Affordable mobility for Durango

To the editor,

As members of the City of Durango’s Multi Modal Advisory Board, we would like to address the comments regarding the City’s Trolley service that were asserted in the Herald’s Op Ed on June 11, 2015.

By implementing the “$1 fare” for the Trolley and Loop Bus program the City’s Transit Department is ensuring and achieving the City’s vision of mobility and safety for all users.

Using a middle school child as a mobility example:

- Student purchases an annual pass: cost $30.00

- Assume the student attends the 163 state-required school days; traveling to and from school each day-

- 163 x 2 = 326; 326/$30.00 = $.09/trip!

- Moreover, students may travel around town on the Trolley and Loop Buses anytime including weekends and summers. That’s affordable mobility!

There are numerous free and reduced-price programs available including Low Income adults and youth, Senior and Disabled riders as well as reduced-price day passes ($ .45) for clients of Human Service Agencies. These agencies include: Manna Soup Kitchen, Housing Solutions of SW, Salvation Army, the Women’s Resource Center and others. Free passes are also available to families that participate in the Free & Reduced Lunch Program.

Several factors are responsible for the reduced ridership numbers on the Trolley since the “$1 fare” implementation; even when the Trolley was free, ridership numbers were already on the decline. The largest factor for the decrease is that when the Trolley was free, the ridership numbers were artificially inflated by the riders who were using the Trolley as a shelter and not as a mode of transportation.  Riders are required to exit the bus at the end of the route and when they get back on they are included in the ridership numbers again. Some riders were using the system in this manner and were counted multiple times every day. Because of this, a decrease in ridership numbers of 50% was anticipated by the City; however the decline has only been 35%.

The “$1 fare” for the Trolley has reduced the number of riders that were abusing the system and displaying

inappropriate behavior. Previously, drivers and riders sometimes felt that their safety and that of their children might be in jeopardy. Drivers were threatened when they requested that riders who were displaying inappropriate behavior leave the bus or not board the bus; parents were not comfortable allowing their child to ride the Trolley alone because of concerns for the child’s safety. That has changed.

Please visit the City’s website at www.durangotransit .com for more information about the Pass Programs and Transit services.

We support the “$1 fare” for the Trolley based on the discussion above and for a many other well-reasoned, logical, and fair reasons.

- Kim Baxter, Chairman, Jennifer Wrenn, Vice Chairman, David Steele, Julie Popp, Multi Modal Advisory Board

Declare independence from meat

To the editor,

Nearly 240 years ago, our founding fathers declared our national independence from Great Britain. This 4th of July, let’s declare our independence from the meat industry.

More than 60 percent of U.S. agricultural subsidies pay for meat, dairy and egg production. Fresh fruit and vegetable farmers receive less than 1 percent of the total. It’s time to declare our independence by stopping these subsidies.

Our annual medical care expenditures for diseases associated with consumption of animal products are estimated at $300 billion. Much of the cost is borne by our taxes through Medicare, Medicaid, Veterans Administration and Obamacare. It’s time to declare our independence by taxing animal products to recover these costs.

Currently, the meat industry is getting Congress to gut dietary recommendations by a government-appointed panel of our nation’s top nutritionists. The panel recommended incorporating reduced meat consumption and sustainability of food sources in our dietary guidelines. It’s time to declare our independence by telling the meat industry to butt out of our dietary guidelines.

In the meantime, each of us can declare our personal independence from the meat industry by refusing to subsidize it on our next trip to the supermarket.

– Diego Horvath, Durango

Nothing entertaining about racism

Dear Gentlepeople of Durango,

Durango has recently been named the “Top Western Town” by True West magazine. This joins our other numerous awards and mentions from the Smithsonian, the Today Show, Outside magazine, National Geographic, and Fox News amongst others. I love the proximity of the skiing, the river, the trails and festive downtown bar scene boasting one of the highest brewery per capita ratios in North America. What I love most is the true sense of community. Durango rallies together to support our people and our community.  rom non-native speakers to people with physical and cognitive disabilities, we provide opportunities for everyone to live life fully. We are a community of nationally recognized musicians, athletes and nonprofits, that embraces the novice as well as the expert. Our inclusivity fuels our grit.  

A few weekends ago, while celebrating a dear friends bachelorette party, we stumbled into a festive bar with dueling pianos. The bar was packed and the mood was lively- perfect for our celebration. Unfortunately, towards the end of night, the MC began singing a series of racial slurs- making fun of Mexicans, Asians and Irish. 

I was shocked and disgusted that someone from my town exhibited such racist humor. Additionally, I was dismayed that a locally owned bar, supported by the wonderful community of Durango, allowed this man to continue to degrade its clientele. 

Durango has come a long way to mitigate prior prejudices.  The community has banded together to help Karma raise money for Nepal; helped migrants legally attain driver’s licenses; and proposed a new teen LGBTQ center to prevent teen suicides. Let’s keep forging ahead to support all members of our community and let the xenophobes of our town know that we do not support bigotry. This way we can hold our heads high and live up to our many honorariums: “The West’s Best Small Towns,” “Top Micropolitan,” “The Best 10 Small Towns in America” and “The Best River Towns.” 

– Amanda Champany, Durango

The phantom Iraqi army

The Iraqi Army has a history of moving to the rear and exposing their back sides to attacking forces.

The Iraqi Army melted like butter when we attacked them in 2003.  They faded away when ISIL attacked them, and then lost Mosul and most of northwestern Iraq along with large quantities of U.S. equipment.  Recently they turned tail and abandoned U.S. military equipment when they ran from Ramadi.

The Iraqi Army cannot be relied upon to fight ISIL or any other insurgent groups, and we should not supply them with weapons we could possibly face in the future.

Our attack aircraft are currently destroying former U.S. military vehicles captured by ISIL from the Iraqi Army, and this will continue into the future.

The latest news is the Administration is sending 2,000 anti-tank rockets to combat ISIL vehicles.  We should not supply these rockets to the Iraqi Army, because they will probably fall into the hands of ISIL and other terrorist organizations, and if we ever have to go back into Iraq, our military could encounter these weapons.

We should reduce sending military equipment to the Iraqi Army and increase arms shipments to the Kurds and Druze.

– Donald A. Moskowitz, Londonderry, NH