One spring day, back in the late 1950s, my mother came across a baby bird that had fallen out of a nest — about the size and color of a small walnut, and too young to fly. Somehow, Mom figured out that she could keep the bird alive on a diet of Cream of Wheat and boiled milk, fed through an eyedropper. She gave the tiny thing a name (which I can’t now recall) and kept it in a cardboard box, with a clipped-on light bulb to provide warmth. A few weeks later, the baby bird was sporting new flight feathers and suggesting that it was ready to fly. Mom took the little thing out into the back yard, and it flew across the lawn to the fence — took a look back at us, and was gone.
Mom watched out for her adopted baby when the next springtime arrived, and was pretty sure she’d spotted her a couple of times, sitting there on the fence.
A few years later, we purchased a young parakeet at a pet store, and brought it home to live in a cage in the dining room. My sister named the bird ‘Pete’ and Mom thought we might be able to teach the bird to talk. He did learn to say, “Pretty bird,” which was a phrase we all repeated, ad nauseam, in Pete’s presence.
Mom kept Pete’s flight feathers clipped, so he was unable to fly around the house (or, potentially, out an open window.) As a result, he would happily sit on someone’s shoulder, and perhaps nibble on their ear. And he’d squawk, “Pretty boy.”
Pete lived with us for about five years, and then died of an inoperable tumor.
Two birds. Two different lifestyles. Two different outcomes.
Last week, we started off Part One of this editorial series with a quote from a funding request, provided to the Town of Pagosa Springs by the Archuleta County Education Center. The Ed Center is looking for continued government subsidies from both the Town and County governments to support a new, yet-to-be-opened childcare center.
The name of the new childcare center is “Wings.”
“The mission of the Early Childhood Care and Education program, administered by the Archuleta County Education Center, is to increase the number of children receiving early childhood care and education services in Archuleta County that are both affordable and high quality.”
The Ed Center has approached both the Town and County for financial assistance in opening this new childcare center, in a building now owned by a couple of long-time supporters of early childhood education, David and Jean Smith. The ask, for next year, is $25,000 from each government.
As most Daily Post readers know, this is budget season for local governments, and the Archuleta Board of County Commissioners will be approving their budget on the morning of Wednesday, December 12 at 8:30am at the County Administration Building on Lewis Street. (As of Monday morning, this approval event was not yet posted on the County website, but don’t be fooled by that.)
From what I can tell, the BOCC has no intention of providing further financial assistance to the Ed Center in 2019, even though the County had provided significant funding over the past three years to help get the early childhood program off the ground.
“Wings” have been clipped, you might say.
Nor can I find any allocations for affordable housing in the County budget, even though that effort has also received BOCC support for the past three years.
The BOCC apparently intends to spend up to $14 million, however, on a new 54-bed jail to house and care for individuals accused of crimes. The BOCC also plans to allocate money to support the development of high-speed internet in certain areas of town. It looks like the non-profit Community Development Corporation (CDC) is seeking more than $500,000 in combined County and Town tax-funded contributions over the next three years, to help fund a “public-private” effort. Nearly a quarter million dollars will go towards a $75,000-per-year “Broadband Services Manager.”
I appreciate a good internet connection about as much as most people do, I suppose, although I rarely use my computer to watch movies. (About 90 percent of internet bandwidth, nationally, goes to watching video content.) But I didn’t exactly move to Pagosa Springs because of its access to communications technology. Nor did I move here for the job opportunities. Actually, my family moved to Pagosa because we wanted to live in a small rural community, and because the housing was affordable.
We know that many American communities are suffering from a national housing crisis. Some families and individuals are living in substandard conditions; many more are paying upwards of 50 percent of their annual income for housing.
Food, and shelter. I guess we could say those two things are “necessities.” Without food on the table, and without a roof over our heads, we have no sense of personal security, and meager hope for the future.
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 3,991 people were employed in Archuleta County in January 2018 (as calculated based on employment documents filed with the federal government.) The average salary here was about $665 per week. 887 government employees were earning an average of about $900 per week.
In January 2011, in the midst of the Great Recession, only about 3,075 people were employed here, earning an average of $570 per week. We had about 660 government employees, earning an average of $700 a week.
In January 2006, just prior to the Great Recession, 3,400 people had documented jobs here, earning an average of about $500 a week. 563 of those workers were government employees, earning an average of about $565 a week.
Back in 2006, our workforce was struggling with housing costs. By 2011, real estate prices had dropped significantly, and the rental market had also become more attractive, with 300 fewer employees in the community. In 2018, it has become almost impossible to find an affordable rental situation, if you’re earning $665 a week. (That’s the average. So half the workforce is making LESS than that amount.)
Meanwhile — between 2006 and 2018 — the number of government employees in Archuleta County has increased by nearly 60 percent, and the average wages paid to those government employees has also increased by 60 percent.
But overall wage growth since 2006, among all workers, has been in the 30 percent range. Rental prices have essentially doubled in the meantime.
The BOCC apparently believes that the most important new tax-funded expenditure for 2019 is a 54-bed jail.
Bill Hudson began sharing his opinions in the Pagosa Daily Post in 2004 and can’t seem to break the habit. He claims that, in Pagosa Springs, opinions are like pickup trucks: everybody has one.