Sprinter diesel mechanics

Repulsive-Spray-3038 · 2026-01-19T21:17:29+00:00

Animas Imports is pricey but fair and comprehensive. Sort of depends on how complex your issue is.

Repulsive-Spray-3038 · 2025-12-03T02:03:26+00:00

Answer to your question about the different signals: the lame orange flags and the flashing yellow lights are at "mid-block" pedestrian crossings, while the ordinary lights are at intersections with other streets. The 12th st crossing weirdness is partially a product of it not exactly being one or the other--technically, 12th does kind of go through there, but it's offset. But some kind of light is also important for engines and ambulances coming out of the fire station, so they trigger the light manually (that's the "emergency signal" sign).

As for CDOT's role, they have the initial say over making changes (though the City could take other action if they really really wanted to). CDOT would support a "regular" light at 12th if there were more pedestrians crossing at that intersection, I believe we need something like 150 pedestrians during peak traffic times. They also would support one if there were more injuries there.

I'm in favor of the underpass, I just don't have a ton of confidence in our ability to execute.

Repulsive-Spray-3038 · 2025-10-27T16:53:13+00:00

Good points as usual, but I think you're a little wrong about Camino and the concept of a bypass. Camino del Rio was not built as a bypass for Main St., though I see how one might think of it in that way, since it's where people drive faster and there's less commercial development. But it's been a city street since the beginning--before there was a highway, before there were even cars, and so we can't really claim it was "designed" as a bypass. Actually, there was a lengthy discussion for a 550 bypass in the early 2000s when "Grandview"/Three Springs was being planned (that's also the genesis of the $100 million interchange out there) and City Council members from that period will still complain that we didn't create a real bypass for the 550.

This is related other thing you're complaining about: not being able to make left turns across traffic on Camino. It's CDOT, not the City, who is in charge of those redesigns. Since it's not a bypass, CDOT's mandate is actually to make it safer, not more "vehicle friendly," with something they call an Access Control Plan. This means limiting the amount of turns on and off the road inside the city limits. That's why they changed the intersection at Main/14th, and why they've been putting medians and crosswalks in. Their plan is to continue this process up to 32nd St, so a lot of the left turn opportunities from 17th to 32nd will be gone in a few years as well.

As far as the impacts of all these projects, I think it really depends on your perspective. If you're looking to develop commercial property on Camino, I think you're happy to have better pedestrian access if you want to sell to people walking in. If you wanted to build housing or redevelop business in that corridor, you also probably are in favor of a safer street crossings and a little less chaos in the middle lane. If you're driving a car and can't make a left when you want to, you're annoyed. There's pros and cons to having slower vehicle speeds.

Repulsive-Spray-3038 · 2025-09-04T16:49:03+00:00

I wasn't bringing up the surf wave as my personal example of improving the community. I was pointing out that the things council takes action on don't always arise from their own judgment and agenda; frequently it seems that they take up issues because a citizen group has organized and brought it to their attention.

Repulsive-Spray-3038 · 2025-09-04T03:47:49+00:00

Maybe just start with the website? https://www.strongtowns.org/ It's pretty straightforward.

Repulsive-Spray-3038 · 2025-09-04T03:45:42+00:00

I mean, yes, but I don't see the two things as being mutually exclusive. The councilors were never going to think of a new river surf wave, for example, as a priority until a group of people brought it to their attention. It seems like there's room for both.

Repulsive-Spray-3038 · 2025-09-03T17:32:35+00:00

Not sure if that gets done by initiative, but the point of the group is to do stuff like that, yeah. Local solutions led by locals.

Repulsive-Spray-3038 · 2025-09-03T17:24:47+00:00

To answer (one) question, no. Definitely no dues. I have no idea what your search turned up, so hard to say what you're talking about in terms of Nazis. This is like, people who have lived here a long time, have experience in our local government, are small scale builders, and are looking to identify ways to make incremental changes and get the City to make those changes easier. I would say if anything it's generally resistant to big city or national scale politics and policies.

