So here’s a question: When will Durango City Council pull their collective heads out of wherever they’re stuck and do something about the bear problem?
Is it going to take the mauling or death of a late-night reveler? Because that’s a distinct possibility.
Maybe a fairer question is: When will the city manager pull his head out of wherever it is? Because, as we know, the Council mostly does his bidding – rather than the other way around.
The fact of the matter is that we don’t have to have the bear problems we have. Many other Colorado towns and cities have successfully addressed their own bear issues by taking actions that our “leaders” are, inexplicably, unwilling to undertake.
Other cities have passed ordinances (and more importantly, they enforce them) to eliminate access to the human food waste that’s the major attractant for the bears.
They’ve hired enforcement officers for the bear season to ensure that people are complying with the measures on the books.
And, these officers can, and do, frequently ticket people for noncompliance because, let’s face it, without teeth, all the ordinances in the world won’t do jack.
In fact, we’ve had an ordinance on the books here for the last seven years that’s barely enforced. Even worse, the city doesn’t even obey it.
The bottom line is this: Durango is chock-full of unsecured bear bait. It could be otherwise … if … we had leaders willing to make it happen.
Gunnar Conrad
Durango
