Open Forum

Bedrooms Are For People

I had to move away

Ijust moved away from Boulder after six years because it’s become so unaffordable to live here.

I love the community, and I love where I used to live, but the current occupancy law in the city (no more than three unrelated people for most areas) forces young working people out.

At 27, I’ve been working out of college for four years now, and I want to share a home with friends. Unfortunately, the City of Boulder has decided for me that living with friends isn’t an option. I don’t have family around, and I’m not married, so my options for living with people are limited.

I lived with four roommates in a five-bedroom house in South Boulder, but when the city threatened to evict us during the pandemic, I couldn’t feel comfortable in my community anymore.

The inspector came to our house, claiming that there were too many cars parked on the street. He said that frequent visitors to our house could legally be considered tenants per the city code and therefore we could be considered over-occupied because of that. It felt like he was looking for a reason to evict us.

Forcing renters to live illegally takes away the comfort that comes with having a place to live. I started to feel so nervous around our incredibly friendly neighbors because I knew any one of them could report us to the city and then we wouldn’t be able to live there anymore. No one in Boulder should have to feel that way.

Please vote yes on Ballot Question 300, Bedrooms Are For People. against Steve Rosenblum by some community members and the Boulder Progressive Organization. (“Boulder City Council candidate files complaint against community members” Sept. 23.)

Creating fake websites and impersonation accounts on social media to spread lies and misinformation? Has the political discussion in our small city swirled this far down the toilet bowl? These people are clearly so desperate to “defund the police” and lift the ban on camping that they are prepared to “hack” an election and attempt to destroy anyone that stands in their way.

Are they being funded by the Kremlin? Running for local office or participating in policy dialogue should not put anyone in the crosshairs of a few self-appointed zealots for whom the ends justify ANY means.

The behavior and tactics of these individuals has discouraged many residents from participating to avoid the nasty, bullying, and now alleged illegal tactics of this particular crowd. I hope we can all agree with our former District Attorney Stan Garnett, who is now representing Rosenblum that “it’s one thing to go after someone in politics because you disagree with his politics, it’s a whole different world we live in now, where people create fake profiles, where they feel like they can make up whatever lies they want in order to defame an individual. Our democracy deserves better.”

Thank you Mr. Garnett. Their disgusting, alleged illegal behavior has now been exposed and you have done our community a great public service. These tactics and these people, if found culpable for this despicable behavior, have no place in our political dialogue.

Boulder must reject those who use deploy tactics. If we do not, I fear what comes next for our community. and Niwot Road, in his honor, runs along the course.

When my 43-year-old son was a youth, he attended CJ’S “No Embarrassment Golf School” and many locals ate at the “Et Yet? Inn.”

My buddies Fred, Len and I would play no frills golf. We’d look for the bobcat and her kittens as we teed off on Hole 3, and we hoped we didn’t knock the bull frog out with our ball in his pond on Hole 7.

We’d watch our steps avoiding elk droppings on the fairway.

I was touched and impressed by the pride and care Clay Johns, Kevin, Mike, Caryn, Kelly, Crystal, and all the Haystack Mountain crew took to maintain and keep the course running smoothly knowing that in only a week or a few days it would be closed forever!

They did an outstanding job always with a smile and a friendly “Hello!”

Thanks to the Ebel family for creating Haystack and for the Johns family for helping keep it running.

It’s a place where golfers of all abilities and ages can play in a relaxed, natural, and historical setting.

What a better place for the game of golf, and I, along with many others, will truly miss it!