Community benefit agreements put Greeley first
As Greeley considers major projects like the Cascadia Catalyst development, we should be asking a simple question: Who truly benefits from this growth? A Community Benefit Agreement, or CBA, is a practical way to make sure the answer is everyone.
A CBA ensures that when a project is large enough to reshape our city, it also strengthens the people who already live here. These agreements are guided by those who know the community best: neighbors, small businesses, parents, students, teachers and seniors. It is not about what is done to us. It is about what we do together.
If our city is committing to decades of financial obligation, such as a 40-year debt tied to a project, there should be equally long-term benefits for residents. That could mean 40 years of internships for local students, 40 years of scholarships for lower-income families, and 40 years of free or reduced access to community amenities like ice arenas so all kids, regardless of income, can participate. Long-term public investment should come with long-term public return.
CBAs also promote fiscal responsibility. They can require commitments to infrastructure, transportation, access to healthy food, housing that is affordable and maintainable, and support for our unhoused neighbors. They ensure that promised jobs are truly livable jobs with benefits and upward mobility, not just part-time positions.
If a developer is receiving public support or favorable terms, a CBA is how we ensure they are invested in Greeley’s well-being, not just their own bottom line. Developers who say they love this community should be willing to put that commitment into writing.
Greeley deserves growth that lifts up the whole community. A Community Benefit Agreement is how we make sure it does.
Mary Metzger, Greeley
Make a statement for Greeley with 1A vote
Voting yes on 1A will make a statement. Voter conscious vs. economic risk.
I live in Windsor, a mile and a half from the Cascadia project being erected west of Greeley. I will no longer travel on County Road 17 because of the commercial enterprise rising from the dust where U.S. 34 meets CR 17. All my business will now go north or west to avoid the sprawling complex Cascadia.
Two brothers in Loveland dominate the development along 25. My son worked for their father in 1995 when the outlet mall was carved out of the cornfields along the interstate. They had a big head start and the owner of the hockey team that will migrate to Greeley had his team at Loveland’s venue. It has been pointed out by others; it would be cheaper for developers to build a new venue than to update the Ranch. If hockey is profitable enough, The Ranch will again host a team there.
Greeley, Johnston, Loveland, Fort Collins Berthoud and Longmont are the oasis of commercialism along the northern Front Range corridor. I believe only the City Council of Greeley has mortgaged its livelihood, at the expense of suspicious legislative roadblocks to exclude many from their right to express their dissatisfaction with Cascadia. What the developers are already saying in your Greeley Tribune is that they want their money up front. Now!
Over time, when the mine goes bust, as those mines in Loveland, Fort Collins and other Front Range cites have demonstrated their short lifespans, Greeley’s citizens will pony up for Cascadia and other get rich schemes. The developers have no risk if the project proceeds. Perhaps, justice for Greeley voters, will replace those who seek to fill their wallets with cash.
Bob Grimes, Windsor
The profanity, insulter, pejorative president
Well, it’s official. We have a racist president. Many of us knew this for a long time and many denied this fact. Pawning it off as a joke, a meme, or “he says what’s on his mind.” What in the world is going on? What in the U.S. is going on? I don’t know where to begin. Racism, sexism, antisemitism, lack of due process, tariffs, Venezuela, Greenland, ICE, the economy, democracy, defunding research, debunking scientific advances, retribution tour, blaming everything on Biden or the Democrats. Criminals who curry Trump’s favor receive clemency, and investigations into suspicious behavior by his cronies are canceled or never opened and worst of all executing US citizens in public for protesting and calling it justified.
The lies that come out of this administration are so numerous. Do any of you have a job where you can say these things to someone: washed up, psycho, horseface, fat, ugly, nasty, crooked, lying, dogs, fat pigs, slobs, nasty, crazy, nut job, dope, dishonest, phony, dummy, garbage, retarded, deranged, animal, overrated, mouthing “f— you” while giving someone the middle finger. These are just some of the words Trump has used. I believe you would be dismissed from your job rather quickly. What a great example for all of us and especially our children. How did we get here to allow this to be normal?
Tim Berendt, Greeley
Stand up to do and say what’s right
Good people are giving away their freedoms by remaining silent out of fear of the tyranny of others. When people are afraid to stand up and say what they know to be right because a small group of people engage in demonizing they give away what makes our country a unique place in the world. As much as a minority of people want to voice and scream to tell you they hate you and they despise this country it is still the place where the rest of the world still wants to come too. They want to come here for freedom to raise a family without fear, to have an opportunity to prosper, to worship God as they want, and to have a say in being something bigger than themselves.
What makes our country great is that it is has a government that is made for the people and be made up of the people. But by remaining silent and not wanting to participate in its process you give that greatness away to greedy politicians, to the wealthy and elites that say let us make decisions for what is best for you. Being afraid of doing and saying what is right is what is the danger to our way of life and to our self-governance.
Lee Falconburg, Windsor
60th Avenue streetlights need to be fixed
I have lived at Good Samaritan Fox Run since September 2024. During that time, all streetlights on the west side of 60th Avenue across from the apartments have been out! Management here has reported the outages repeatedly — no action.
All of the residents are elderly here and fear going out at night with no streetlights. Several residents here have dogs whom they walk at night, in the dark and while crossing unlit 60th Avenue.
What does it take — a death? — to get some attention to correct the situation.
Joyce A. Scott, PhD, Greeley
Editor’s note
We will accept letters and guest opinions about the 1A issue only until Feb. 17, to ensure that there is time to print the ones we receive prior to the election.
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