A beautiful town marred by dog doo

Visiting from the east, the vibe in Glennwood Springs is as awesome as the scenery. Our 3rd trip in six years and your town never disappoints, except for your irresponsible and classless dog walkers who left bags of dog crap along the Scout and Doc Holiday trails. Having also hiked in Boulder, Nederland, and Idaho Springs on this trip, sadly, Glennwood is not unique in this regard. Colorado has some of the most beautiful land anywhere and it’s hard to fathom the entitlement of those who would defile it in this small, personal, and easily avoided way.

Doug Brose, Narvon Pennsylvania

A community at capacity

I am writing to encourage a valley wide discussion of what our true carrying capacity is as our population continues to grow. What is the carrying capacity of all our infrastructure including roads, schools, daycare centers, medical facilities, grocery stores, our power grid, and perhaps most critically in the long term, our water supply. 

Highway 82 is already dysfunctional at certain times of day, wildlife is killed constantly along the road, and we have seen several fatal crashes in recent years. We are not taking seriously enough the safety concerns from daily use of Highway 82 much less the possibility for total gridlock on the roads in the event we need to evacuate due to an emergency such as a wildfire. Could people die sitting in traffic on Highway 82? In addition, what impact does gridlocked traffic have on our air quality? 

Do we truly have an understanding of our water supply on a valley wide basis? How many more water taps can we truly handle before we find ourselves like Arizona with developments that were approved but have been halted due to lack of water? These questions deserve analysis before we continue adding additional housing units.

While I understand the desire for more affordable housing, I am also concerned about over development and severely damaging our quality of life. I do not have easy answers to the affordability issues facing our valley (and all of Colorado), but I do not believe we can build our way out of the situation. I truly believe there is a breaking point for the level of growth we can handle and still ensure our own safety, protect our wildlife, ensure conservation of our open spaces, and protect our quality of life. Unfortunately, not everyone who wants to live here or have a second home here can do so if we wish to protect our limited resources and be proper stewards of our lands. Perhaps we need to pause and grapple with these questions before it is too late and we come to regret the irreversible changes we are making in our valley.

Siri Olsen, Glenwood Springs