Log In


Reset Password
Columnists View from the Center Bear Smart The Travel Troubleshooter Dear Abby Student Aide Of Sound Mind Others Say Powerful solutions You are What You Eat Out Standing in the Fields What's up in Durango Skies Watch Yore Topknot Local First RE-4 Education Update MECC Cares for kids

City of Durango is looking at quite a busy new year

I’ve been cleaning out closets and reorganizing kitchen cabinets. Maybe it’s my internal winter instincts to look at life and to face the New Year with a grin. Do I really need all those containers in my life? Do I really need to hang onto items that could be reused by others? Well, I know the answers all too well. Reuse and recycle has been a way of life for me since I was a little girl.

I have a vivid memory of Mama driving her big blue and white Buick. The windows were down, and I was splayed on top of the collected newspapers headed to the newspaper plant for recycling. Newspaper drives were common at my neighborhood school. My job was to keep the runaway pages from escaping the car.

Life lessons follow most of us into our adult years. As a member of Durango City Council and as mayor, I often reflect on what I learned from my family, school and community.

Durango City Council will be facing issues that are monumental in the life of our town. I urge you to reflect and to participate in the decisions that our community will be facing.

The reauthorization of the 1999 half-cent sales tax will shape the future of Durango and will reach into my grandchildren’s future lives. The recreation center sees about 1,000 people a day splashing, sweating and running. What would Durango be like without this facility? What would Durango be like without our trails and parks? I worked toward the passage of the rec center when it failed the first time. What a heartbreak! Then, many groups came together and worked to pass the 1999 sales tax that built the center and added trails in Durango.

One half of 1 percent sales tax is not a new tax but a reauthorization. Why now? I asked this question. It’s called planning. Planning for the future takes time with public input, citizen board reviews and City Council approval before any project really begins to get off the paper. The Parks and Recreation Department is a large umbrella that covers numerous pieces of our lives as a city.

Now, almost 20 years later, I have grandchildren who splash and squeal at the rec center. The vote will be on April 7. My little babies don’t get to vote, so I am voting for them. On the ballot will be a vote for parks, trails, operation and maintenance of facilities, pedestrian and bicycle improvements and the urban forests. The city has 90,000 trees that require maintenance, removal and replanting. The ballot language will have citizen review, annual audit and approval by future city councils.

I know exactly what I’m getting with my vote. Not only do city residents benefit from all the parks, trails and facilities, but also, county residents, tourists and families from other states do the same. I meet people on the trail from other states who love our community as much as we do. The future will be up to us to vote. I would like to see pickle ball and more tennis courts. The kids on bikes would like to see a bike park developed. Everyone has a wish list: Just ask them.

City Council will be facing more issues in 2015: the sewer plant, the airport, Oxbow Preserve, Wilson Gulch Road, Lake Nighthorse and accessory dwelling units in Animas City. The lists goes on and on. It’s never dull being on the Durango City Council.

I guess I better get busy with my recycling and reorganizing. I thank Mama for teaching me to recycle just as I am I teaching my 6-year-old grandson. I hope to pass on some life lessons to my family. I have a smile on my face because I’m lucky to live in Durango. The bright, yellow sun is shining in my kitchen window, and I can see cobalt blue skies and white snowy mountains.

Happy New Year, Durango!

Sweetie Marbury is the mayor of Durango, a position rotating among members of City Council. She was elected to the City Council in 2011 and will serve as mayor until April, when she will be succeeded by now-Mayor pro tem Dean Brookie. Reach her at SweetieMarbury@ DurangoGov.org.



Reader Comments