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Letters to the Editor

Compiled by Vail Daily staff
Vail CO, Colorado

Lost my vote

I don’t know why this makes me so angry.

On April 25, I read in the Vail Daily that the Avon Town Council voted unanimously to discontinue bus service to the Wal-Mart and Buffalo Ridge stops. My reaction was surprise and incredulity as I continued to read the article. “This can’t be final,” I thought. Or maybe, “there are mitigating circumstances that make this situation less severe than it appears?”



By the time I finished reading, however, I was convinced it was as bad as I suspected, so my emotions changed to indignation and a sad realization that our “happy valley” has its share of people in power who are hopelessly out of touch.

Why am I so angry? I don’t even ride the Avon Town Shuttle. I have a car, so I drive whenever I need to shop at Wal-Mart. I don’t live at Buffalo Ridge.

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Perhaps I am bothered because I used to ride the bus. I haven’t always had the luxury of owning a working car, so I remember what it was like to wait at a bus stop, thankful that I didn’t have to walk all the way home carrying bags of groceries. I also remember planning where I would live based on whether the apartment was near a bus stop.

Maybe I am irritated because I know people who live at Buffalo Ridge. The average resident there doesn’t make a lot of money. They may only have one car for a family of four. What do they do when they have schedules that don’t allow carpooling? What do they do when the car breaks down? These innocent people depend on the town to provide bus service.

The people left out in the cold by the Avon Town Council are those most in need of town services. Wasn’t Buffalo Ridge built as “affordable housing” for workers? Doesn’t the Town Council feel any responsibility to them?

Perhaps the biggest reason I am writing this letter is the reason that ought to drive everyone in this town to indignation: The people who use this bus service are the least powerful and most in need of someone to stand up for them.

To council-members Ron Wolfe, Brian Sipes, Rich Carroll, Dave Dantas, Kristi Ferraro, Amy Phillips, and Tamra Nottingham Underwood: You did not just lose the votes of people whose lives are directly affected by this bus service. You lost my vote, too.

Greg Chandler

Avon


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