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If you have never visited Dickens Farm Nature Area on the east end of the St. Vrain Greenway, it’s a treat. Tucked behind the Dick’s Sporting Goods on the north side of Ken Pratt, the greenway is an expansive space dotted by trees and native grasses, sliced through by a lazy creek. On its southeast end you’ll find a kids play area built from the detritus of the 2013 flood, featuring pillars cut from the trunks of trees carried away by the St. Vrain as it swelled. Its design is beautiful and practical and reminds us why the park exists in the first place: Thanks to flooding, we had no choice.
This November a new measure, Ballot Question 3C, asks Longmont to allocate a bond to finish the western end of the greenway. As with the eastern park, the work is a continuation of flood remediation, and isn’t really optional. In fact, the greenway effort is already funded by stormwater fees from our city utility bill. The purpose of the bond is to allocate more of the money up-front, so that projects can be scoped and built more quickly. There is no new tax, just permission to issue a bond against fees we’re already collecting.
The alternative, pay as you go, has the potential to cost Longmont more. The effort would slowed and split into smaller bits, leaving us exposed to the risk of flooding for a longer period.
This is honestly as humdrum of a ballot measure as we could ask for, in a world where humdrum politics is a wonderful change of pace. Ballot Question 3C deserves our yes. If you are wondering what the ‘public good’ looks like, go visit the southeast corner of Longmont. Bring a friend, and ask them to vote for 3C as well.
Seth Miller
Longmont, CO
