Dear Editor,
I was wondering if the people who were hit by a car whose driver couldn’t see them in the dark were impressed with the view of the stars as they lay in the street waiting for the ambulance? It seems a small price to pay for people who want to see the stars so badly they simply can’t be bothered to drive 20 minutes out of town in any direction. I bet the next unsolved rapes and murders in Moab will be much easier to commit without those pesky witnesses who would be able to see if there were any street lights on!
However, there are far too many lights on around the motels and restaurants. Also, I think the bike trails on the North end of town need to be pitch black like my neck of these woods. Things must be handed out evenly. The bike trail has a street light every 15 feet or so and the 4 that I could see from my house that was 50 feet apart have been removed. I remember being told I couldn’t build a fence over 4 feet in the front of my house and so many feet back on the sides because law enforcement couldn’t see to protect my property. That’s out the window! I could egg their car from the road and lay down and they wouldn’t ever see me!
The idea that the safety and comfort of many go out the window for a few who seem to be sadly lacking in common sense is simply parr for the course in Grand County. It’s simply a symptom of the sickness that killed any sense of community spirit many moons ago. Are they going to continue to say that isn’t a fact? Explain to me why we can’t afford free dump day when we can afford massive raises for the County. Free dump day encouraged people to clean up their property by removing the fees people might otherwise not be able to afford. Wasn’t that a good thing? How much do we pay for weed control here? I have lived here since 1965 and I have never ever had any help clearing the weeds out of the ditch in front of my home. Not once.
Who works for who? I hope they start forgetting about me on tax collection day as much as they do in every other aspect of living here. It’s obvious they work for a few wealthy investors here. Everyone else is simply a burden they have to bear.
Maybe the only hope of salvation for us who own property and don’t fit in at the drum circle or the board room is to start signing petitions and change the entire guard? It’s looking that way.
I was lucky enough to be here when Moab was the place Edward Abbey found so appealing. It was really nice. It really was nice. Now it seems to be a parody of its former self. I heard someone on public radio imply the bed and breakfasts and other home rentals here were using up all the water. Oh really? All the 500-room motels with their pools and every room supplying 3 or 4 showers a day are not an issue? It’s all the stupid homeowners ruining everything? You keep telling yourselves that and don’t worry, it’s safe to cross the streets at night. Every juice pouch who moves here from some polluted, horrible place immediately begins to actively change Moab to make it work exactly like the place they left! Then they wonder why Moab isn’t the same lovely place they moved to? Really? Hmmmm. It’s a mystery.
There should be a vote on changes that affect our community so drastically. No exceptions. You work for all the voters, not just the motel owners. If you want to forget about asking my opinions and those of my neighbors, please forget about us on tax day. Does anyone know where I can find a petition to sign?
Leslie Purcell Balling
Moab
