Author – The Durango Herald

Time expired long ago for too-tall parking meters

By Mike Smedley Special to the Herald Why is the city spending $30,000 to lower 400 parking meters to meet ADA specifications if parking is free for people with disabil...

DATE: Nov 19, 2017 | CATEGORY: Action Line

Water law has different slant on roofs and snow

There’s a big new house going up in our neighborhood. So here’s the thing: Nearly every house nearby is designed so that snow sheds to the back and front yards. This new one, however, is des...

DATE: Nov 12, 2017 | CATEGORY: Action Line

A cloud of suspicion hovers over motorized devices on trail

In the past month, I’ve noticed kids on self-propelled skateboards along the Animas River Trail. Is this the “slippery slope” that many feared when the City Council voted to allow electric b...

DATE: Nov 5, 2017 | CATEGORY: Action Line

Free electric-car chargers spark a non-controversy

I see that La Plata Electric Association installed four free charging stations for members’ electric cars at LPEA’s Durango headquarters. Apparently, the chargers were paid for by a group ca...

DATE: Oct 29, 2017 | CATEGORY: Action Line

CDOT will spice things up with new north Main signs

This has been bugging me for years: People drive so s-l-o-w-l-y from the Camino del Rio and 14th Street intersection northward. Maybe it’s because downtown’s speed limit is 25 mph. But head ...

DATE: Oct 22, 2017 | CATEGORY: Action Line

Flying with yogurt cup? Airport security is lactose intolerant

I was going through airport security and had two new containers of yummy yogurt confiscated. The TSA agents declined, however, to confiscate an even larger container of tomatoes in salad dre...

DATE: Oct 15, 2017 | CATEGORY: Action Line

Grads itching to leave Durango may be making rash decision

My daughter has been invited to apply for a full-ride scholarship to any in-state college, but she says she would rather be homeless and $300,000 in debt than go to college in Colorado. Do a...

DATE: Oct 8, 2017 | CATEGORY: Action Line

Bikes could stop vicious cycle of bear-trash dependency

I’m glad the city now has a $100 fine for first-time offenders who let bears get into their trash. However, the garbage cans behind the Durango Community Recreation Center have been knocked ...

DATE: Oct 1, 2017 | CATEGORY: Action Line

Everyone loves recycling, right? Taint necessarily so

I share trash and recycling with my neighbor, a prominent business person in our community. When I go to add my recycling, I find things like toothpaste tubes, plastic bags and candy bar wra...

DATE: Sep 16, 2017 | CATEGORY: Action Line

Santa Rita pit offers ironic scene for lookie-loos

There’s something odd at the construction site at the new Santa Rita Park sewer plant. At the base of the excavated hole was a lone porta-potty. Is this all we get for our money? Can one por...

DATE: Sep 5, 2017 | CATEGORY: Action Line

Protection or rudeness? It straddles a fine line

How do I go about getting a parking permit like this guy has? I assume it conveys other special privileges that us ordinary folks aren’t entitled to? – Mark D’Lanes You’d expect this k...

DATE: Aug 27, 2017 | CATEGORY: Action Line

At least school kids aren’t in the dark about eclipse

I’m a parent of a 9-R student and I keep rolling my eyes about the absurd permission form I had to sign for the solar eclipse. The district required parents to waive all liability if a kid l...

DATE: Aug 20, 2017 | CATEGORY: Action Line