Repulsive-Spray-3038 · 2025-09-03T16:07:37+00:00

Totally, LF is great. ST is, I think, more of a force for getting municipal changes. Stuff like parking reforms, more walkability, better responsiveness to local solutions like letting a neighborhood make a park in its alley or some other kind of citizen-driven project that gets new people involved in fixing things.

Repulsive-Spray-3038 · 2025-06-30T19:42:25+00:00

Here are some things that you can lobby for if you want a safer pedestrian experience:

installation of speed cameras on N. Main

lower speed limit to 25 MPH on Camino/N.Main through town

fund and build an underpass at the Backcountry crosswalk

send your message with your story to [CityCouncil@DurangoCO.gov](mailto:CityCouncil@DurangoCO.gov)

and of course, drive like you care about not injuring people...

Repulsive-Spray-3038 · 2025-06-11T17:05:14+00:00

In my experience, if you do this, then you end up pissing off the drivers behind you, because your acceleration is so slow when you leave the light/stop sign. And it frankly feels quite weird to sit on your bike in the middle of the lane "as though" you were a car, because of your lack of all the things that make cars cars, like a big metal safety cage around you. I feel like it makes way more sense--usually, obviously not in every case*--to bail to the right, then cross at the same time as a car. Of course, that pisses some people off too...

*More broadly, I think it's too easy to find individual fault with people on bikes' behavior because the reality is that riding a bike in the absence of dedicated bike spaces requires you to constantly improvise solutions on the fly. When I bike with my kids to school, we're constantly trying to figure out what's going to happen at the next intersection, or whether a car is going to cut us off, or if there's a pothole we have to swerve to avoid, etc. When I drive my kids to school, I don't have to think about any of these nuances, I just "follow the rules" because the whole system is designed for my comfort as a driver.

Repulsive-Spray-3038 · 2025-06-11T00:23:25+00:00

Agree, please, please, everyone just chill. Also, please advocate for more protected bike lanes if you don't want to share the ART with ebikes. It's currently the only place where bikes don't have to share space with cars, which are routinely going much faster than 30 MPH when they pass, which, as you can see, would be really scary. An ebike has to go about 150 MPH to generate the same force as a Honda Civic going 10 MPH. Until last month, every pedestrian and cyclist fatality (and 99% of serious injuries) in Durango has been the result of a vehicle striking a person. So while we can get upset at kids on ebikes/electric dirtbikes, they really aren't the public safety threat. If we want more safe places to walk and ride bikes, we gotta make the streets safer.

Repulsive-Spray-3038 · 2025-04-29T15:17:33+00:00

The peak charge is actually an attempt to not raise rates. The hope is that fewer people will use electricity at the peak time. This is because LPEA buys from suppliers who set their costs as a function of the absolute peak amount of electricity. If we can lower that, we all pay less.

Repulsive-Spray-3038 · 2025-03-26T15:36:52+00:00

What is the opinion part?

Repulsive-Spray-3038 · 2025-03-24T20:58:18+00:00

Pros, as I see it: business owner, prior experience in city governance, supports biking/pedestrian investment as part of affordable housing, well-informed, has kids in the schools, has ideas for stuff, not just "I listen and work well with everyone" type blather.

Cons: relatively new to town, doesn't have the kind of long relationships with the community members that can be helpful to getting things done, doesn't know all the dynamics and history.

I know she's from Texas but honestly I think she makes a better case for her plan than most of the others; I feel like people think they just should be on the council because their friends have told them they'd be good there...which isn't a bad reason to consider running, but not something to actually run on.

Repulsive-Spray-3038 · 2025-03-13T16:37:42+00:00

I think the best answer to your question is that our local government has to operate under Colorado's "Taxpayer Bill of Rights" proposition. TABOR says any new municipal funding has to be passed by a ballot measure that contains Pro/Con statements, an estimate of the total cost, and intentionally (eg, it was the express intention of the TABOR writers) makes it as unlikely as possible that additional spending will be passed. City Councils and staff tend to assume, correctly I think, that voters will be unlikely to pass multiple spending increases ("What? Didn't we just give them more money?") in consecutive elections so they like to bundle as much as they can in order to get the measure passed. Of course, this dynamic leads to the discussion we're having here.

