EDITOR’S DESK: The downside of Territory Days

       That was an intriguing discussion Oct. 13 at the special meeting of the Organization of Westside Neighbors (OWN), regarding neighborhood impacts from Territory Days.
       It seems that the Old Colorado City merchants - despite their best efforts - had not been aware till now of the problems nearby neighborhoods were experiencing as an offshoot of 100,000-plus people attending the event annually over three-day spans.
       So, from that standpoint, the meeting was good, in terms of providing information "from the front lines" about trash, parking violators, trespassers and worse. But it seems a bit overboard to propose, as a couple of people did at the meeting, that Territory Days should not even continue in Old Colorado City. Why not just reach in and take the heart out of the Westside? There seems to be a real misunderstanding by some people of how important businesses are to the vitality of an area - here especially, where the present commercial district was once the Colorado City municipality's downtown... and still carries that torch to some degree to this day. Surely, an intelligent assessment of the problems can lead to improvements in future Territory Days that will mitigate the problems of the residents as much as reasonably possible. Not that all their suffering can be eliminated. There needs to be an understanding that such an event announces our area to the rest of the world. And yes, you nay-sayers, that is a good thing...
       I don't want to sign off without a farewell to Edna Pooler, who embodied a solitary style and grace, despite 88 clearly hard-lived years. Of her own volition, she always put our newspapers on top at La Baguette and enjoyed telling me so. Good-bye, Miss Edna.

- K.J.