Evidently, our local officials are playing on those costs by charging $1 an hour for downtown parking, already extremely limited, and $12 for a parking ticket. No wonder I and many others are no longer patronizing local Main Avenue merchants but shopping elsewhere or online.

But then we do have an excessively large police force for a small town. Their salaries have to be paid and ticket quotas have to be met. I try my best to obey the law wherever I am, but I got a parking ticket recently and on that day, I didn’t like Durango as much as I usually do.

Katherine Smits

Durango