Complaining about the snow on the streets
During bad weather, many construction sites are shut down. Also, during the winter, construction work slows down and many companies have pared back staff. So a lot of construction equipment is sitting idle. Maybe Denver and surrounding communities could contract out the street cleaning to the folks who have this equipment.
It seems to me that the owners of this equipment would much rather see it being used and generating revenue, and would probably be willing to cut some deals with the cities to get the equipment and operators working.
Ted Blomquist, Lafayette
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Re: “City ready for a thaw as icy public lays it on thick,” Feb. 1 Diane Carman column.
Thanks to Diane Carman for the column on the “storm whiners.” Undoubtedly, it’s the newcomers who are doing the complaining. But they’d complain even more if they got a bill for all the plowing they expect their city to do.
This is Colorado. Sometimes the temperature gets very cold here. Sometimes it snows a real lot here. If you have problems with snow or cold, I suggest you move back to where you came from. Please! You’ll like it much better there, and we’d sure appreciate the extra space. More important than that, we can’t stand your whining.
Joe McGloin, Sheridan
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The controversy and finger- pointing over the city’s poor performance plowing urban sidestreets and the resulting ice and ruts has – or had – a solution. If every homeowner or apartment dweller who was physically able had gotten out in front of their dwelling with a shovel or snowblower, an ice pick where needed, salt or other melting compounds, this problem would have been mitigated. It’s called self-reliance. We all pay taxes, and I’m no apologist for Mayor John Hickenlooper, but cities do have budgets, and this has been an extraordinary six weeks. Citizens, get out and take care of your sidewalks and streets on your block! What a concept!
Scott Towle, Castle Rock
Tourism efforts in Colo. mountain towns
Re: “Mining for tourists,” Jan. 28 business news story.
Having been in business in Leadville for more than 30 years, I read your article about Clear Creek County with interest. We in Lake County have certainly been through the same type of travails as Clear Creek County has. Two comments stuck out like a sore thumb.
First, Sally Kennerson certainly has a positive attitude about the community she represents by saying, “You get off on the first Idaho Springs exit, and you immediately see three dilapidated motels.” Boy, I hope the owners of those “dilapidated motels” do not belong to her chamber of commerce.
Secondly, it is a good thing that Sam Morreale has finally opened a restaurant in Idaho Springs. Now it is not a “seedy little town” anymore.
What pompous people! I bet neither of them will be around in four or five years. They will get tired of living where there are “dilapidated motels” in a “seedy little town” and say how negative and backward the people are and move on.
Harry Camp, Golden
Race and politics
Re: “Tancredo targets House caucuses,” Jan. 26 news story.
Congressman Tom Tancredo has called for abolishing the Congressional Black Caucus, Hispanic Caucus and Asian Pacific American Caucus, saying they allow racial segregation. Tancredo calls it “hypocritical for Congress to extol the virtues of a color-blind society” while sanctioning caucuses based on race.
Not surprisingly, caucuses based on race are likewise aligned with political parties. Of the 44 members of the Congressional Black Caucus, none are Republicans; seven of eight members of the Asian Pacific Caucus are Democrats; and all 21 members of the Hispanic Caucus are Democrats. (The remaining five Hispanic Republicans in Congress have their own caucus – the Congressional Hispanic Conference.)
Perhaps the color-blind society Tancredo refers to is his own 6th Congressional District in Colorado, which is 91.1 percent white (2000 U.S. Census), and a more acceptable caucus would be all-white and all-male.
Lewis N. Kallas, Parker
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