The city of Durango advanced to Round 2 of the 2022 Strongest Town Contest after ousting Santa Clara, California, in the first round.
Durango beat Santa Clara with 87% of the vote versus just 13% for the California town, Bryce Bierman, city planner, said Tuesday.
Bierman is spearheading Durango’s team in the Strongest Town Contest and said they weren’t initially confident they’d advance because the contest is so big. The competition started with 16 towns across the United States. In Round 2, Durango is one of eight towns remaining, and Bierman said his team’s efforts are paying off.
“We’re one step closer to winning the competition and actually seeing some fruits from our labors here,” he said.
The winner of the Strongest Town Contest will receive a visit from Charles Marohn, author of “Strong Towns” and CEO of the nonprofit organization by the same name. Should Durango win the overall contest, Marohn would provide his perspective about city projects and strategies.
In Round 2, Bierman and his team are showcasing Durango’s support of multimodal transportation, Durango-La Plata County Airport, restaurant bump-outs, the Animas River Trail, Durango Public Library and Lake Nighthorse.
Bierman worked with city public information staff members to find photos that represent aspects of Durango that make it a strong town, he said.
The first photo that appears on the Round 2 contest webpage depicts cyclists traveling down Main Avenue for a multimodal transportation day with a Main Avenue trolley and Buckley Park in the background.
Bierman said he’s glad the contest chose to display that photo first.
“I thought it illustrated a beautiful place in our town and a beautiful event,” he said. “It just happened to be serendipitous; the Main Avenue trolley was caught in the picture with the bikers going by.”
The next photo is of Durango-La Plata County Airport. Bierman said he thinks people sometimes forget about the level of service the airport provides to a rural area.
The contest submission says the airport supports Durango’s role as the regional hub for Southwest Colorado.
“Businesses, large and small, and everyday citizens’ lives are improved by the existence of the airport, and the city continues to innovate approaches to sustain and grow this important community resource,” the contest submission says.
Bierman said DRO allows larger institutions such as Fort Lewis College and Mercy Hospital to maintain a presence in Durango and the surrounding area. The contest summary adds that DRO supports businesses and the city tax base that rely on tourists.
“The Strong Towns approach is about doing some incremental things, but at the same time, I wanted to feature some of these larger investments that we know we have to maintain because they’re so valuable,” Bierman said. “It can’t always be about the incremental small steps.”
Strong Towns operates in the United States and Canada and helps city planners and leaders develop their communities in ways that address residents’ needs.
Durango is facing White Salmon, Washington, in Round 2 of the contest. Voting for the second round closes on Thursday. Online voting for Durango and White Salmon in Round 2 can be found at https://bit.ly/3MRuml0.
White Salmon, described in its contest summary as “the land where the sun meets the rain,” beat University Place, Washington, in Round 1. It’s located atop a 550-foot bluff in the Columbia Gorge National Scenic Area, where 2 million people visit a year, according to White Salmon’s contest summary.
Like Durango, White Salmon faces a lack of affordable housing. Its contest summary also says the city has “one of the lowest property tax rates in a state with one of the most regressive tax structures in the country,” thus the city’s constrained in addressing its housing crisis.
cburney@durangoherald.com
