Stay the course on muni
The City of Boulder needs to get out of the PUC/Xcel system as soon as possible. Of course Boulder citizens would save money. Of course our municipal utility would be better for the environment. However, the PUC/profit-making utilities system is counterproductive for non-stockholders. Xcel’s 10% profit on any capital investment encourages waste at the expense of the people of Boulder. It is the system, not just Xcel, that encourages wasteful behavior. It does not matter what Xcel might promise the City that it might do. The system promotes Xcel to work in other directions.
We need to get out from under the PUC/Xcel system as soon as we can. Please help us do that.
Michael Jones/Boulder
Kudos on union support
I am writing to say big ups for the editorial that was printed in the July 2 issue in support of unions (Re: “Black lives, the pandemic and unions,” The Anderson Files).
Collective bargaining, co-op workplaces and even things like credit unions are ways of making the economic system, one that’s based on exploitation by definition, fairer. For an excellent discussion of this, and an argument that greater equality makes everyone live better, I recently stumbled upon The Spirit Level by Wilkinson and Pickett, which I highly recommend.
But a book recommendation is not the point of this letter. I am writing my appreciation for your making the case that all the symbolism in the world, and I would add, even the kind so coolly done in Hamilton, don’t mean sh*& if the way people live is not improved.
Hope Wells/via internet
Return wolves to Colorado
I just returned from a trip to Yellowstone — a welcome break from pandemic hell. I was super fortunate to have seen several gray wolves during my visit, and I learned quite a bit about wolves from the ranger who was hanging out with the wolf watchers one day.
It sure seems like wolves have helped turn things around in the Northern Rockies since the government reintroduced them 25 years ago. Aspen and willow are growing healthy again because wolves keep the elk from browsing them down to nothing. With more trees and bushes, beavers are returning and creating more dams, which slows the streams, making them deeper and cooler.
Without a doubt, Colorado is a lesser place without her wolves. That is a wrong we can easily make right again.
Return the wolf, restore the balance.
Kieran Kuykendall/Boulder
