In 2014, the American Civil Liberties Union wrote a letter to our city council saying our panhandling laws were unconstitutional.
Back then, I wrote a letter to the editor slamming the council for choosing to side with freeloaders against the businessmen and women in Durango by directing the police to stop enforcing the panhandling laws.
Those who have put their lives and money on the line by running the businesses that make up our wonderful town should be livid. I am disgusted with what has resulted from our elected officials bowing to out-of-town busybodies to the detriment of our city, especially our downtown.
The politically-correct public meetings, outreach and downtown ambassadors are all a crock that do nothing to solve the problem.
The answer to this problem seems simple. Instead of bowing to the whim of the ACLU, why doesn’t the city budget several hundred thousand dollars of seed money for a Durango Defense Fund to which everyone could contribute, instead of pouring money down the drain by giving it to panhandlers?
Then start enforcing stricter and stronger panhandling laws and dare the ACLU to sue us. The First Amendment does not allow our town and river trail to be overrun and trashed by panhandlers harassing customers of the businesses who are generating the tax revenue.
What has happened to our downtown is pathetic. Stop the political correctness, Durango City Council, and put a stop to this nonsense before it is too late.
James F. Turner
Durango
