At the end of Part Three, I mentioned the old story about the Blind Men and the Elephant. We’ll consider that story in a moment.
The Town Council meeting on April 18 (which I did not attend) was recorded, thankfully, and the Town generously provided me with a copy of that recording.
As usual, the meeting began with Mayor Shari Pierce inviting public testimony, and local resident Eddie Archuleta addressed several topics, including the proposed purchase of the 12-acre Goodman Property for $850,000. That property is located uphill from the Tractor Supply store, off Highway 84.
Mr. Archuleta seemed to be speaking directly to Mayor Pierce, who had voted against the purchase at the first reading of Ordinance 1004, on April 2.
“Really, and you made this comment when you were running for Mayor, that you wanted to take care of the local people first. That [purchase] is a bad mistake. You take 5th Street, 6th Street; I been telling the Town… that you need to put a sidewalk from the Subway to up to the low income housing. You’d be surprised how close it’s been, for a kid to get run over on that road…”
Indeed, many of the residential streets in downtown still have no sidewalks, nor curbs, nor gutters. Mr. Archuleta also noted the poor condition of many downtown streets.
“Loma Street is horrible… But yet, you go down to the Pickeball Courts; you spent a bunch of money down there; you paved it and put in curb and gutter. A bunch of rich bastards who don’t need it, when we have other stuff that we need first.”
About half an hour into the meeting, the Council began discussing the ‘second reading’ of Ordinance 1004, which would authorize the Town staff to continue with purchasing the Goodman Property. Only five of the seven Council members were present. The first question, from Council member Matt DeGuise, concerned the possibility of building a ‘rustic path’ from the 12 acres down a steep hill to the East End commercial area. Community Development Director James Dickhoff thought such a path might be feasible.
Council member Brooks Lindner:
“I will just make a comment, related to some of the public comment we heard this evening. I see the purchase of this property as benefiting our local residents. That’s why I’m in favor of it. For a variety of reasons. And… it’s not halting or delaying any of our Capital Improvement projects that we have going on. I just want to make that clear, as we move forward with this.”
Mayor Pierce then shared some numbers. Based on her calculations, and considering the current projects already pulling money out of the Town’s Capital Reserves, those projects will deplete the reserves from $2.5 million down to $155,000.
“I’m very concerned about the amount of money we are taking out of our reserves, and what we have coming up… I don’t want to leave a future Council without any money to address issues we’re not thinking about today.”
We might have thought her numbers would make the other Council members feel uncomfortable with a $850,000 property purchase. But the other four Council members present made it clear, they see the property as a bargain, and a valuable asset for the Town’s taxpayers.
But… valuable for what use? A parking lot? A 12-acre entrance to the backside of Reservoir Hill Park? A housing development that might require a $10 million ’roundabout’ to be constructed at the Highway-160-Highway-84 intersection? A site for ‘workforce camping’?
Four of the five Council members, on April 18, were ready to approve the purchase without any type of definite plan in place.
So… that parable about the Blind Men and the Elephant, found in various Buddhist, Hindu and Jain texts.
A group of Blind Men heard that a strange animal, called an Elephant, had been brought to town, but none of them were aware of its shape and form. Out of curiosity, they said: “We must inspect and know it by touch, of which we are capable.” When they came upon the Elephant, the first Blind Man, whose hand landed on the trunk, said, “This animals is like a thick snake”. Another, whose hand reached its ear, claimed the Elephant was like a kind of fan. Another felt its leg, and decided the Elephant was like a tree-trunk. The Blind Man who placed his hand upon its broad side determined that the Elephant “is a wall”. Another felt its tail, and described it as a rope. The last felt its tusk, stating the Elephant was hard and smooth, and like a spear.
In some versions, the Blind Men accuse one another of lying, and come to blows. In another version, a sighted man enters the story and describes the entire elephant from various perspectives, and the Blind Men learn they were all partially correct and partially wrong.
While a person’s subjective experience may feel true, it may not be the totality of truth.
I mentioned in Part One that I am partly responsible for encouraging the Town Council to explore the possible purchase of this 12-acre parcel, back in 2022. More specifically, I encouraged the Council to explore this property as the site for future workforce housing.
Not as the site for another park, or for another parking lot. Certainly not as the site for ‘workforce camping’.
Our community desperately needs workforce housing, if we want our workforce to thrive.
We don’t desperately need another parking lot.
But that’s what happens when you bring an Elephant into town.