Boy, oh boy….I must have struck a nerve! So let me repeat my viewpoint. I don’t believe the court house/justice center needed to be as fancy as it looks—from the outside. I never addressed the “tasteful interior.” Because I haven’t seen it.    

I don’t agree with showers, in preparation for a “possible chemical burn from cleaning supplies,” nor do I believe taxpayers need to pay for showers for staff to “maintain healthy activities” during their breaks and lunch hours. Really? 

I do not believe Alamosa/San Luis Valley should be compared to a courthouse in Pueblo. Nor should it be compared to what is being called the Taj Mahal in Golden (thinking that’s the right city?). We are Alamosa, in the San Luis Valley, no more, no less.

The justice center, more than anything, needed to be SAFE — for everyone who works there and for law enforcement who bring over the prisoners, etc. This could have been accomplished with a nice structure, a simple structure, without the dog houses (sky lights), without the different colored brick patterns, without the alcoves, etc. It seems to me, in my simple-minded way, that a million dollars could have easily been saved by simplifying and then maybe that money could have been used to pay staff at the jail. And then employees would have had more money to spend in town, and then more taxes would have been paid, then the county could have bought a shrub. Or a bench, or whatever.

Asking the community for money for landscaping is probably fine and dandy, but that donation to the County of Alamosa may mean that some other needy person or organization will do without—for landscaping? I guess I am not one of those “caring individuals” Ms. Dennis writes about—and I see that as an insult! I believe I am very caring, very, very caring!

Yes, much of the funding for the justice center comes from grants—doesn’t that mean it comes from taxpayers, somehow, some way? Is it free money? Do we not have to pay anything back?

I’m still trying to wrap my brain around the costs of the justice center. Maybe I have a very small brain—some folks might think so—oh, well. As far as pride….I am proud of my gardening/landscaping and I am proud of my store, the Green Spot, and I am proud of Society Hall. I am proud of the area I call Lower Downtown Alamosa—LODA.  I hope that Alamosa continues to thrive. I know I work seven days a week in my business and I guess I am lucky, because I really love my store and my customers. I don’t have enough hours in a day to do everything I want to do in my community—but there is always tomorrow.

And shame on me for not going out to the county administrator and asking for answers! I’ll try and do better next time! My snippets of “sourness”—for stating an opinion? Tomorrow is another day.

Sincerely,

Ruthie Brown

Alamosa