Governor honors the Smiley Building

Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter recognized a local success story for renewable energy last week. Durango’s Smiley Building was honored with a Governor’s Excellence in Renewable Energy Award on Jan. 10 during the annual State of the State speech.

Located in the 1300 block of East Third Ave., the 45,000-square-foot Smiley Building was built in 1936 as a junior high school. Six decades later, it was abandoned and widely regarded as a community eyesore. However, in 1997, three partners – Charles and John Shaw and Lisa Bodwalk – purchased the building with plans to resurrect it as a community arts center.

But shortly after the purchase, $5,000 utility bills started arriving in the mail forcing the partners to consider alternative energy options and begin enacting numerous conservation measures. Ten years later, the Smiley Building has grown into more than a community arts center; it is also the largest structure in the nation producing its own electricity and a demonstration of what can be done to “green” a large structure.

The historic building has been brought into the 21st century with endless efficiency innovations – high-efficiency boilers, motion-detected lighting, thousands of compact fluorescent light bulbs, low-flow faucets, waterless urinals, solar heating and on-demand water heaters to name a few.

In March of 2007, the Smiley Building also capped off a major solar panel installation, complementing efficiency measures with power generation. Joining an existing array of 72 panels, 120 new panels were installed, now fully powering the building and even spinning electricity back into the grid during sunny days. The move made the Smiley the only building of its size and type in America that is creating all of its own electricity, according to Charles Shaw.

The building has not escaped national notice, receiving a cover story in Solar Today magazine and now garnering a prestigious Governor’s Award, which were created as part of Gov. Ritter’s “New Energy Economy.” The Smiley Building joined New Belgium Brewing, the Intrawest Energy Alliance, the Fort Carson Army Post and the Northeast Denver Housing Center as one of the first recipients of the award.

“Congratulations to all of you for bringing Colorado’s New Energy Economy to life, for helping us give new meaning to ‘bold and ambitious’ and for helping to establish Colorado as an international leader,” Ritter said as he presented the awards. The five winners were greeted with a standing ovation.

After receiving the award, Shaw commented, “Both Lisa and I were thrilled and honored to be recognized by the Governor for our efforts in advancing renewable energy in Colorado. We think the Governor has a bold plan for establishing Colorado as a world leader in renewable energy, and we are proud that the Smiley Building can be a leader in that effort.”

Concert Hall director to retire

Durango’s biggest stage will mark the end of an era in coming months. After nearly 12 years at the helm of the Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College, Managing Director Gary Penington will retire, effective April 2008.

Penington joined the Fort Lewis College staff in 1984 as part of the Audiovisual Department and became the Concert Hall’s first employee in 1995. He is also credited with bringing “the music” to Durango since 1980. Teaming up with Jim Turner to form Southwest Productions, the two produced shows by Doug Kirshaw, Spyro Gyra, Michael Martin Murphey, Elvin Bishop, Asleep at the Wheel, The Outlaws and others long before the Concert Hall existed.

“It’s going to be hard, no doubt,” Penington said of his retirement. “But for some years now, I’ve had a mantra coined by Johnny Carson tacked to my bulletin board, ‘Life is more important than show business.’ And it’s true. It’s time for me to spend time with my parents as well as my teen-age daughter Amanda, and move on to new professional adventures.”

The Concert Hall stage has held 1,134 shows since its opening, and when asked to name “the best” show, Penington recalled several. “Keb’Mo’, Arturo Sandoval, Mark O’Conner, Kris Kristofferson, Dickie Betts, Willie Nelson and Meryl Haggard,” he said. However, he added that giving an annual tour of the Concert Hall to Mrs. Kerns’ third-grade class has been much more rewarding than dealing with rock stars.

Penington’s new adventures will continue to involve bringing entertainment to Durango. He will assume a part-time position through the President’s Office at FLC to produce larger shows on campus.  

RHA launches home loan program

Affordable housing took a major step forward in La Plata County this week. The Regional Housing Alliance of La Plata County inaugurated its mortgage assistance program Jan. 10, when it provided $17,000 to help the Krischke family buy a home in Durango.  

The new program has been dubbed Home Grown and works with families in La Plata County looking to buy a home. The loan, in the form of mortgage assistance, allowed Megan and Willie Krischke to fill the gap between what they could afford and the price of their condominium.

“We all know that housing is one of the biggest issues threatening the sustainability of our community,” RHA Board of Directors Chair Joe Colgan said. “This program shows that we are making real progress in helping working families stay in La Plata County.”

The RHA’s Home Grown program serves families earning less than 125 percent of the area’s median income. As part of this program, the RHA has been raising money for mortgage assistance through an investment fund called the La Plata Homes Fund. To date, the RHA has received a grant for $250,000 from the Colorado Division of Housing to provide mortgage assistance to families earning less than 80 percent of area median income.

The RHA plans to grow the Homes Fund to $10 million by 2011 through public-private partnerships. Through the Homes Fund and other resources, the RHA’s projection is to create 80 to 100 opportunities per year for the next five years.

“This is an exciting step for the community and RHA’s programs,” said City Councilor and RHA Board Member Michael Rendon. “We are looking forward to helping another 25 to 30 families this year.”  

Donation ‘meters’ benefit homeless

Spare change is now going a long way toward social change in Durango. The Volunteers of America, in conjunction with the City of Durango, has developed a voluntary contribution parking meter program to support the Durango Community Shelter.  

The program is taking a number of the City’s working non-electronic meters and placing them as donation meters in several high pedestrian traffic areas around Durango.  The pedestal meters have been painted red, placed away from parking spaces and should not be confused with regular meters.

“The Durango parking meter initiative will provide a wonderful opportunity to raise awareness of homeless issues facing our community,” said John Gamble, Volunteers of America Director. “As a voluntary donation program the meters will raise funds to support essential homeless services.”

Donation meters will be placed at the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad Train Station, North and South City Market, Kroeger’s Hardware, and 6th Street Hair Salon. More locations are planned to help combat Durango’s significant homeless problem. In 2007, the Volunteers of America Durango Community Shelter housed 520 men, women and children.

– Will Sands