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Sound Off for April 11, 2004

Steamboat Springs is an incubator of originality, not big box. Action must be initiated with regards to priorities of economy. A moratorium will force those responsible to take action. Eliminate first for-lease, for-sale, the decrepit, the derelict. Say no to big box.

After reading Tom Ross’ column, I definitely think there should not be a dog park. We had two people show up for the annual April Poop Day and that just shows you how many of these dog owners do not take responsibility for cleaning up after their dogs. They should keep their dogs on a leash, keep them away from all the kids that play in the park and be more responsible and take care of their dogs.

I was just wondering if the Friends of the Justice Center has ever addressed in any of their arguments about the traffic situation downtown. This keeps getting dragged on and I have yet to read anything as to what they think we should do about the traffic that’s only going to get worse.



Hi, I really think Oak Creek is a friendly, groovy little town. But as a taxpayer here, I really plead with the county residents who come into town to fill their huge water cisterns and take it out of our taxpayer dollars. Please, get your water in the county.

I do believe the Board of Education should abandon the KSBP. I believe that $600,000 could be spent in better ways, supporting the teachers rather than holding a carrot in front of them, supporting our children and also maybe helping with health insurance, finding a better plan for these teachers. I’m not sure what the people on the board want from KSBP, what more do they want our teachers to do? This is an excellent school system. As far as controlling the number of teacher who go forward with higher salaries, what kind of Gestapo would control that? I think it would kill the teamwork between teachers and label the teachers as “advanced,” “master” and “career” and if that word got out there would be much more controversy about what classes parents want their children in.



We fully support the First Amendment but believe the Pilot should resist the advertising dollars of offensive ads such as last week’s Sierra Club campaign.

Absolutely, the School Board should abandon the Knowledge and Skills Based Pay plan because the system being piloted requires teachers to spend hours proving their teaching ability to the board and administrators rather than planning rich learning lessons for the children. Teachers shouldn’t be subject to this parent-child relationship where they have to prove their worth. The quality of our teachers is acknowledged at the time of their hiring and with evaluations with their principals every year. Teachers already deserve to be paid more, especially with the high cost of living in Steamboat.

Thank goodness the Colorado Energy Impact committee refused to fund the request for public housing staff and salaries. Public housing is a scandal worldwide and will be no different here. The Routt County commissioners should end their participation in this boondoggle.

Yes, abandon KSBP. It labels teachers and we don’t label kids. It controls the number of teachers who can advance. That would be like controlling the number of kids who can get an advanced proficiency on CSAP. It’s not sound from my perspective.

I don’t think that we’re anywhere close to being able to implement a program such as KSPB. There are too many unknowns and too many issues that need to be resolved, and at this point, currently we do not have the funding to support such a program. However, our current system of evaluating teachers is not adequate. Pay raises should not be based on tenure alone, or tenure at all. There does need to be more performance-based evaluation, but they way they are presenting KSPB, it’s not the answer.

If the city council has such concerns about racism in Steamboat, they should ask themselves why they never put up a sign with the proper name on the James Brown Soul Center of the Universe Bridge. If people have doubts about racism in this town, they should go back to that incident of the defacing of the bridge and review some of the letters to the editor from some of the old-time residents of Steamboat.
It would seem to me the City Council could show their concern now by
erecting a sign on the bridge as they should have when it was dedicated in 1993.

It is crazy that a town with the size and atmosphere of Steamboat Springs needs to have such strict leash laws. The ones most hurt here are the dogs. Dogs get great exercise fetching sticks, Frisbees, balls, swimming and playing with other dogs. They can’t get the exercise they need on a leash.
The rules that should be enforced are 1. If your dog is a fighter, keep him on a leash, 2. If your dog doesn’t obey the commands “come ” and “no”, keep him on a leash, and 3. If your dog jumps on other people, keep him on a leash.
Spring Creek has always been a great place to let dogs run and play with other dogs. Please let it be a leash-free zone. The bike path is too busy with people inline skating and bicycling.


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