Head-in-the-sand planning

Good to see a city planning ahead (“Glenwood Springs council sets construction priorities big and small,” Aug. 22 PI). Lots of resources going into construction projects. Keep the town humming along. Progress. Vitality.  

Just one problem; it’s called climate change.

But Glenwood is like most towns and cities: heads in the sand.   People are now dying of the climate disasters all over the country and the planet. Even after the fire in the canyon and other fires.  Even with the mudslides. Pay attention: We are now living in a different world. 

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So where are the stories about Glenwood Springs and Garfield County spending money on eliminating natural gas, electrifying city and county buildings, investing big in local solar, helping to make our existing buildings more efficient and weaning them off fossil fuels? The local political leadership is stuck in the past. 

The head of the UN just said our choice is “Collective action or collective suicide.” When the problems are hard, your politicians will always do the same thing: nothing. Time to get these people to get after it or get out of the way.

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Patrick Hunter, Carbondale

Ugly wall

It was nice to see Glenwood Springs City Council set future construction priorities (PI, Aug. 22) but there was one glaring omission under minor projects. I didn’t see anything about covering the horrible eyesore on the old retaining wall along the newly finished south Midland Avenue project. 

This should have been numero uno on the list. I would be willing to bet that it would have cost less than any of the other listed minor projects. I have spoken to numerous people who share my views on this subject. How can City Council continue to ignore this blight on the community?

Emil Cima, Glenwood Springs

Wrong all around

The Post Independent’s diagnosis of our worker shortage is wrong; their cure is even worse. (GSPI editorial of 8/22/2022).

The Post would have us believe that our local worker shortage is the result of worker’s inability to find affordable housing. It is hard to believe that the Post has not noticed that the worker shortage is nationwide. Our labor shortage is neither confined to nor due to costly housing. Baby boomers, the largest population group in U.S. history, are aging out of the workforce. Also, COVID-19 nudged many pre-retirement folks into some form of retirement or opened their eyes to other non-mainstream employment.

The Post suggests that our worker shortage would be remedied by public subsidies (funded through additional taxes) of affordable housing. They recognize that the proposed visitor lodging tax would not be adequate to buy much housing, so they speculate that perhaps more taxes on locals dining and drinking would help. One must ask exactly how much of a burden does the Post want to impose on ordinary working folk in order to purchase housing for absent workers?

In support of their position for more taxation, the Post tells us that a few notable merchants could look favorably on the lodging tax. It is no surprise that any business person would favor public funding of their employee’s housing costs. This allows employers to continue paying low wages that cannot support the local cost of living.

The burden for employee housing belongs on the employer to pay a living wage, not on other workers.

Michael Larime, Glenwood Springs