Steve Pomerance

  “It’s going to be by design, or it will be by disaster.” That was the quote I heard related to how we respond to climate change. Perhaps this, expanded to include other areas, should be the theme for the Council’s upcoming goal setting session. The Marshall fire reminds us that climate change’s drier conditions plus stronger winds makes it incumbent on us to do our best to reduce the risks. We may need to increase the work on our Open Space areas by doing more thinning and using more controlled burns. We also should put some serious focus on helping all homeowners, especially at the city’s edges, reduce their risks and those they might impose on their neighbors, by ensuring that all buildings are more fire resistant. Given climate change’s increased flooding, we really, really, really need a comprehensive flood management plan, so that we know what improvements or other actions are worth doing, which ones should have priority, and how we are going to fund them. With the propo...

  The “Christmas Wishes” expressed in last Saturday’s Camera by the Editorial Advisory Board were right on. Emily Walsh succinctly described our current situation: “I cannot understand why we have let difference, hate and fear encroach on every interaction we have.” Bill Wright concurred: “I wish for respect and patience with people we don’t agree with. Especially if the person you don’t agree with is me.” Former Boulder City Council member Andrew Shoemaker perfectly captured what’s needed: “Let’s work on the one wish that could be attainable in 2022, and which is the first step to any chance of resolving the rest of the list — collaborating with an open mind to tackle Boulder’s problems. You may have great ideas about how to solve our local problems, but so does your neighbor. Other citizens with different approaches also care about Boulder as much as you. Let’s consider checking our egos at Boulder’s door and recognize that it’s OK to change our minds.” In my experience of al...