The city’s 2015 half-cent cent tax is for “recreational facilities, parks, trails, pedestrian and bicycle improvements … and the urban forest.” All multi-modal projects are funded by this tax, with $41.2 million dollars, 26.3 percent of the total over the life of the tax. Consider the first projects funded with this tax:
A design that would destroy the rural road feel of Roosa Avenue – a 10- foot-wide sidewalk, eliminating existing bike lanes and, if ultimately built south to US 160, destroying trees along the river bank with a 600-foot retaining wall up to 9.5 feet high. The project also degrades safety, exposing the city to liability.
Design of Needham Connect II sidewalk, an expensive design eliminating parking on one side of Columbine Drive. This entire area, built in the 1950s, has no sidewalks. Why not a cheaper design keeping parking on both sides with a sidewalk on only one side? If you voted for the 2015 half-cent tax, did you know you voted for this?
These projects are protected from cutting as low priority since the money cannot be transferred to the general fund. Does this make sense when the Durango City Council is asking for a tax increase?
The Council should ask voters to delete “pedestrian and bicycle improvements” and reallocate 26.3 percent of the 2015 half-cent tax, permitting weighing the priority of multi-modal projects against other funding needs. Reallocating multi-modal funds to the general fund is needed now, to better use these funds!
John Viner
Durango
