Most days I like Durango, except for the outrageously high cost of real estate because people who bought their homes for $25,000 years ago think they are now worth $5 million, which I sure can’t afford, the difficulty and cost of getting in and out of town by air, and having to pay much higher rates for medical insurance than in Denver or most other locations, which have the advantage of not being one-hospital towns.
Evidently, our local officials are playing on those costs by charging $1 an hour for downtown parking, already extremely limited, and $12 for a parking ticket. No wonder I and many others are no longer patronizing local Main Avenue merchants but shopping elsewhere or online.
But then we do have an excessively large police force for a small town. Their salaries have to be paid and ticket quotas have to be met. I try my best to obey the law wherever I am, but I got a parking ticket recently and on that day, I didn’t like Durango as much as I usually do.
Katherine Smits
Durango
