Published in the Glenwood Springs Post Independent on January 8, 2020.
The city of Glenwood is a wonderful place to live, but it has a civic engagement problem. If you’ve felt a bit out of the loop on some major decisions the city has made over the last year or two, you are not alone.
In a time when population growth and external threats like the Mid-Continent quarry expansion loom large, the city needs more buy-in from locals and more diverse voices at the table.
It is obvious, however, that city leadership does not feel the need to prioritize those things.
Lindsay DeFrates 
I am delighted you spoke about civic engagement in Glenwood. The city council meetings are unwelcoming. The surveys appear with answer options to give a predetermined result. Too much money wasted on studies and consultants. Housing/recreation/decisions that do not benefit citizens. As you stated, citizens going to meetings does not result in opinions being heard. Lack of economic and racial diversity on council and in committees. Please keep up pressure on citizens to participate and the city to do a better job of informing and including us.
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Your op-ed is spot on. I have 50 pages of documents describing the waste of $235,000 on the City’s parking structure. Never one word of acknowledgement by a councilperson or a city manager. Would love to meet you at the structure, anytime, and walk you through it. Or is it to remain under the rug?
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