Who should take the fall for Aurora’s problems?
Re: “Aurora City Manager Jim Twombly must go,” April 10 editorial
Thank you so much for writing this; it’s one of your best editorials. I read it online and was very sorry to see the harsh comments that you received from other readers. You must have really hit a nerve with those opposed to Chief Vanessa Wilson, and that is, of course, your job to bring uncomfortable truths to light. I have lived in Aurora for 25 years and have never seen a leader more concerned about the community than her own political agenda or herself. It’s outrageous that she was slammed as “trash,” and those council members who agreed are the ones who won.
Beverly Bennett, Aurora
In Aurora, the city manager serves at the pleasure of the mayor and council. Firing Jim Twombly won’t solve the root problem of a city council and mayor who seem to be getting more ideologically extreme with each election.
Police chief Vanessa Wilson was hired when progressives had the majority. Now that we have conservatives and a Rep. Lauren Boebert wannabe in the majority, Twombly is simply obeying his bosses.
Be careful what you wish for. Changing city managers is apt to bring more extreme ideology.
Police Chief Wilson did exactly what she was hired to do and did it as well as anyone could expect in these turbulent times. She held police personnel to a higher ethical code of conduct and reached out to minority communities.
Until we elect more moderate council members who will put pragmatism before doctrine, we will have to live with our self-inflicted chaos. The last paragraph of your editorial should have been the first.
Helen Kern, Aurora
Re: “Aurora fires police Chief Vanessa Wilson,” April 7 news story
There is an old-school saying from the Army that is applicable to Chief Wilson’s being fired: “Commanders are responsible for everything their command does or fails to do.”
Richard D. Van Orsdale, Broomfield
Take action now on the UN report on climate
Re: “You’ve heard it all before — this time listen,” April 10 commentary
The U.N. Panel on Climate Change is quite disturbed that some of us continue to tune out dire warnings and catastrophic consequences of global warming. Gallup’s March 2022 poll offers excellent insight into our nation’s lack of focus on this issue.
Gallup asked, “What do you think is the most important problem facing the country today?” The majority of respondents listed either “economic problems” (35%) or poor governance (22%) as their top concern. Climate change lagged well behind, with only 2% seeing it as the dominant threat.
Another contributor to the lack of attention on warming is the fact that the biggest polluter on planet earth, China, has been excused from meaningful participation. The Chinese Communist Party has made it clear they prioritize economic growth over reducing emissions.
Those asking people to listen to green ideology seek disproportional political power based on expectations over expertise.
Forrest Monroe, Aurora
In reading Nicholas Goldberg’s commentary, I am reminded of the definition of crazy: “Continue doing the same thing and expect different results.” From the Kyoto Protocol to the Paris Agreement, we still haven’t started to reduce CO2 emissions worldwide. Progress has been far too slow.
Goldberg also points out that “our democratic political system is ill-suited to deliver policies that require sacrifice and pain today in exchange for future gain …”
Other political systems are not up to the task either. Look at China, which is focused on economic growth and power and continues to build coal-fired power plants.
Instead of whining about corporate greed and individuals unwilling to make sacrifices, we need a solution utilizing that behavior. Government spending trillions of dollars it doesn’t have is not sustainable both because of the politics and the eventual limit of borrowing money. We need a different approach.
A carbon fee and dividend law would decrease carbon-based energy and encourage the use and development of alternatives. Because the fees collected are directly returned to the people, it doesn’t increase the size of government. It energizes the free market and capitalism to reduce carbon emissions. And the money to stop climate change will come from the private sector investing to realize a profit. It would be sustainable because it would be political suicide to take the dividend away from voters.
Rich Griffin, Aurora
Putin must face intense pressure from NATO
Re: “Putin must go,” April 10 commentary
New York Times columnist Bret Stephens wrote, “mostly the world has found it easier to make excuses to get along with Putin than to work against him.” It is time to work against him.
By allowing an ego-driven madman to continue to regroup, resupply, and appoint generals to command with a history of slaughter (Aleppo, Syria), the NATO alliance appears weak with no respect for a country’s borders. The expenditure of billions of dollars alone will not stop a mad man.
Sanctions may eventually work, but in the interim, more innocent men, women and children will be tortured, raped, kidnapped and killed; Ukraine’s infrastructure will be in ruins; people will starve; the refugee problem will grow, and children will lose precious years of education and be emotionally scarred.
