Be mindful and recycle

One quick comment on (Friday’s) “Bears in the trash” article. In each of the photos there appears to be a significant amount of recyclable materials; on the ground right next to the recycling can. Come on people, use your brain. The planet has finite resources. Recycling is not mandatory (nor should it be) but not recycling is stupid. Just my two cents. Have a great Rocky Mountain day!

Andy Anderson, Glenwood Springs

Support for the “preferred alternative” traffic solution in Aspen

Like the Snowmass Town Council, municipalities from Basalt to Rifle should consider pushing back on any Aspen recommendation about the entrance to Aspen that is not the “preferred alternative,” the safest and most efficient traffic solution (“Snowmass Town Council wants to enter the Castle Creek Bridge discussion,” Snowmass Sun, Aug. 23).

Also called the “straight shot,” it comprises a new State Highway 82 alignment that would tunnel underneath Aspen open space to a new bridge, leading directly into W. Main Street, eliminating the S-curves traffic drag.

The heavily used, deteriorating Castle Creek Bridge is ten years beyond its design life, forcing a decision on the town.

CDOT has said that a new plan would require an extensive and unpredictable federal environmental review. The “straight shot,” has had federal and state approval since 1998.

Despite the delays, significant new costs and CDOT opposition, a majority of the Aspen council last week wanted to reinvent a less efficient solution. However, two Aspen council members ranked the “preferred alternative” highest, citing better public transit, better evacuation routes and the ability to use the new bridge, while replacing the old one.

If the Aspen Council does not choose the “preferred alternative” at its next Tuesday meeting, the other valley municipalities should protest to CDOT. The 22,000 Castle Creek Bridge daily summer crossings carry the valley’s highway stakeholders as visitors, construction workers and service workers, more than three times the 8,000 Aspen population. CDOT is more likely to listen to a chorus, than one divergent voice.

Bernard Grauer, Basalt

Don’t vote with vengeance, but with education

It is getting close to election time for the recall in the Re-2 School District. I have witnessed recalls in the past. I have seen in every one of these elections an underlying current of raw emotion, bitterness and sometimes downright meanness. Often, the end result has long-lasting scars that divide a community. Our national politics set the stage for such. It always drifts down through all 50 states and eventually to the very local political contests.

I have no intention of telling you how to vote, but I do implore each of us to use good, sound judgment. Please don’t vote with vengeance and/or malice. Please study the situation, the people involved and cast an educated ballot.

Mike Samson, Rifle

Presidential signs: A gesture of less division

Hey citizens, you do not have to have support for your choice of presidential signs. Put ’em up or don’t! And not putting up a sign for presidential preference certainly does not mean you have no political view. It’s a personal choice that we made and wanted to share the sentiment.

So take a deep breath and try to understand that the point we were making was just a gesture of less division. My husband did not write a letter to the editor as a “councilman” but as the decent man he is and has always been. We put out a sensitive thought with not an iota of meanness or lack of amendment rights for anyone.

But thank you to the writer from Denver who challenged me to clarify the humanitarian resolution that our brave council put out. Not condoning Gaza or Israel, it supported hostage release, humanitarian aid and seeking lasting peace, taking no sides.

And I also want to thank our Glenwood Springs citizens for using our well-meaning sentiments to express the way more important facts about the terrible intentions of the republican party’s candidate. And to the third letter writer, thank you for suggesting we all be “civil and friendly” no matter what our differences are.

I suggest you start by being civil and friendly to our city council because they work long and hard and make this city a better place. “If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make a change!” (Michael Jackson)

Michele Diamond, Glenwood Springs