To the editor:
Regarding Coreen Toll’s editorial YIMBY (Yes in My Back Yard): Well, no, Ms. Toll, not in my back yard.
Ms. Toll starts out by accusing those of us who have written or rewritten the Manitou Zoning Ordinance of being “racist.” What an outrageous comment! As a member of the Planning Commission years ago when we reworked this document, I take umbrage at her accusation.
If Ms. Toll can’t produce evidence that we were racist, she should apologize to former commission members and city staff, who worked so hard on the document. And she should resign from the Manitou Housing Advisory Board as chair.
Ms. Toll says we should divide our houses (co-housing and home sharing) to make room for others. She is old enough to remember, but perhaps needs to go back and watch the movie “Doctor Zhivago” (1965), about the communist revolution in Russia, and see how all this plays out.
If Ms. Toll wants to share her house, I suggest she post her address.
She says that our young children can’t afford what we spent 40 years paying for … it’s unfair.
“Racism,” “inequality”: These kinds of accusations are straight out of the Marxist playbook … divide the masses by ethnicity and generations.
Ms. Toll wants us to build Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) in our back yards. To what end?
Does Manitou truly need more people living here? More traffic?
At the moment, Manitou Avenue is so congested as to reach gridlock daily. ADU housing in our back yards will help that situation, I’m sure.
Chuck Smith is a former member of City Council, the Planning Commission, the Historic Preservation Commission and the Mineral Springs Foundation.