So, once again, vacation home renters and residents have left their smelly unlocked garbage out on East Ninth Avenue, and our local bear has ingested garbage. We have a city ordinance dealing with bears getting into trash, but how is it enforced? Is it preventative – an officer checks to be sure containers are locked the night before? Or is it after the fact with a ticket when the bear has already ingested glass/plastic/etc.? We have reported incidents before, but this keeps on happening. What is the city’s plan for addressing this? Obviously, current efforts are woefully inadequate and ineffective in limiting the amount of trash available to bears. Whatever the city is doing to keep bears out of the trash is not changing the behavior of tourists or residents!

Matthias Holladay

Durango