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What readers had to say this week about local stories, No. 2

They weigh in on hemp, vacation rentals and Durango School District’s ‘Portrait of a Graduate’

Welcome to the second edition of Comments of the Week, where we highlight some of the most insightful, passionate and witty comments shared on Facebook.

We love reading your input and reactions to local stories: Readers can weigh in via our Facebook page, at the bottom of stories on our website at www.durangoherald.com or by writing a letter to the editor.

Here are a few comments that stood out this week:

Story: What should it mean to be a graduate of Durango School District 9-R?
Durango School District 9-R will be looking for input from residents in the next two weeks as it works to develop its “Portrait of a Graduate” plan, which will guide the core skills expected of 9-R graduates. (Jerry McBride/Durango Herald file)

“They should have the skills to make them productive, be caring members of their community. Critical thinking, ability to judge – and act appropriately – on right from wrong. Life skills, including personal accounting (credit management), civics, propaganda detection and wide-ranging academic introduction.” – Anne Markward

“I'm a 9R graduate that spent the entirety of my K-12 in the district, and an FLC grad to boot. Graduates should know the truth about our country’s history, without white-washing, including the centrality of the labor movement in the rights we enjoy today, and possess a well-rounded understanding of civic engagement that goes beyond the ballot box.” – The Durango Worker

“It just really depends on the person and what their next steps in life are. This isn’t a one-size-fits-all thing. I have two children who are very different people. My daughter now attends a different high school than my son did because her needs are different.” – Jolene Richardson

“Verbal and written communication, collaboration, critical thinking, creativity and empathy are all great skills and worth fostering. I would add, and the following are related to the above, cultural awareness, being able to discern fact from fiction in social media of all kinds, and fostering an open mind to the diversity that is Durango and the U.S.” – David Kozak

Story: Are vacation rentals cutting into Durango’s housing stock?
Emma Adams, executive assistant with Durango-based Vacation Rental Collective, walks through one of the condos on Friday that the company offers for short-term rental in Durango. (Jerry McBride/Durango Herald)

“If a property is listed on Airbnb and VRBO as a 30-day vacation rental, it’s pretty safe to assume it is being rented by someone who does not live here and does not contribute to our local workforce. Not a single local is going to find housing from a 30-day Airbnb rental, it’s like $5,000 for a two bedroom for one month. But those are not permitted or regulated by the city in any way, despite having the exact same effect on the local housing market as the vacation rentals that the city calls ‘short term rentals.’ Idk (I don’t know) if you’ve browsed AirBNB recently but there are like 250+ rentals in town and supposedly there are only like 123 permits for short term rentals. The rest of them are 30 day rentals. I reported a significant number of them to the city but only one was found to be in violation, because the rest are listed as 30-day rentals which is unregulated.” – Teal Sira Lehto

“Wait…so instead of hotels, tourists are getting vacation rentals, but we build the hotels for the tourists, so that the hotels can have vacancies and the workers in these hotels, restaurants, stores, and service workers don’t have places to stay because we only built hotels for the tourists who got vacation rentals? Got it!“ – Shannin Mayberry

“So nobody has an issue with all the hotels and motels but private property owners are an issue because of how they choose to use their property. How many affordable rent apartments could have been built where that monstrosity of a hotel that was built next to Vitamin Cottage? What about the the hotels that were built by Walmart. Shouldn’t those have been affordable rent apartments? And the apartments/condos that were built by Walmart, why were those not specifically affordable rent apartments? Vacation housing and AirBnBs are an issue. The real issue is the multitudes of motels and hotels. The real issue is the continued building of high price/high rent condos and apartments.” – Laurie Voss

Story: What happened to hemp? High interest a few years ago declines statewide
Bushes of hemp for the CBD market grow on the Tibbits farm south of McPhee Reservoir. (Jim Mimiaga/The Journal file)

“Sad part is that pre 1937 reefer madness, hemp was cattle feed and according to old farmers when I was a kid (and I’m old) cancer was not so prevalent and everything was made from hemp. As they told me: the cattle ate the hemp, we drank the milk and ate the meat which passed on whatever compound (cbd). Reefer madness has been a moneymaker for timber/paper, fossil fuel/plastics, big pharma and the politicians with the lobby/bribe monies from the antis to keep the competition illegal. I see it as odd that states legalize small amounts of cannabis for people to ‘get high,’ but not enough to make paper, plastic, fuel, glass, building materials, hempcrete. Amendment 28 needs to be written in and passed by referendum by the voters.” – Bruce Baxter

“Limited availability of processing, especially for fiber and grain. Without access to reliable institutional lending, how can hemp farmers buy decortication equipment that runs about $2.5-$5 million? Hemp still produces the best ROI for farmers and access to most diverse supply chains if we build out regional processing capacity.” – Kyle Guy



Reader Comments