When entering town, signs declare a 25 mph speed limit and affirm the noise ordinance is enforced. Then there is a sign encouraging you to visit family-friendly historic Main Avenue. But, there’s no warning Main is overrun with insanely loud motorcycles, diesel trucks spewing black smoke and everyone going too fast – and not a police officer to be seen. If the Durango police can muster SWAT teams annually to deter zombies, why can’t the speed limit and noise ordinance be enforced? – Name Withheld to Avoid Retaliation
You can certainly tell it’s summer by the convergence of numbers.
Temperatures reached 84 – and that just happens to be the IQ of dozens of deleterious downtown denizens who rev, belch and speed, presumably as a demonstration of power, prowess and potency.
If it weren’t so silly, it would be pathetic. But try telling that to a showoff.
In any case, the local constables are fully aware of boorish bad behavior, and they are responding.
According to our good friend Lt. Ray Shupe with the Durango Police Department, the force is with you. Downtown now sees nine hours of patrol time daily, with walking patrols, bike patrols and cruising squad cars.
“We’re stepping up enforcement and increasing our visibility in the Central Business District,” he said.
Reinforcements come in the form of School Resource Officers, who now walk or ride the downtown beat instead of making the rounds at local educational venues, Shupe said.
Increased police presence should reduce bothersome buffoonery.
“But we can’t be everywhere all the time,” Shupe pointed out.
It’s also a matter of balance.
“We’re not going to stop the guy who is just cruising,” he said. Driving up and down Main peacefully but pointlessly isn’t illegal.
“But we will stop the people doing stupid stuff like intentionally smoking out pedestrians, revving an engine needlessly or doing a burnout,” he said.
If you see some ne’er-do-well doing “stupid stuff” with no officer in sight, just point to the perpetrator and laugh. That might work better than any threat of citation.
What’s with the parking at the Chamber of Commerce? All spaces reserved for RVs are taken by kayakers or rafters. Don’t they know what “RV Parking Only” means? Sign me, Wynn A. Bago
You know how Durango is. The obvious isn’t always so. And that applies to “RV.”
Apparently, RV doesn’t mean recreational vehicle – it stands for river voyeur, a new category of residents living “The Durango Lifestyle.”
River voyeurs hang out at the new million-dollar Durango Whitewater Park, watching inexperienced paddleheads flip their boats in Smelter Rapid, which is just north of the chamber’s office and parking lots.
River voyeurs are similar to rec center members or mountain bikers, all of whom plan their days around participating in vigorous athletic endeavors but refuse to park their vehicles farther than 50 feet away from the water park, gym entrance or trailhead.
The chamber doesn’t want to be a buzz-kill, but it will soon make sure the other kind of RV – recreational vehicles – have a place to park at its Santa Rita Park facilities.
“In the next couple of weeks, we’ll be re-painting the parking lots and RV spaces and putting up more signs,” said Jack Llewellyn, executive director.
Talk about convenient.
The Animas River has already peaked, and the snowpack is shot. Soon, the river won’t be as epic or treacherous. Fewer rafts will dump their passengers as guides get a handle on the new, improved rapids.
And the river voyeurs will move on to The Next Big Thing. It could be tubing, group mooning the train or turning their homes into illegal vacation rentals.
Just as long as no one has to walk very far to participate.
Email questions to actionline@durangoherald.com or mail them to Action Line, The Durango Herald, 1275 Main Ave., Durango, CO 81301. You can request anonymity if your recreational vehicle consists of an older model Subaru with a sleeping bag, camp chair and cooler in the back.
