Wanatka Announces His Candidacy
Sometimes Durango is characterized as a Boulder wanna-be! Winning a seat on the city council is one sure-fire way to promote a political agenda, and, in the past, many city councilors have done just that. This year we have two candidates with centrists views and two with progressive inclinations. The former are candidates from the business community, the latter are from academia. The winners in April’s election will have several years to influence and direct the future of Durango.
More than ever, Durango needs to expand and upgrade the quality of employment opportunities for its residents. In my opinion, that’s a job for candidates with a proven track record in the business world…people who know how to create jobs and attract the kind of businesses that help the local economy. We also need candidates whose character is beyond reproach, particularly with regards to the public trust.
Our local newspaper monopoly, The Durango Herald, has endorsed its pet candidates–liberals all–even glossing over a pending discrimination lawsuit against one of them, Sweetie (sic) Marberry, while acting as chair of a public board charged with approving building applications in a historic district. In its typical arrogant manner, this biased daily gives their candidates a free pass when it comes to vetting. Conversely, in its Sunday edition on March 20th, their description of an unendorsed candidate was pure fabrication, a sophomoric piece of dribble that wouldn’t pass fact-check muster in a high school newspaper. Saul Alinsky would be proud! Shameless!
We have a candidate for city council who has all the requisite credentials: Business acumen, leadership and community service. An objective review of his resume reveals the qualities any community would be delighted to see in their leaders. A resume, however, doesn’t speak about character and ethics. Aside from his known leadership qualities and community service, this is a candidate who possesses the intellect, personality and diplomacy to grasp and deal with complex and thorny issues. Here’s an anecdote that addresses the character issue.
In 2003, his company applied for approval of a new subdivision within city limits. Technically, the project was called “in-fill development”, though which property within the city that was underutilized and a community eye-sore was converted to its “best and highest use”.
His company’s plan was to convert that space into a subdivision of good quality, well-designed and reasonably priced townhomes. Their goal was to price those homes at a level affordable to residents who worked in the community in jobs such as teachers, firefighters, retail clerks, and young couples. I asked, “Why would you pick that price point while other developers are building products in the city and county for twice that amount?” His reply was, “We think it’s something we’d like to do for the community.”
Under his leadership, his company put millions of dollars at risk to pursue their dream to help people within the community who were previously priced out of the market. The finished product, Parkside Terrace, won several awards from the city.
We’re fortunate to have a quality candidate such as this offering to serve the city. I urge you to support his candidacy…I urge you to support Emil Wanatka for City Council. The other candidate with the proper credentials is Connie Imig. Connie is an impressive, forward-thinking professional woman who will serve the city well. Both would be welcomed additions to a city council that needs more balance and sensible and pragmatic leadership!
