While the ACA remains the law of the land, the current administration continues to take executive actions that erode coverage and other gains…
Category: Opinion/Letters
EDITORIAL: The Growth ‘Ponzi Scheme’, Part Six
I suppose the Christmas season can seem like a treadmill to some people… trying to find and afford appropriate gifts for family and friends… often going into debt in the effort to show how much we care…
EDITORIAL: The Growth ‘Ponzi Scheme’, Part Five
A key word here is “resilient.” Able to weather a storm. Durable. Stronger and longer-laster than some of the roads and buildings and infrastructure built here in Archuleta County over the past 40 years…
OPINION: Americans Support a Non-Nuclear Future
In February 2019, when the Chicago Council surveyed Americans about US withdrawal from the INF Treaty, 54 percent opposed the action…
EDITORIAL: The Growth ‘Ponzi Scheme’, Part Four
“I’m open to having greater special district participation on the commission, but I also think the Council needs to be the driving force of that board, to maintain the majority…”
LETTER: Blight in Pagosa Springs
Too bad it already has water, sewer, paved streets, etc. Otherwise, the Town could grant itself TIF to rebuild…
EDITORIAL: The Growth ‘Ponzi Scheme’, Part Three
“What they really want, is to have a meeting with the town, with the districts and have the districts and the town together to put together the format of the board, likely leading to more taxing entities on that board…”
EDITORIAL: The Growth ‘Ponzi Scheme’, Part Two
Ten years ago, the Town of Pagosa Springs was struggling with declining tax revenue, thanks to the Great Recession… after almost two decades of steady revenue growth…
WHAT’S UP DOC? Comedy and Cooking at Natural Grocers
The class is called Cooking with Comedians and we look forward to sharing our love for healthy cooking and comedy — two topics we are very passionate about…
EDITORIAL: The Growth ‘Ponzi Scheme’, Part One
“Bolstered by state and federal funding, municipal bond debt financing as well as tax incentives and deferrals, cities and towns that want to induce new development have many means of doing so…”
EDITORIAL: The Hidden Cost of Jails, Part Three
“Our goal is reducing recidivism, which leads to reductions in the incarceration rate, (and) phasing out private prisons,” Polis said…
EDITORIAL: The Hidden Cost of Jails, Part Two
We do know, however, that it cost the Sheriff’s Office about $400,000 last year to house all of our inmates at the La Plata County Jail, an hour’s drive away….
EDITORIAL: The Hidden Cost of Jails, Part One
“You want to know what this was really all about?” he asked with the bluntness of a man who, after public disgrace and a stretch in federal prison, had little left to protect…
EDITORIAL: Renewing the Town’s ‘Urban Renewal’ Plans? Part Six
Facing the American flag, the audience recited, “…and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all…”
EDITORIAL: Renewing the Town’s ‘Urban Renewal’ Plans? Part Five
“In order to change the representation on the Board, there will need to be some legislative changes made by the Town Council. The process for that is unclear at this time…”
EDITORIAL: Renewing the Town’s ‘Urban Renewal’ Plans? Part Four
We watched that ‘economic development’ process flounder rather dramatically over the past three years, after the Town Council decided to hand out half a million dollars in tax incentives…
EDITORIAL: Renewing the Town’s ‘Urban Renewal’ Plans? Part Three
The meeting was unique, in the sense that I had never seen — in my 15 years of political reporting on public meetings — all of Pagosa’s tax-funded special districts, all sitting around the same table…
EDITORIAL: Renewing the Town’s ‘Urban Renewal’ Plans? Part Two
When the Pagosa Springs Town Council approved Resolution 2019-18 on November 5, they appointed themselves as 7 members of an 11-member Urban Renewal Authority board, essentially giving the Town Council political control…
EDITORIAL: Renewing the Town’s ‘Urban Renewal’ Plans? Part One
Is this “representative democracy”? Perhaps not…
