We don’t have to look hard to see signs of change in Glenwood Springs.

Some are literal, such as the name of a storied downtown hotel.

Others are more experienced than seen. Traffic has always been a challenge for our city given its status as the gateway to the Roaring Fork Valley at the intersection of Colorado Highway 82 and Interstate 70. Yet not too long ago, rush hour seemed to be limited to certain times of day. Now, however, it feels like we’re closer to forever gridlock than the occasional rush hour.

More and more, we hear from others about a persistent and increasing feeling that we’ve grown in ways both unmanageable and unfortunate. 

To be honest, we don’t feel this way. That’s not to say we’re loving everything about our community right now. We grin and bear it through traffic, we scrounge high and low for housing leads for ourselves or employees, we worry about our peer businesses having to make do with fewer employees and we truly wonder if we can do a better job striking a balance between our tourism economy and local quality of life.

But centering the debate on how we feel and what we think are the best solutions forward does nothing to validate those who feel like they’ve just had it with growth, change and everything else.

Further, there is no debating the lopsided election results this week on Ballot Question A. Ballot Question A might not be a hard stop to Glenwood Springs’ ability to develop housing, but it absolutely will slow the development of housing. Nearly four out of every five ballots cast favored that position, and that should be a clear wakeup call for those of us who worry about our community’s decreasing ability to house those who work here.

We worry the passage of Question A will only make it more difficult for younger families who are trying to navigate toward a stable future for them and their children. Our feelings are valid, but something we’ve struggled with is how to offer respect and validation for those who are soured on the prospect of further growth for Glenwood Springs.

What we know is this. We need to do better as a community in having hard conversations about our community’s future. We can’t just disregard people concerned about growth as NIMBYs. We also can’t label people who favor more attainable housing development as putting growth above all else.

We need to push labels to the side and really sit down and talk with each other about where we are as a community and where we should go. How do we accomplish this? Hopefully, with your help. What can we do to help foster more honest conversation about growth and housing? Consider your own positions on growth — what do you think those who disagree with you should be more open to compromising on? Where do you honestly think you could offer more compromise? What can institutions such as news media, government and civic organizations do to increase involvement and better listen? Please write Publisher Peter Baumann at pbaumann@postindependent.com. We hope to share some of the thoughts we receive in the coming weeks here as a starting point. After that, it’s our hope to come back to you with a tangible idea on what’s next for keeping the conversation growing. That could be a series of community forums, it could be a survey, it could be something else entirely. Right now, more than anything, we just want to listen.

The Post Independent editorial board members are Publisher Peter Baumann and community representatives John Stroud, Mark Fishbein and Amy Connerton.