New hotel will bring noise, traffic

To the editor,
Although the City of Durango has its hands tied due to the existing height restrictions of 55 feet on commercial property, and the recent 11-foot variance granted by two different councils, I believe the constant noise and extreme traffic from the hotel project on 1.3 acres across from Gazpacho’s would be enough to scrap it.

The proposed hotels would have sunbathers in an elevated 10,000-square-foot spot next to other social gatherings and four to six stories of 185 rooms with outdoor patios that would act as an amphitheater. The acoustics would blare out for blocks and blocks.

None of the underground parking lots in Durango have  cars driving over pedestrian sidewalks. This hotel project has two parking garages, one on E. fifth Street and the other on E. Second Avenue, where drivers would be going over pedestrian sidewalks. Not only do little kids run in front of their parents on sidewalks, but there are people with earbuds, texters, drinkers, pot smokers, or just two people in love that could easily be hit by these cars.

Even with a new traffic light on E. Second Avenue and College Drive, there would be more cars traveling out to the light on E. Third Avenue. From my house in the 500 block of E. Third Avenue, I have heard brakes squealing and seen numerous T-bone accidents, including my next door neighbor, from cars turning left from E. Fifth Street onto E. Third Avenue. Typically, once problems occur on any kind of roadway, there is a fix of some sort, but not if this hotel project ends up being built.

In my opinion, the noise and traffic issues that would be created from this mass of construction capable of destruction is not worth all the money our city could make from lodging taxes. The personal injury lawsuits would well outweigh the asking price for the 1.3 acres of raw land at $6 million.

A Ute Indian cultural center and/or a new site for The Arts Center would be a better fit.

 –Sally Florence, Durango 

Putting debt in laymen’s terms

To the editor,
When scary things happen, some turn to humor. I found an example of this when I went to my e-mail4 one morning. I don’t know who did the math on this; similar versions have been making the rounds for some time. Here’s my version:

The fiscal cliff: Lesson #1: The federal budget is about $3.82 trillion. U.S. tax revenues are roughly $2.17 trillion. The gap between revenues and income results in new debt of $1.65 trillion. Adding the new debt to all of the old debt raises the total national debt to $14.271 trillion. The debt is growing every second. Recent budget cuts amounted to a piddling $38.5 billion.

Now, let’s remove eight zeros and pretend the above is a household budget. Annual family income is $21,700 per year. In that same year, the family spent $38,200. That difference added new debt on credit cards totaling $16,500, bring the outstanding debt on credit cards to a staggering $142,700. However, in spite of “good intentions,” the family’s total budget cuts were only $385. Viewed from this perspective – that is, a typical family budget – the U.S. approach is not only irresponsible, it is unsustainable.

Lesson #2: Here’s another way to look at the debt ceiling: Let’s say you come home from work and find there has been a sewer backup in your neighborhood ...  and your home has sewage all the way to the ceilings. What do you think you should do? Raise the ceilings? Or, remove the sewage?

I ask you: What would you do? What did Congress do? What would “common sense” have to say about that?

– Hal Mansfield, Green Valley, Ariz.

Keeping the flag raised

To the editor,
(The following is a speech by Southern Ute Tribal Judge Michael Stancampiano that will be given tonight at the Veteran’s dinner at the Ignacio Middle School. Stancampiano served with the U.S. Army in Vietnam.)

I am reminded as I speak to you, of the beginning of the movie on Lincoln where he was asked to raise the flag. He appeared at the locale and told those gathered that he would raise the flag, but it was up to them to keep it raised.

Our community gathers this evening to honor all veterans who have served, both living and dead.

The difficulty in making a speech like this is that it has to speak to and about veterans, both in conflicts that were a direct threat to the United States and in conflicts that were lesser in consequences. In the major historical conflicts, the draft was employed to constitute the forces needed and the remaining conflicts relied on a volunteer force with private sector contractors. All that said, the consequences to service members (later veterans) were just the same no matter the conflict. Loss is the commonality that wipes out the differences.

Regardless of our ideas about the conflicts, dead veterans can no longer speak to us about what happened to them or how they felt. Like living veterans when they served, they were sent, they obeyed,  they had no political power to do otherwise. While we may argue over a conflict’s justification without their input, we miss the point of today’s memorial. It’s the service of all veterans that we remember and revere today; not whether the conflict was justified. Their loss, however, is indisputable.

One good way to honor all veterans is to visit a veteran’s cemetery in this country or a U.S. cemetery in a foreign land. (I think especially of WW II cemeteries around the world.) Stand in the middle of it and do a 360. Some are so large that the middle is a mystery. Walk a few rows and see where the soldiers came from. See their ages. See the various religions that are on their markers.

Arlington, Va.: The resting place of all by representation and the few by interment; the poised and perpetual guards at the tomb of the unknown soldier who pace back and forth with military precision and no consideration of the time, the day or the weather. See the Vietnam Memorial with the list of 48,000 lost and the Korean War Memorial, 34,000-plus lost.

Veteran’s Day is more than a memorial for those lost. It is a day for all those who served. It is not a day that we beat our chest with stories of bravado. It is not a day for rejoicing. It is a day to be recognized for what we did.

In the ideal – career military or not – the service member pledges time and talent to honorably serve the government’s purpose. The government in return is to provide all the tools to accomplish the purpose: medical for the family; money for the family; and promises of medical treatment for combat injuries of all kinds; together with the educational benefits that are a huge inducement to service. We veterans should continue to band together in support of all veterans and keep steady pressure on the government to keep its end of the bargain.

Where does the service members’ honor come from? The honor comes from doing one’s duty, that is, subjecting oneself to the direction and control of a machine that is large, powerful, deadly and sometimes really stupid. It may squeak, balk, spit and make no sense at all, but there is nothing you can successfully question in combat or in the support of combat. As every basic training drill sergeant pounds into our heads, we are not paid to think. Even in times of relative peace, the service member performs combat support by maintaining all necessary readiness.

Veterans Day is the day that the government has set aside to recognize us and our service, to honor those of us who have done our duty. We appreciate this recognition from the government and from the people.

For all those of us still living, our heads should drop and look at the earth that now holds those we lost, but our hearts and minds should look up and outward in an effort to limit such future losses.

I am proud to have served and am proud of this community for caring. As President Lincoln directed, the flag is still raised.

– Michael Stancampiano, Southern Ute Tribal Judge