LETTER: Open Letter to the Westminster City Council

Westminster City Council,

It seems your humble community has become a statewide example of the growth wars plaguing Colorado. That’s great because it’s a great opportunity for you to lead to protect Open Space and Nature for future citizens and all the non-human critters we share this lovely state with.

What you are really facing is an example of a new movement called “Equity Washing”, which is like GreenWashing but newer and cooler for all the kids on the developer block. Equity Washing is where the developers and their acolytes claim that Nature must be sacrificed to pay for the sins of human growth and greed. The Equity Washers find a favorite issue that needs attention — in your case, “affordable housing” — and claim that Nature must be sacrificed to get that new housing for underprivileged people. You watch how often they use the word “Equity” in their speeches and you’ll start to recognize the pattern.

You are not alone in facing the Equity Washers — they are running roughshod across the Front Range, from Fort Collins to Douglas County, claiming that the non-human world must be sacrificed so that developers can save us by creating more of what exactly plagues us, Growth. In Fort Collins, it’s been Open Space and the Poudre River; in Boulder it’s been Open Space; in Douglas County, it’s San Luis Valley farms and the South Platte River; and for you in Westminster, it’s ‘The Farm’. The Equity Washers yell from the rooftops — We Must Develop That Farm To Get More Equity!

Yet, at the same time, every community is becoming more and more unaffordable and the number of underprivileged people increase just as fast.

The Equity Washers punch down, not up. Nature, which has no voice other than what you give it, is their favorite punching bag as they claim that it’s “elitist” to protect Nature when so many humans have nowhere to live. Yet, the rich get richer, and the homeless crisis escalates right along with the housing crisis in Colorado. During this pandemic, the richest people in Colorado have made billions more dollars while the middle class and poorest have lost wealth and in some cases homes and businesses. Do you see the Equity Washers trying to change the tax code? Or trying to outlaw McMansions? Or trying to stop the State and Local Governments from fueling and subsidizing more growth with TIFs and Metro Districts and Tax Incentives? The answer is No, No, No, and No. They don’t, and they won’t stop with your Farm or with any Farm — they will devour it all.

For you, the answer should also be No — do not develop The Farm.

Growth is devouring the landscape, rivers, farms, and wildlife habitat across Colorado, and the City of Westminster sits smack dab in the middle of all that Growth with an extraordinary opportunity to turn the page for your community and the whole state. When you develop and kill Nature and Open Space, you don’t get Equity. You get more Growth and Privilege for the Wealthy while all the rest of us — and the non-human world — suffer.

You can Save The Farm. Please do it.

Gary Wockner is an environmental activist, scientist, and writer specializing in river and water protection, climate change, and population stabilization.