It is time for NATO to work against him. NATO must stop worrying about WW III and get its planes in the air, bomb the Russian convoys, sink Russian ships, and open Putin’s eyes. Putin will take notice and hopefully, he will finally understand that he can not invade a sovereign country again. NATO and the world will not allow it to happen. It is time “to work against him!”
Barbara Morton, Highlands Ranch
I wish to extend a giant thank-you to The Denver Post and the world’s journalists. I am again reminded why I financially support (subscribe to) The Denver Post, Washington Post, and CPR: as seen on the cover of last Sunday’s Perspective section, governments of the world need stringent and constant supervision to do the right thing, and that supervision is provided by journalists.
Three stories, all on the same page, summarize this need. First, “CU Regents should disclose their finalists for president” tells how CU’s governing body obfuscates its voting procedures. Just next to that, “Putin must go” tells how Germany spends $2 billion monthly on Russian coal, oil, and natural gas; the German government thus has minimal incentive to cut ties with Russia’s dictator. And finally, at the bottom of the page, we are reminded about climate change, “… this time listen,” because world governments are sluggish at best in making the policy changes needed to really make our planet livable in the future.
Without the free press, there would be no progress in human rights, custodianship of our environment, or other human responsibilities. I was privileged three years ago to visit The War Correspondents’ Memorial, a monument in the form of a park in Bayeux, France, honoring journalists of the world. I love that the monument exists, and I am thankful for all those who bring light to all that happens and needs to happen in our world.
Katharine V. Noble, Denver
Even “law-and-order” requires more funding
Re: “Spend money policing RTD,” April 12 letter to the editor
I share the letter writer’s disgust with the conditions of the light rail and associated public areas. However, I fear that he will be sorely disappointed with his “law-and-order Republican” candidates unless they are willing to spend real money on light rail cleanliness, safety, and transit police, not to mention homelessness, mental illness, and drugs.
Thanks to the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR), we are stuck with the current inadequate funding unless the good residents of Colorado vote to increase taxes.
Given Colorado’s history of not approving additional taxes, that isn’t going to happen any time soon.
To quote the comic character Pogo, “We have met the enemy and he is us,” with a lot of help from Douglas Bruce and other “small government – low tax” Republicans.
Daniel Chilcoat, Lakewood
Regents blundered by bypassing qualified, diverse candidates
Re: “Interim leader Saliman is picked as sole finalist,” April 13 news story
I am the mother of a University of Colorado student. I am disappointed in the Board of Regents. The issue is not whether Todd Saliman is qualified to lead the university System. The issue is whether the board should have chosen one of the other “highly qualified candidates” (their own words) who would have added much-needed diversity.
The university system has had 23 presidents: 23 white, 21 male and zero people of color to lead the state’s flagship universities.
The students deserve leadership that reflects their diverse lives. Once again, the Board of Regents has denied women and people of color the opportunity to see themselves in the highest leadership. (Let us not forget that last time they chose a president whom women and LGBTQ students protested against because of his political history.)
The university system needs the perspectives and life experiences of people of color, of women in our diverse world.
The Board chose five “highly qualified candidates” as its final pool of candidates. Only one of the candidates in the pool was white man. And yet (or maybe, of course), they choose the white man.
Some may dismiss my concerns as identity politics. But what really is identity politics? Choosing white men 21 out of 23 times? Choosing the only white man when there are four other “highly qualified candidates” who would have brought needed diversity to the highest position in the university system?
As someone who cares deeply about diversity, equity and young people, I give the Board of Regents an F.
Carol Napier, Arvada
So much more we can do for clean air on the Front Range
Re: “Reclassification as a ‘severe’ violator would mean higher gas prices, more emissions permits,” April 13 news story
I moved to Denver four years ago. At that time I thought I was moving to a healthy city. Now we are going to be in the severe air quality category.
The issue is that no one wants to change their habits, and because of that I think the future looks bad for our children and grandchildren.
Don’t buy a big vehicle that gets low gas mileage. Wait and get an electric or a hybrid car. The state should lower the speed limit on
all highways to 55 mph. By driving faster, you get to your destination only 10 minutes earlier at the most. The faster you drive, the more gas you use and the more you add to the air
pollution.
Free public transportation will encourage more people to use it. All traffic lights need to be synchronized. Sitting idling at a stop light uses gas and pollutes.
Why is the big polluter Suncor even operating? Because this city has given it a pass for years, and the health of the citizens of Commerce City suffers from it.
