Is there any wonder that education costs so much?

The Chancellor of the University of Colorado in Boulder made more than $505,000 last year.

He doesn’t teach, nor is he essential to the day to day running of anything; the previous chancellor was a strictly political appointee who was forced out of office when the political landscape changed. Chancellors are lead administrators, that’s it. They administrate the administrators.

Now CU is purchasing a $3.75 million dollar mansion for the lead administrator to live in so they don’t have to spend any of their $829,000 chancellor’s salary on some rental or actual home. Is there any wonder education costs so much?

— David Klamann, Boulder

Who is to gain from new Iris Avenue project?

I have been encouraged to write my questions about Iris. I’ll be 80 and have been driving since 16 with years of biking before I was 60. We have lived in Newlands since 1969 and have used Iris all these years. Personally, I find the whole remodeled stretch of Folsom between Pearl and Valmont utterly confusing, cluttered and dangerous, including adjoining constrictions on Spruce and Glenwood. I understand this model inspires the Iris Project. To create more of this for North Boulder makes no sense to me. I spoke with my son who is a Civil Engineer and has designed and managed many CDOT projects to get a bigger picture of what goes into the projects. He gave me links to the Iris project plans and studies which are available for evaluation. I asked a past City Attorney Paralegal whether the money is lost if you pull a project or if it can be redirected to other projects. She indicated it can easily be redirected.

There have been many educated and wise citizen opinions voiced, which duplicate my concerns. Why is there such a shut down on this conversation? Who is to gain with this project going through? Not safety, if the Folsom Project is a sample. Not bicyclists, as they are flexible and work out their own tranquil, safe and efficient routes. And certainly not our well being or the environment, as traffic jams and cutting east/west access options create overload, pollution and challenge our mental health. Would repaving and clean, clear painted lines and turns that clarify and simplify be more helpful and much less expensive? A design that calms, is spacious and visually uncluttered feels a safer environment to make good driving and biking decisions. I would love to hear from you who see this as an important project. Please, I want to understand. From a proponent of Flow and Cooperation.

— Judy Potter, Boulder

Trump’s political tactics have historical precedent

Some of the political tactics being used in the election of 2024 have familiar historical precedents. Adolph Hitler, and his propaganda master Goebbels, found that if you disenfranchised the legitimate media by calling it “Fake News” and told the same lies repeatedly for years, millions of people would believe you. Their strategy was to deceive and motivate the masses. Hitler suggested this in his book “Mein Kampf” (My Fight) in 1927.

“To whom should propaganda be addressed? To the scientifically trained intelligentsia or to the less educated masses? It must be addressed always and exclusively to the masses.”

Trump and his cronies have used the same techniques to undermine the presidential election of 2020 for the last four years. The charges of fraud were thrown out in over 60 court cases across the U.S.

Trump’s Attorney General Bill Barr, said there was no fraud, and said the charges were “bulls—t.” Trump is still repeating the lie daily at rallies.

Trump is threatening violence again, and members of the Trump branch of the Republican Party are agreeing, and are trying to suppress voting. It’s good to see that Republicans for Harris, The Lincoln Project, and Liz Cheney are all honest Republicans working to defeat the dishonesty.

— Alan Apt, Nederland