposed to such things. My coworkers and I giddily turned the page to see the punch line...then another page...then another. It slowly dawned on us that maybe this was the real deal, that you actually took money from these people. It pains me to describe developers as people, but it pains me even more to think my favorite anti-establishment entertainment prints pro-development ads. What were you guys thinking?

I know it is tough to make ends meet, but scrap the ad and pass the hat at the coffee shop. I would gladly contribute to make up the lost revenue. I dread next Thursday fearing another ad. Please, NO! Development is NOT inevitable. Let Peter take his show to another town. Nobody wants it here except those few who stand to profit.

– Bill Poshard
Durango, CO

RagingTorrent: Steven’s Creek flash floods Tuesday afternoon during Durango’s record rainfall. Roughly 4 inches of rain fell during the 24-hour period that ended Tuesday at midnight./Photo by Todd Newcomer.

A different direction

Dear Editors,

Your paper rocks and Durango is better for its weekly publication. But ... and I hate to whine ... but ... and I know ads are important in keeping you going ... but ... an ad for River Trails Ranch by Calthorpe? Wow, guess I thought you were headed in a different direction.

– Cindy Dunbar, via e-mail

Sierra Club renounces ad

Dear Editors:

Over the past week several advertisements have run in the Durango Telegraph and Durango Herald in support of the River Trails Ranch development. These ads included a reference to a Sierra Club web site (www.sierraclub.org/sprawl). The Weminuche Group of the Sierra Club has taken no position on the annexation of River Trails Ranch. Any mention of the Sierra Club in ads run by the developer of River Trails Ranch was done without the permission or consultation of the Sierra Club. The Sierra Club does not take positions lightly and objects to the use of statements by the Sierra Club outside the context in which they were made. The Sierra Club especially objects to the use of the name in ways that imply support or endorsement by the Sierra Club where none exists.

– John Zwierzycki

Chairman, Weminuche Group

The Great Durango Depression

Dear Editors,

How many of you good citizens realize that we are already in a depression? The rising unemployment rates, record-setting bankruptcies and falling stock markets are all indicators of where we, as a country, are going. Are you sitting down? Things are not going to get any better. Today I write to express the plight of my brother and sister locals. How many of us are sleeping in the forests because we can’t pay the high rents? How many of us can’t afford to go out because all we can save is spent on food and the basic costs of living? How many of us can’t take our best friend out to dinner and a dance anymore? Everything in this town of a growing majority of poor is outrageously priced for the average Durangoan.

For example, the overpriced food that is pushed out to the unsuspecting tourists gives new meaning to highway robbery. What are you restaurant owners going to do when they are gone, and the locals that you have alienated never come into your high-priced establishments again? Then there are the landlord-barons. The cost of a decent place to live can only be afforded by gangs of people who live as roommates. It’s like revolving doors, and the places get torn up by people that are angry at the landowners who gouge the poor even more to cover the damage. Many people are working two, three and even four jobs to survive in this town. Say a prayer for those who learn to survive instead of learning to live.

All you landlords, restaurateurs and other businesses better wake up and smell the coffee! You only cater to the tourists, and we “locals” who are your bread and
butter are not happy campers!

It’s a depression. Do you understand that? Start initiating some aggressive “local” appreciation programs or start your bankruptcy paperwork. The only way to prosper in the long run is to lower your prices radically, and I am talking about dropping those $8 sandwiches to $3. We are not going to take it anymore and are better off saving by making our own $1.25 sandwich. And you landlords can sit on your empty properties until the banks take them back from you. We don’t care. If you don’t drop those rents that range from $400-$1,500 a month to $150-$400 a month, or something radically different than what you’re charging now, you, too, will crash. We will all be just fine without you.

The bottom line is: Hear the people, because if you insist on playing this monopoly game to the end, you will end up winning, and you will have all the money, but you’re not going to have anyone to play with.

Changing the world begins by making changes on a local level first. Recently, I have been shown that great possibilities really manifest in such beautiful ways. Can we all work together to save our local economy?

– Jay Lightbearer,

via e-mail