Maxine Peterson, 92, Durango’s first female mayor and founding member of the Boulevard Neighborhood Association representing East Third Avenue, was honored last week with a potluck brunch at Mason Park.
Karen Anesi, charter and founding member of BNA, said an oak tree was also planted in Peterson’s honor in the 900 block of East Third Avenue just after Labor Day in September.
“A tree is, to me, a significant tribute to the future based upon what she (Peterson) has done in the past and what she also did to really encourage civic involvement,” Anesi said.
Members of the BNA, former Durango mayors, Peterson’s children and other community members attended the potluck on Sept. 8 where guests were encouraged to bring dishes and desserts. BNA members provided coffee and water for guests.
Anesi said Peterson’s foresight of the inevitable growth of downtown Durango, and the slow encroachment of commercial activities onto the avenue, motivated the formation of the BNA, which tasked itself with protecting the values of historic East Third Avenue.
“(Peterson) was the one who said, ‘You will always have to be vigilant,’” Anesi said.
The median and the trees rooted within it and the variety of homes, churches and beautiful structures situated along the avenue are all features long cherished by the association, she said. Likewise, quietness, safety, respite and the spirit of neighborliness shared among residents are closely held values.
Peterson was elected to Durango City Council in 1973 and served two four-year terms. She served as mayor for two years. Anesi said Peterson was a strong consensus builder inside and outside her role on council.
Recounting a short address by Peterson on Sunday, Anesi said people always give the mayor credit for happenings, and they also lay all the blame with the mayor. But Peterson said councils always work as a team. That was a phrase Peterson is well known for saying, she said.
“It was a refreshing reminder that that can happen,” Anesi said.
Anesi said she consulted with Matt Besecker, city arborist, about where to plant the young oak tree representing Peterson’s foresight and commitment to Durango and East Third Avenue. She wanted it planted in a place where it benefited the rest of the avenue’s urban forest.
When Besecker asked Anesi where she thinks the oak should be planted, she said, appealing to his expertise, “Anywhere that you think preserves the tree stand itself or all the 75-plus-year-old trees.”
“What is beneficial for the tree stand is much more important than erecting a tree with a plaque,” she said.
She said an oak tree was chosen because it would not be imperiled by Dutch Elm Disease like elms and it is not subject to the wrath of Emerald ash borer jewel beetles like ash trees.
She said planting the oak in a place where its presence will benefit the surrounding trees is the best way to represent Peterson’s impact and her spirit.
“What's good for one can be good for all,” she said.
That’s the attitude Peterson took with the BNA too, she said. Peterson saw the value in reaching out to other neighborhoods to help them preserve what made them what they are.
She said if something is impacting East Third Avenue, one can rest assured it’s impacting other neighborhoods in the city. When vacation rentals started appearing, before the city had any restrictions on where they can be held or how many can be in service at a time, the BNA called for restrictions.
“We knew that, given the large houses (on East Third Avenue), there was the greatest opportunity, greatest incentives to make those commercial properties,” she said.
Those properties would be used commercially to the detriment of available housing for families, repelling the workforce out of the area, she said.
Anesi said until 1988, women were not able to open businesses, get a loan or buy a car without a male co-signer in most states.
Strides were made with the Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974, signed by President Gerald Ford, and when President Ronald Reagan signed the Women’s Business Ownership Act into law in 1988.
But Anesi said the fact Peterson was elected in 1973, two terms before the Women’s Business Ownership Act was cemented in law, says a lot about the Durango community.
cburney@durangoherald.com
