Re: “,” Oct. 11 editorial.
As any cowboy knows, it’s always easier to ride the horse in the direction it’s going. The problems arise when the horse’s destination doesn’t match the rider’s, which is why early techies invented saddles, bridles, hackamores and democracy.
While the path home to the barn appears to be a “yes” vote on a referred ballot question that reads like a Macy’s ad, and the cost placed as an “indefinite” $2 billion tax burden on the shoulders of future tourists, Denver voters would do well to peer into the distance, check the angle of the sun, and calculate whether the fine gelding between their legs branded “2C” intends to get them home by dinnertime.
While doing nothing isn’t really an option — as The Post’s endorsement of the measure highlights — the current governance model places host neighborhoods Elyria, Globeville and Swansea in “satellite” status to the National Western Center Board. None of the “neighborhood reps” on the advisory board has kids in the school system; nor are they elected by the neighborhoods. As co-author of the Elyria 2020 Vision Plan in 2006, I wonder where and whether the new school will be built, the one we drew into our plan approved almost 10 years ago by 580 neighborhood signers, most of whose kids are expected to attend their studies alongside the $1.3 billion, five-year Interstate 70 project. We wonder if tripling the footprint of a two-week-a-year cattle show will cause a dark chasm to emerge around RTD’s new commuter station.
And while the bright lights of new events like Riot Fest beckon on our neighborhood horizon, the issues of expanding refineries, dog food plants, residual contamination, and lack of a laundromat combine to stamp a big question mark of their own on our future.
In a dense fog, sometimes you let the horse have its head, trusting it’ll find its way to the ranch house. But a $2 billion horse needs someone tugging the reins. And if thriving neighborhoods are the destination of 2C, where are the board representatives elected by the neighbors themselves?
Tom Anthony is a neighborhood activist.
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