Steamboat Pilot & Today

No sympathy for city

If local developers build projects that actually benefited the community as a whole, such as low-cost single-family housing, then I would support accommodations from the city. Until that occurs, I have no sympathy for them.

A question for Carol

I wanted to respond to the letter to the editor, "A question for Rebecca," by Carol O'Hare. I have a question for Carol: So the Emerald Mountain Partnership doesn't have to inform landowners surrounding BLM properties in the proposal, but Rebecca is somehow clandestine in not stating her location? She has had access to that property honestly and has every right to keep it that way, in fact a property right. Carol, with so much open land, why more? Emerald Mountain should be sold to developers. After all, the necessary infrastructure is close by. Wouldn't the Steamboat Springs community be better served by the Emerald Mountain Partnership striving to implement affordable housing and better roads? Further, it should be noted that grazing fees on BLM land directly benefit Routt County schools and roads. It is a farce to think this exchange is the best thing for Routt County, 6,500 acres for 19,000 acres doesn't make sense.

Planning for change

I think there needs to be changes with the city planning department. I do not think "accommodating" is the correct word. I think changes need to be made for the planning department to become more professional and more service-oriented toward residents and developers.

Needed changes

If it meant that it would make it easier for the average Joe in town to build a house, because it's such a pain, then yes, changes need to be made to make the city planning department more accommodating.

Superintendent untruths

I'm concerned about our new superintendent who is coming into the school district. She had no mention in her articles about the teachers, the administrators or the principals in our school district. Once again, I believe our board is getting a superintendent who is only concerned with community life. Also, I believe the board of education is continuing to not tell us everything. Cyndy Simms was never evaluated on a 360-degree evaluation method. I think there are still some untruths going on out there.

Trashy-looking town

Being a resident of Steamboat Springs, I am appalled at how filthy the downtown area is. There are cigarette butts, there's trash, there are weeds growing everywhere. I wish our town would keep everything clean, have pride in the downtown area, make it presentable for our visitors. The town looks trashed.

No turn signals

I don't resent all the traffic that we have in town because of tourism. But I do resent that no traffic lights have turn signals. You have to wait several cycles to get across traffic. It's time the city does something about that to make it easy to move.

Exchange benefits few

About the proposed land exchange: It would appear to me that this is certainly an exchange that will benefit perhaps the people who live in Steamboat Springs, or more specifically, the people in Dakota Ridge, which is where this land will be, and therefore most of the folks in Routt County are losers. In my mind, this exchange is based on a small group of politically inclined folks who intend to change the landscape of Routt County forever for the benefit of a few.

Supporting our history

We're voting on the .3-mill levy tax for museums in Routt County. Those of us in this office support it. It's a great idea and it won't cost very much and history is priceless, so what a great way to support our local history and historic resources.

License for lemonade?

I think it's kind of sad when the city comes around telling little kids selling lemonade that they need to get a sales-tax license. There was a little girl over at the corner of Fifth Street by Howelsen selling lemonade Wednesday and someone in a city car came by and told her she had to get a tax license to sell lemonade.

Public's best interest

Judging from last Sunday's paper, someone in the construction trade's industry is really angry that someone will speak on City Council in the public interest. The person who wrote that Sound Off comment represents one of the many, many people who stand up in front of City Council and tries to extract something from them that will save that person or his interests some time or some money or some inconvenience. Stuart Orzach is one of the few people who tries to represent what's in the interest of the true public, so people who gang up on him generally have their own agendas and are trying to push that aspect. We are lucky to have people like Stuart who really represent the people.

Residents' responsibility

I am in favor of the mill levy. It is residents' responsibility to preserve the history of their county or their state or their nation. I am hoping it does pass. It is a very small mill levy but would be very profitable for Routt County.

Everyone's duty

I am in favor of the mill levy. Historic preservation is everyone's duty, not just a few people who donate. The amount that they're asking is not that much, and if we don't help support some of these things, we're going to lose a lot of history.

Linking past, future

I support the mill levy for all the museums of Routt County. I think it's very, very important that we learn from our past, and our children need to have all that information as they proceed during the future.