There are two schools of thought in Steamboat.

1. Steamboat was founded as a ranching community, which turned into a town, which turned into a home.

2. Unless you feed the ski mountain, we’ll all die.

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Both sides have valid points, but that’s not my observation or expertise. My issue is how the local residents are treated like second-class citizens.

If you want to get a tee time at Haymaker Golf Course owned and built by tax dollars, non-residents have preferential unlimited access to tee times while residents can only book 10 days in advance.

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When is the last time you have seen a child stroller being pushed on the core trail? It has been taken over by masses of unruly tourists on bikes, electric and manual. City council has made some rules, but the city does not enforce them. The 15 mph speed limit is too fast to protect pedestrians, which is why there are so few pedestrians.

Steamboat bills itself as Bike City, USA. It should be “Mountain Tourist Bike City,” as they have taken over the trails, so hiking, except on a few trails, is a dangerous endeavor.

There are probably more instances where citizens are mistreated. These are my observations.

In some ways, it’s a which came first, chicken or egg argument, but I think local residents only want to be at least treated as equals. The laws and direction city council takes is to feed the ski mountain, putting non-residents first.

I probably am making assumptions and statements that many may disagree with. It would be nice if our community newspaper, Steamboat Pilot and Today, reinstated its comments section, so more voices may be heard from. It has also put profits ahead of responsibility to local residents to have a free speech forum.

This is a wonderful, beautiful community that needs to treat local residents with the respect and equality they deserve.

Robert Nestora

Steamboat Springs