‘Boulder’ Weekly?
I am dismayed to see that Boulder Weekly’s new format has left the music calendar reduced from a relatively comprehensive list to a few selected highlights. In the spirit of full disclosure, I am a local musician in the CBDs, a band that has been playing around Boulder County for over 10 years. We had a gig scheduled at The Local on Feb. 21. Your calendar listed only one musical event for that date, and that at Larimer Lounge in Denver. “Boulder” Weekly? There was almost nothing listed for Nederland, Lyons, Lafayette or Longmont. The new format does a disservice to both local musicians and the community.
— Evan Cantor/Boulder
Editor’s note: Submit your events at boulderweekly.com/events
Yes, the creek path is dangerous
Thank you, Will [Matuska], for writing this story (News, “Troubled water,” Feb. 16, 2023). It happens to be one that has needed to be written and includes a fair bit of actual investigative journalism, which the Daily Camera has shied away from for years when dealing with the City of Boulder. I know this as a fact, having worked for the city in the Risk Management department as the “Safety & Workers’ Compensation Coordinator.” I had seen a lot in my 15 years with the city and I am very thankful I just, finally, retired in October of 2022. When I first saw the cover page of this edition I had thought the “crown jewel” being spoken of was the Pearl Street Mall, or possibly even the main Boulder library, which has had numerous safety issues over the last several months (which, again, local media has avoided doing much investigative journalism on).
“Is the Boulder Creek Path really that dangerous?” is asked in the contents page of your paper. To answer that, “Yes, yes it is.” In fact, having seen what I’ve seen in and around it, it is even more of a danger to users of the bike path and the citizens at-large than anyone in the City seems to want to admit. What has the city done, or not done, in these years since many of us felt that it actually was safe? One large answer to that is many of us have felt the City Council, at least a majority of it at times, has been the driving force behind the degradation of the City of Boulder, the bike path, the Mall, and yes, the library.
As I write this I am looking at a quote from the director of communication for the City regarding the recent meth contamination in the bathrooms within the main library. Which, by the way, one of them was within the children’s area. (Had you seen that fact written anywhere? I had not!) The quote was: “…the step to do the testing was an extra precautionary test…” Oh really, seriously? Here, once again, City of Boulder upper-management engages in a truly inaccurate account of what the bare-minimum actually should be in such a situation as this. And the City, in their quotes here in your article, Will, does it again.
I encourage Boulder Weekly to ask the tough questions, to make the City of Boulder uncomfortable in their answers and their double-speak of the facts and to dig for the truth.
The truth is that yes, the Boulder Creek Path IS that dangerous.
— Kevin Krayna/Boulder
Re: ‘History will be kind to Jimmy Carter’
I agree that history will be kind to President Jimmy Carter, a great leader, humanitarian and human being (Letters, “History will be kind to Jimmy Carter,” Feb. 23, 2023). His inspiration by leading with his example, in the Carter Center work for peace, his building homes for the homeless, and simple lifestyle. These are some of the reasons our local RESULTS group gave him the Seeds of Hope Award in 2018. We can use his inspiration to take action to encourage our members of Congress to renew the expanded Child Tax Credit that cut child poverty in half before it expired. A renters’ tax credit would help end the slide of families to homelessness. Hard to believe that poverty and its fallout hurts tens of millions of families in the world’s richest country. Let’s use our voices to turn this around, speaking up to our members of Congress to pass these and other initiatives to make a difference for families in America.
— Willie Dickerson/Snohomish, Washington