Stop burning trash; stop using fireplaces or wood stoves. If everyone would do a little to help, the collective number would make a difference. Sadly there is no reverse switch after a certain point. Make changes now!
Mimi Spann, Denver
How did we get to this state?
Re: “EPA will downgrade state,” April 13 news story
It’s not the EPA downgrading the state. It’s our local governments. Thanks to our licentious legislators and local officials, in 40 years we’ve about doubled our population while reducing our air, water, and living quality.
For decades now we still have the “brown cloud” hanging over the front range. But now it’s year-round.
They’ve spent billions relocating from “dangerously close runways” at Stapleton to dangerous weather at DIA, all while piling on development at both sites, and lining their pockets.
After decades of wildfires and Smokey Bear ads, over half the Colorado population — 2.9 million — now lives in fire-prone wildland-urban interface areas. The other half pays for their view.
Since 1980, we’ve added more people than the rejected Two Forks Reservoir was to provide for. We’ve gone from water rationing to taking it from the Western Slope, filling mountain valleys with expanding reservoirs, depleting and contaminating aquifers, and drinking wastewater to rationing our water and paying penalties to our eastern neighbors for overdrawn river allocations.
George Santayana was right: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
Dave Knutson, Arvada
There’s a small step we can take to help improve air quality in the Denver area: Don’t sit in your car with the engine idling while checking email and social media or making a phone call.
While you sit there, the engine will emit a variety of noxious gases, including hydrocarbons and nitrogen dioxide, both precursors to the pollutant ozone and carbon dioxide.
The region has been consistently exceeding federal air quality standards for ozone for 15 years. Exposure to elevated ozone concentrations aggravates lung diseases such as asthma.
Although the impact of idling is small per car, collectively we can reduce auto emissions and help the region from spiraling into even worse air quality.
Ronald L. Rudolph, Golden
With the EPA threatening to make life tough for Denver and the other pack of polluters up north, our state government still insists on more of the same. Our economic-development people still insist on routing new good-paying jobs into the Denver area, thus making things worse. In the meantime, Southern Colorado gets short shrift and treated like some poor relative. What’s up with that?
Mike Hudson, Pueblo
Slow plastic proliferation
Re: “This is what happens when globalization breaks down,” April 10 story
In the article, then 28-year-old Hagan Walker makes an admirable hero/entrepreneur as he battles to get his company’s order of plastic toys made and delivered in time for Christmas. His eventual success makes one feel a glow of pride in American can-do effort.
But wait — what’s that product again? Plastic cubes that light up in a drinking glass? How much of that plastic crap will be in landfills or ocean waters?
We must shake our urge to possess the latest plastic trinket. The Chinese shifted a majority of supply of this plastic toward vital goods, such as medical devices. Americans should do the same.
Gordon Johnson, Denver
A way to stop the auto-flushing toilets
Re: “Automatic flushing wastes water,” April 11 letter to the editor
I have solved the problem of automatic toilets wasting water, as mentioned by Kathleen Sloan from Arvada in her open letter to the editor.
Automatic toilets tend to “ghost flush” often.
This leads to perfectly good water going down the drain. In addition to the waste of water, many children, especially those with sensory issues, can be scared to go into a public restroom that has these automatic-flush toilets.
I created an eco-friendly, reusable, sanitary decal to prevent the automatic toilet from flushing.
The Flusher Blocker is a decal that sticks on the sensor of the toilet. Once finished, simply remove the decal, wash it, and stick it back to the backing it comes in or on the back of your phone.
My family uses it at all places that have automatic toilets.
As Kathleen mentioned in her letter, she would like to see Denver International Airport and the Denver Center for the Performing Arts have a solution to the automatic toilet wasting water.
The Flusher Blocker would do exactly that.
Currently, the Flusher Blocker is selling online.
If large buildings and restaurants are not interested in adjusting their sensors for their automatic toilets, we can still help the environment by preventing the toilet from flushing until we are ready to flush it.
Cara Brzezicki, Littleton
Teachers deserve right to fight for fair, livable wages
Re: “Forcing public employee unions not the ‘Colorado way’,” March 29 commentary
The Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce president recently wrote a guest column opposing the still-unintroduced bill in the legislature that would make it legal for public employees to join unions and bargain collectively. In one example, the author argued that if community college employees teaching in towns such as Sterling or Lamar had the right to join unions, they would negotiate wages based on Boulder or Vail’s housing and labor markets, leading to higher education costs, which would hurt parents and students.
