In just three questions this spring, Durango voters have a chance to change the city.
We are a YES vote on the sales tax increase. We did not come to this choice quickly or easily, but we remain confident it is the best one for the city now. Some voters insist the city would not need this half-penny increase for road maintenance and repair if only it budgeted better or diverted money from parks or the city was run differently. Yet we still do not doubt the city needs the revenue for this purpose now: Just look at the roads. If the city also should be run differently, the newly composed City Council will have the last word about that – and voters also have a chance now to pick two new councilors on a five-person board.
Given some of the resistance we have seen to this increase and the defeat last fall of a bigger tax hike, we believe the new council will have its hands full whether the tax passes or fails. The current council says it fashioned the smaller request based on listening sessions, and it made a renewed effort to get the YES side before the public. It has done its work.
The new council will have to balance at least two things: the feeling that the cost of living in and around Durango is rising unsustainably for some of its best people and the hopes we share for making the city even better. Pass or fail, it will be even harder to go back to voters again, or for more, unless the city also can show it is more serious about containing costs, and it is clearer about its priorities. It is high time to build consensus about just what an even brighter tomorrow resembles.
There are some good candidates on the ballot. We think they can do it.
Marcos Wisner comes at this from an unusual angle, as a young, promising son of the city, and as an entrepreneur at 11th Street Station with its food trucks and refreshing ambiance. Wisner chose to come back to Durango to make his splash, and we are flattered and glad he did. He has the kind of commitment the city should by all rights inspire. Now he wants to step up to council, where he believes he can help others to invest in Durango. This is just the kind of person who should be rewarded here with more responsibility, for his initiative and enthusiasm. It is relatively young people like Wisner who will determine the city’s future. We look forward to enjoying what he makes of it.
Kim Baxter impressed us, as we know she has with some of you, judging from your letters supporting her (and if you still have election-related letters to send, please do, on our website at the letters link, by Wed., March 27, so we can try to get them into print).
Baxter brings a varied background to what we hope will be her new role on council, including small business experience, and she has been systematically preparing herself for council for years by serving the city and scrutinizing the way it operates. She is confident, forthright and, at the same time, open-minded. This is all to the good. There is little room for dogmatists in trying to make a small, special city work now and for generations to come. We believe she has the knowledge and style to get it done.
