Many of us remember – and some participated in – a community effort that saved the old Durango High School and the adjacent Arts and Science Building from being transformed into a fire station. The opposition wasn’t to public safety; it was to the wholesale alteration of historic buildings, the expansion of parking lots and the loss of the character that makes that part of town so unique.
The community made its wishes known then, and I don’t believe those wishes have changed simply because a different public use is being proposed. City Council should heed the adage: When you’re in a hole, stop digging.
The city has stepped into a quagmire. The old high school and Arts and Science buildings are a natural extension of what is already thriving in that area – private investment, entrepreneurship, arts, culture and creativity flourishing within historic structures.
My own wake-up call came when discussion turned to converting Buckley Park into a parking lot. That idea crystallized what many residents have been feeling: We’re in danger of solving one problem by creating another.
Jim Sims
Durango