Dear Mayor John Graham and City Council:
Scott Harvey, engineer and member of the Climate Action Work Group, has just unearthed the incredible, visionary plan known as the MS Forward created in 2012.
Much to my horror and dismay, several key components are not included in the current Plan Manitou. This would include the inclusion of a climate action/environmental advisory committee.
This document establishes the historical relevance for the CAWG and its increasing civic demands for a citizen advisory committee on behalf of climate crisis.
I find this unacceptable and intolerable as it relates to the dangerous realities of climate crisis and all 17 initiatives outlined for sincere development by a community that has demonstrated its commitment. Obviously, the heart and soul of Manitou still is alive even when the Powers That Be are not in alignment with the community’s values, ethics and principles.
This underscores the inherent worth and value of the Climate Action Work Group and necessitates its legitimacy since it was clearly included in the MS Forward plan.
From this point forward there is absolutely NO ground to bastardize the Climate Action Work Group. That we have no power. That our persistent concerns, ideas, frustrations and constant work has been labelled as drama and or fear-based.
As an Indigenous Elder, I consider those labels and derogatory statements as discriminatory and a form of harassment. As an Indigenous Elder, those statements are a perpetuation of Modern Day Colonialism that is insidious and negatively ingrained into the current systems as evidenced in Manitou Springs.
The conflicts the CAWG members are dragged into are not of our doing but out of sincere citizen concern that we demonstrate over and over and over again. Our obvious commitment goes as far back as 2012 MS Forward.
Melody Daugherty,
executive director of Manitou Pollinators