|
||||
|
Oct. 21, 2000 By Gail Binkly After several years as the chairman of the local Democratic Party chapter, retired electronics teacher Tony Valdez decided it was time to run for office instead of just backing others who did. He is trying to unseat county Commissioner Kent Lindsay in the race in District 2. The two candidates disagree on at least one major issue: the commission’s unanimous approval Sept. 18 of a controversial proposal for a gravel pit at the Line Camp in the Dolores River Valley. Valdez says he would have voted no on the project. "They should have denied it," he said. "There are other properties that could have been used that would not have impacted the residents of that area." The opponents of the pit, he said, "are not upset about the gravel pit itself. It’s where it’s going to be. That area is pretty dense with population. My contention is I hate to see all these little postage stamps going all the way up the valley." Already, he said, there are numerous former and current gravel pits strung out along the river, leaving square ponds in their wake. "How many ponds can we have?" he asked. Valdez believes the county’s Landowner-Initiated Zoning system needs to be strengthened and improved. In particular he would like to see the adoption of the Universal Building Code for all new homes. At present, new homes in rural areas need not follow the UBC, although persons who do build to code can have that recorded by the county so future buyers will know. "I don’t like the word ‘mandatory,’ but it should be a code that is enforced," Valdez said. " But Valdez does not disagree greatly with the current commission on another controversial issue, the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument. Valdez, like the commissioners, thinks the area would have been better off as a national conservation area. Valdez said he doesn’t think the general public knew much about the issue at the time the monument was proposed. He worries about the impacts of increased tourism on the county’s roads, law enforcement and fire districts. He believes it would be a good idea to try to have the monument reversed. Rather than the county spending money on litigation, Valdez said, there should be "a combined effort" involving the state to get the designation overturned. "We need help from the legislators," he said. Valdez supports a proposal on the Nov. 7 ballot to end term limits for county officials. "Most counties have overturned the term limits," he said. "I don’t know why we haven’t." It is difficult to get qualified people for many posts, he said, and a great deal of time and money goes into training them. In addition, term limits curtail voters’ choices, he said. Valdez would like to work on improving transportation in Southwest Colorado. "There’s some transportation for senior citizens and for the handicapped, but I don’t think there’s enough of it," he said. A veterans clinic will be opening in Durango in the summer and it may be difficult for some veterans to get there from Cortez, he said. He would like to see a subsidized shuttle between the two cities. Valdez also would like to work on providing more handicapped-accessible housing in Cortez — he said the county could help by pushing for it — and to speed up bringing high-speed fiber-optics to the entire area Health care is another critical issue, according to Valdez. "Montezuma County has got to really, really look at their health care," he said, "not just the hospital but the nursing homes and the county health care. One of the biggest problems now is the pay scale for our caregivers is so low it is causing problems." The commissioners can have little direct effect on health-care salaries, he admitted, but can work with the Southwest Memorial Hospital boards. "That’s all the county can really get involved with there," he said. |
||||
|
Copyright © 2000 the Cortez Journal.
All rights reserved. |
