Thank you so much for Nicholas Johnson’s Sept 17, reporting (Herald, “Where are the hotels?”) on the ugly, unsightly, enormous hole in the ground across the street from Gazpacho’s restaurant.

What a mess. Hotels that large should never have been permitted in beautiful, historic downtown Durango. Developers specifically chose Second Avenue because it has fewer restrictions than other downtown streets. And what do we have to show for their efforts? A giant mosquito trap and a dangerous liability for the city.

Those hotels squeaked through City Council review by only one vote. Start from scratch and revisit the entire permit process. Do we even have fire trucks that can rescue people quickly from rooms that high? The current city manager, City Council, mayor and the Herald’s Editorial Board need to look at this debacle all over again.

Shave off a couple of stories from those hotels and it might work. Start over again with a design and a height appropriate to our historic downtown. Revoke the building permits now!

Andrew Gulliford

Durango