Brief by Central Staff
Local politics – May 1995 – Colorado Central Magazine
SALIDA — Spring cleaning is a worthwhile annual tradition, and it extends beyond households to towns and even river corridors.
To start with the river, clean-up day is May 20, and volunteers are more than welcome; get in touch with Rebecca Bornhurst at the Arkansas Headwaters Park office in Salida, 719-539-7289.
Last year, the City of Salida planned a spring clean-up day; the idea was for residents to set out dead couches, accumulated brush, wounded appliances, and like material. Then the city crew would pick up the trash, and haul it to the county landfill.
The plans were aborted, City Administrator Patsy Brooks said, when the county refused to waive the landfill tip fees for that one day.
“We couldn’t afford it,” Brooks said, “and so we gave up on the idea. Buena Vista and Poncha Springs wanted to do it, too, but the county wouldn’t cooperate with them, either. And so the town is starting to look rather seedy.”
However, in 1994 the county did waive the landfill fees for the river clean-up, even when it insisted on charging the towns.
County Manager Frank Thomas says the county will waive the tip fees for the river cleaning again this year.
Does this indicate that tourists going down the river deserve the right to trash-free views on the voyage, while the views of year-round residents just don’t matter?
Perhaps residents should just take their trash to the river, where the county cares about cleanliness.
No, we didn’t suggest that. We do suggest some lobbying so that the county commissioners will come to their sense and agree that cleaning up the towns is just as important as cleaning the river corridor.