This hypothetical is absurd for many reasons, but the main one is this: State policies — not local decisions or powerful employees — have driven teaching wages down and tuitions up. The Associated Press reported that in 2017, “Colorado was the fourth-lowest in spending on higher education per student … according to he College Board.”
AP also reported that after the Great Recession, “tuition in Colorado jumped 44%, while the typical household’s income increased just 18% … while state spending dropped 15% annually from 2008 to 2012.”
Today, higher ed has been “privatized,” and students and parents foot the ever-increasing bills. Not coincidentally, the majority of college teachers are no longer tenured professors, but instead, most are “casual” employees — many with low pay, poor or no benefits and no job security.
Every worker deserves the right to join a union, and that includes government workers.
Leigh Campbell-Hale, Lafayette
Why are we tolerating all this gun violence?
Re: “Neguse aims to blunt mass shooting impacts” and “Biden is looking to slow attacks from ghost guns,” April 12 news stories
Not that it matters, but we have a serious gun problem in this country. Right below “Neguse aims to blunt mass shooting impacts” were stories about a 6-year-old Fort Collins boy who appears to have shot and killed himself, an Arvada man who was sentenced in the shooting death of his cousin, four people who were hurt in separate local shootings, and the death of a woman who was shot on I-70.
Multiply that by every major city in the United States (Chicago generally double or triples the numbers).
Elsewhere in the same paper was an article about “ghost guns -privately made guns without serial numbers.”
Oh, and this just in: Ten people were shot in New York City subway attack.
We get what we tolerate.
Craig Marshall Smith, Highlands Ranch
Young athletes are too traumatized for starting guns
As a father of a middle school track athlete, it became–unexpectedly and disturbingly–very clear to me at this last weekend’s track and field meet that there is no longer a place in our society for fake guns to be used at track and field meets.
I counted seven children that were seen jumping at the sound, and/or audibly voicing their discomfort with the sound and presence of the gun.
One child who appeared to be an eighth-grader stopped suddenly in his tracks, mid-race, as he began his last lap as unexpectedly, to him, the gun rang out inches from his head. My heart aches remembering the terrified look on his face in that moment.
It is sad but true, I believe, that this generation is too traumatized by all they have witnessed in society, and in regards specifically to school violence, for continued use of this sound and object in their lives.
I also talked with several adults who, like me, felt uncomfortable themselves with the sound. I hope that immediate action will be taken across the country to cease use of fake guns for track meets and normalize air horns or some other viable option.
I am not asking, I am demanding that change occur with regards to this situation. We are obligated as parents, caretakers, educators, and spectators, to rapidly adapt to the needs, in this specific and simple area, of this generation.
Jared J. Aldern, Lakewood
U.N. fails to act on Russian war
The United Nations has so far met a dozen times on Ukraine since the eve of the Russian invasion and has failed to take any significant action to stop Russia’s aggression.
Harry S. Truman must be rumbling in his grave.
Louis Deegan, Denver
Thanks for the cleanup on the Cherry Creek Trail
I want to give out a heartfelt thanks to the group of people I passed this morning on the Cherry Creek Trail. They were wading in Cherry Creek near REI, pulling out garbage. By the number of filled garbage bags I saw, there was a lot.
No one group is responsible for this mess, and it’s not just a matter of people tossing things into the river. When it rains, the pipes draining into the creek spew garbage. What an inspiring model of civic engagement!
Julia Bristor, Denver
The death of the Paris Accord
The Paris Accord is dead. The Paris Accord required peace on Earth and goodwill toward all humans. It relied on China and Russia, along with the rest of the world, working together to reduce emissions as well as supply and process certain scarce critical materials for wind, solar, and electric vehicles while continuing to supply fossil fuel during the transition.
On Feb. 4, Russia and China signed a joint statement committing to their partnership against the U.S. and the rest of the free world. On Feb. 24, Russia invaded Ukraine. China watched. The Paris Accord died in February.
It is time for the free world to develop an energy plan that does not rely on China or Russia. The new plan must be evolutionary; it must be based on factors that the free world can control. The new plan must provide energy security for the free world.
Daniel G. Zang, Lakewood
Demand better from Suncor
Re: “EPA objects to state permit,” March 26 news story
When driving past the Suncor oil refinery on Interstate 270, the stench of toxic emissions permeates the car, even with closed windows. The thousands of Coloradans who live in the Commerce City area don’t have the luxury of driving past the air toxins in their living environs.
