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Show wN UTSHELL UBT BALES HEAD IN THE SAND AT CITY HALL? A PRIME EXAMPLE In the Feedback section of this issue, Moab City Manager Donna Metzler responds to criticisms and complaints about the way the current administration operates these days. The reader might want to read Ms. Metzler's letter before proceeding with this story. But as plans proceeded, Erb was told he would have to pay the city $1000 for the sidewalk work done next to his building. He objected but, like most of us, got tired of fighting City Hall. He did not actually receive a bill from Moab City until this year. Meanwhile Zarxx was working to complete his project. A key part of the sculpture, a smooth piece of black marble was about to be shipped from Washington at a cost of $600 and, according to Erb, Zarxx insisted that if Vern paid the shipping he would be reimbursed as soon as the city paid Zarxx. Reluctantly, he paid the $600. But no sooner had he shelled out the cash than the city said it owed Zarxx nothing. Frustrated beyond tears, Erb asked just who owned the new sculpture. David Olsen advised Erb that Moab City was the legal owner. Fine, said Vern and notified the city that he intended to file a lien against Moab for the shipping costs. The city vacillated and squirmed and finally agreed to pay the $600. But incredibly they agreed to pay in the form of a credit against the $1000 the city claimed Erb owed for the sidewalk improvements. It took seven months for the city to finally apply the credit to Erb’s balance. It takes five days to get a “final disconnect notice" from the city for a late water bill. They obviously don’t practice what they preach at City Hall. Vernon Erb has lived in Moab all his life and has been one of Moab’s most prominent businessmen for more than a quarter of a century. In 1989 Vern opened the Hogan Trading Company on Main Street and, more than six years ago, moved into his new building at the corner of Main Street and 100 South. It is one of the more attractive new buildings to be constructed in Moab in recent years and borders the edge of scenic Mill Creek as the stream winds its way through town toward the Colorado River. For a decade, the City of Moab has been planning and constructing the Mill Creek Parkway, a scenic bike and walking path that follows the creek bottom from a point west of Main Street to its terminus on the east side of town. (L) The Hogan Trading Company and the city’s water arch. (R) Vern Erb and one of the trespassing wind sculptures. Instead of the direct. personal and sometimes ugly confrontations of the past, we are now faced with a kind of randomly unresponsive and adversarial administration that doesn't seem to like any of us. Vernon’s property included the north creek bank and the creek itself to the center of the stream. The City needed that land to proceed with construction and when approached by the City, Erb agreed to deed over a portion of the land to Moab at no charge. According to Erb, the City agreed, in return, to give Vern a narrow strip of land along 100 South and to complete the sidewalk work adjacent to his store at no charge to Vern. It sounded like a fair deal. Then a couple of years ago, Vern was approached by city employee David Olsen and an artist named Zarxx. Zarxx wanted to build a sculpture along the parkway and hoped to construct it near Vernon’s store. While the city didn’t fund the artist’s project, it enthusiastically supported private contributions and Vern donated $1000 to the project. The Hogan also served as a base of operations for the sculpture work and Vern made a wide assortment of tools and equipment available to Zarxx. This spring work on the downtown section of the parkway was near completion, as was the sculpture. One afternoon, after a particularly long day, Vern went home in the late afternoon to take a nap. He had barely closed his eyes when the phone rang. It was his employee, calling to say that Compliance Officer Debby Gilger needed to talk to Vern immediately. Gilger took the phone and advised Vern Erb that a couple of his wind sculptures were on city property and that she intended to have them moved immediately. They were two feet on city property. A few feet farther and they might have been on city property that Vern donated. The sculptures are delicately balanced works of art that rest on large concrete pedestals and Vern did not want the city moving WRITERS Charles of the WEST Wilkinson Congress may not have yet declared this part of Canyonlands as official wilderness, but land can define itself on its own terms. This land is wilderness: it is healthy and magnificent and remote and roadless, and the few people are swallowed up in it. In addition to its intrinsic worth, it has the value of distinctiveness. We have long thought of wilderness in terms of alpine forests, snow-capped summits, and coldwater streams. This wild desert country--so different from the normal conception of wilderness and only recently understood--expands minds by causing us to focus on the different virtues found where the expensive sculptures, so eventually, he drove back into town to deal with the situation directly. On his property was an assortment of city equipment and materials left over from the parkway construction and Erb asked Gilger if it wasn’t fair for the city to move its mess. extreme aridity prevails, where water is scarce, where vegetation is scant. There is more wild desert on the Colorado Plateau than anywhere else. Yet we are at the same stage as we are with preserving the work of the Old People; we have given some protection to wild desert lands-the trail to the Confluence and Chesler Park are examples--but we still have not gathered the will to take the kind of stand the wild places merit. From Fire on the Plateau Available at Back of Beyond Books, 83 North Main Street, 435.259.5154 |