We must ensure BIFF is allowed to grow and thrive

Largely, the fact that the Sundance Film Festival may be coming to Boulder is a tribute to the 20 years of success and growth of the Boulder International Film Festival (BIFF). BIFF is not only a cultural and artistic gift to our town that we can’t lose; it’s one of Boulder’s most successful women-run enterprises.

We are long-time supporters of BIFF and we, along with thousands of attendees, love BIFF’s outstanding films and programming. We also love the fact that BIFF is affordable, and the films are accessible.

If Sundance comes to Boulder, it will certainly provide large and much-needed economic benefits to our local businesses, but please make sure that BIFF is also allowed to grow and thrive into the future.

— Kevin and Pat Eggleston, Boulder

Ruth Wright has taught us to keep an eye on our future

When Ruth Wright talks about driving over Davidson Mesa in 1957 and seeing the Boulder Valley for the first time, it’s clear that’s when her love affair with this place started! That love and Ruth’s commitment to this community have driven her decades of activism. In the face of growth, instead of complaining about the pace of residential development, increased traffic and the number of employers moving to Boulder, Ruth spent unlimited time and treasure in shaping growth and protecting our natural environment.

Ruth has invested decades in working with others to establish our Open Space system and the sales tax measures that fund it — making Boulder the first city in the nation to tax ourselves to purchase and maintain open space lands. By chairing PLAN-Boulder, serving on the Open Space Board of Trustees and participating in numerous committee efforts, she has played a role in generating wise decisions for managing our now 72 square miles of city-owned greenbelt.

She claims that she got a law degree “to become a more effective environmentalist” using her time at CU Law to research and propose a city charter amendment to limit building height to 55 feet. Always thinking to the future, she wanted to make sure that future generations could still view our gorgeous mountain backdrop from town, not just use the 150 miles of trails in our Open Space system.

We can all celebrate Ruth’s birthday and legacy by taking the baton and running to accomplish the next 60-years-worth-of-progress with friends and neighbors, our love of the natural world and an eye towards the future as she has so clearly shown us!

— Karen Hollweg, Boulder

BVSD bus should go all the way to Gold Hill

Anybody who has driven to Gold Hill in the winter knows the white-knuckle feeling you get going down the last steep hill into town when it is covered in ice. Now imagine doing that in blizzard conditions with young children walking in the road. That road with no sidewalks, blind curves and two unstable sides that can give way if you walk too close to the edge.

For years, the BVSD school bus has safely picked up children in the town of Gold Hill to bring them down to Casey Middle School and Boulder High. This year, to save the bus less than two minutes (yes, we timed it), Rob Anderson has apparently made a decision that could put our children at risk by stopping the bus at the top of the hill instead of coming down into town. Yes, as parents we can plan to pick our kids up at the top of the hill, but for those of us who need to work, that’s not always possible. In the worst weather, it is nearly impossible to predict when the bus will arrive.

If a Gold Hill child gets hit by an out-of-control car sliding down that hill, it won’t only be a personal tragedy. It could also be a public relations disaster for Rob Anderson and the BVSD school district. All to save two minutes.

— Mark Jordahl, Boulder