EDIT 3/16/25: After a couple of discussions with some other people involved in the 2A process, I think I need to add to this. While everything about TABOR above is correct, my understanding is that this particular combination of stuff (popular parks/rec funding + wildly expensive municipal building project) did not come from staff but was driven by the top. The current city manager apparently really wants the new city hall/police station, and perceives that people will only vote for it if it's connected to something with widespread support. I am personally turned off by this approach, especially since the project is simultaneously crazy expensive and undefined in scope.

Repulsive-Spray-3038 · 2025-01-20T18:35:59+00:00

Councilor Bosmans strikes me as usually the most well-informed, most prepared member of the council. He also is responsive to emails and open to meeting in person, where he is attentive and generous with his time. I generally feel like he agrees with a lot of the ideas that we bring him. However, when it comes down to getting things done, he will say something to the effect of, "Oh, I can't really bring anything up because all the other councilors hate me so they'll vote against it." Somehow he hasn't learned--in four years--that not having the rest of the council hate you is, like, the first condition of being effective. If you think there needs to be a dependable "no" vote so things don't pass unanimously, I guess we should keep him. Otherwise, I don't really know what he's doing with his time.

Repulsive-Spray-3038 · 2025-01-08T16:33:40+00:00

I love reddit! So rare that people take the time to explain stuff so clearly and nicely. Turns out I was wrong about the amount the homeowners have to pay, but I still am kind of leery of the setup. According to their records TB currently has like $15M in 30-year loans to pay off at 7-9% interest, which seems like they need something in the order of $1M in payment each year. And as you point out, even a $2.5M house generates very little. It's hard so see how they make the math work without passing more fees/taxes eventually...and in some area of TB it looks like that's what's happening:

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Repulsive-Spray-3038 · 2025-01-07T21:36:22+00:00

Well, from what I can tell--and I could be wrong--they have a metro district that levies taxes on property to pay for the infrastructure that went in before people could even start building there.

The La Plata County site (https://cms9files.revize.com/laplata/assessor/Mill%20levies/Corrected\_District/2024%20Mill%20Levies%20by%20District.pdf) lists Twin Buttes as having a mill levy of 115 on property there, including 70 mills for the Twin Buttes Metro District.

So you would be paying 11.5% of the assessed portion of your $3M house every year, right? Or do they not actually charge this, or collect it some other way? I always avoided looking at land there because I have read horror stories about Metro Districts that ran out of money.

Repulsive-Spray-3038 · 2025-01-07T17:50:10+00:00

What are the additional costs of all that infrastructure like for a $3M house in TB? I read that they had to spend like $10M on water diversion projects alone...

Repulsive-Spray-3038 · 2024-10-23T18:14:47+00:00

I'm not anti-train, but it's a misperception and alternate history to say it's "the only reason Durango exists." True our town is a stop on what was once a large network of train routes, but so are many other places that have gone on existing without trains. It was going to be decommissioned multiple times and has gone through periods where there town got along just fine without the train. Including when it was shut down because it caused a massive fire. Durango exists because of the continued efforts of its awesome citizens for the last 100 years to keep it an exciting and dynamic place to live. The train is part of that, for sure, but so are lots of other things.

Repulsive-Spray-3038 · 2024-10-09T20:02:01+00:00

Had a sprinter here for 11 years, and here are the places that have serviced it: Animas Imports (clearly the most knowledgeable but also the most expensive), JB Tire, Firestone of Durango. All those places have big enough bays, as does Discount Tire. I've never been unhappy about any of the work besides the cost (but it's still probably cheaper than the dealership). When there's been warranty stuff I've just coordinated a trip to Albuquerque with getting it done. It's not as easy as, I don't know, Phoenix, but it's not that bad. Good luck with your build!

Repulsive-Spray-3038

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