It’s time to end the bump outs. Permanent. The cluster of home improvement-style country food stands along Main Avenue makes no real historical sense. It’s a visual mess. Many are unused on any given day. I drove on the Main the other day when it was overcast and I saw four people using them.
Downtown Durango looked after hours and broken. My darling even has a trailer parked on plastic turf. How ironic is that! Take away parking space for . . . Parking trailer?!
How can the city lose the parking revenue ($44,000 +/-) and not charge rent to make up for it? Aren’t we bothering to balance the budget anymore?
When did city officials gain the authority to recommend continued “earning” from a municipal revenue stream, and when did our elected councilors gain the authority to change land uses without proper public notice and comment? Of course, the restaurants using the bump outs would vote to keep them – they get free rental space! And yes, while Maria’s Bookstore has a nice, landscaped hump, that hardly provides a contextual historical example of how roads are used.
It’s no excuse to keep them until we spend more money on consultants to come up with ideas about what makes a “better” Main Avenue. The pandemic is over – Joe said so. Time for our elected officials to acknowledge this and restore Main Avenue to its original, intended state.
Jim Rothwell
durango