Regional EPA administrator KC Becker demonstrated strong leadership by objecting to a permit renewal submitted by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE). CDPHE must now resubmit to address concerns about flares used to burn excess chemicals and environmental justice issues that severely affect the community.
Because of longstanding inaction, the CDPHE is complicit in public health violations and social injustices.
Cultivando, a local community group, recently testified to health concerns, including suspected elevated cancer rates, among those living near Suncor.
As Noelle Phillips reported, the EPA warned the CDPHE that they must reinstate air quality assessments every five years and utilize more effective measures to inform the surrounding communities and solicit their input about Suncor actions.
I commend KC Becker’s leadership for pushing state regulators to act in the service of the affected communities near the refinery. We encourage Gov. Jared Polis to direct his resources to better monitor and regulate Suncor and other sources of air pollution.
It is unacceptable for a primary source of pollution in our community to go under-regulated for 16 years. The EPA is fully justified in stepping in.
Mary Ann Wilner, Boulder
Spend money policing RTD
Re: “Lawmakers want to make RTD buses and trains free,” March 30 news story
The proposal to waive fares on RTD for a month this summer will not convince a significant number of people to take public transit instead of driving.
Riding the W line between Lakewood and Golden or Denver, it is clear that not paying the fare, littering, and drug use on the station platforms and on the train are all tolerated activities. As long as this lawlessness abounds, those with the means to drive themselves are not going to ride RTD in a fare-free month to save $3.
The state would be much better off spending the money proposed to pay for a fare-free month, on armed security to enforce the rules. Arrest these scofflaws, and hand them off to the police at the next stop to be taken to jail.
The blame for this sorry situation falls at the feet of the Democrats who run the state of Colorado and run local government in the Denver metropolitan area. This November, I will be taking out my anger at our soft-on-crime politicians at the ballot box. I am not interested in living in an inland version of San Francisco. I will vote for any law-and-
order Republican on the ballot.
Jim Rombough, Lakewood
Irony at the Academy Awards
Amidst all the hubbub concerning the slap of Chris Rock by Will Smith on stage at the Oscars, there seems a bit of undiscussed irony. Movie making is an industry that promotes violence in most every form, from Kung Fu Panda’s karate chops to AK-47s and from a fatal misfire on a movie set to nearly 60 years of the quintessential assassin James Bond.
While wishing to portray itself as an art form, it could be easily argued that the Academy of Arts and Sciences has abetted, through years of life imitating art, the increasingly violent society in which we live. The act of Will Smith, while a righteously indignant and very personal act of protection for his dear Jada, also personifies the angst we all continue to work through stemming from the last few years of isolation.
While Smith should have used his mature self to handle the slight, and while the Academy must also reprimand Smith, will it be more because of his wrongdoing or because his actions were more of a slap in the face for the Academy?
Kenneth W Borden, Brighton
Automatic flushing wastes water
The West and Colorado are in a state of drought, and we are inundated with the need to save water. I see one simple measure that could be taken immediately by at least Denver International Airport and the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.
Adjust the automatic flush toilets.
On multiple occasions, during one use of a facility, the toilet has flushed five or more times. The toilet flushes as I sit down. The toilet flushes if I move a centimeter. The toilet flushes as I turn to get toilet paper. And so on. I have started to cover the sensor with a piece of tape to avoid this annoying and completely unnecessary use of water.
These may be low flow toilets, but five flushes per person has to be wasting a large amount of water for each of the thousands of people who pass through DIA in a day. Automatic toilets exist that do not function this way. Adjust the sensors, please.
Kathleen Sloan, Arvada
Waste is not charitable
This subject has no doubt been addressed before, but it needs to be addressed again, and I know it is a concern of many.
Every single day we receive piles of mail asking for donations. In some cases, these letters arrive from the same charity every couple of weeks. Every day we toss or recycle most of them.
It would be lovely to afford to support every worthy cause there is, but the fact is that we can’t, and I assume neither can the majority of people.
Yes, we give to some as we can, but my concern is this: Why are these organizations wasting who knows how much money constantly sending these letters and free gifts when so much of that money could be used toward research and care for their cause?
Not only is it a waste of money, but it is also a waste of paper used for name tags, notepads or whatever else they use to guilt us into supporting them.
If I were wealthy, I would be happy to donate to many of them, but I’m not, and the constant barrage of requests is annoying. I don’t want their free gifts, and knowing that the money spent on them could be so much better used for what is really going to help them would be satisfying.
Sally Alberts, Monument
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