Letters to the Editor

Thank you Copper Mountain, library

Once again Broadway and film actor Duffy Hudson rocked us to the core with two performances of his one-man show Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol," performed for us at the Boulder City Library. One couldn't help but be moved by his masterful performance, making all the characters in Dickens' tale come alive. Some may remember his past performances at the library where he took on the characters of Albert Einstein, George Burns and Audie Murphy. This man is a great talent.

Many thanks for the generosity of Copper Mountain Solar for sponsoring this holiday event for our community, and, as always, thank you to the library trustees and director Lynn Schofield-Dahl for once again giving us the privilege of having quality theater here in Boulder City.

Bravo to all!

Linda Barnett

Art guild's support of community should be reciprocal

In response to last week's letter from Marilyn Kohr, I would like to fill in the blanks and connect the dots for those who have yet to visit the Boulder City Art Gallery and who are not aware of the Boulder City Art Guild.

The guild is a 501c3 nonprofit organization and the gallery is the face of the guild. "Celebrating the Seasons" is the theme for a Boulder City Art Guild gallery exhibit that started in November and continues this month. The receptions at the gallery are always open to the public, but this time the guild went to great lengths to mail out invitations to the City Council, city officials and organizations. Our goal was to reach out to local residents and offer a nice evening where they could learn of the many ways the guild gives to the Boulder City community. The guild's mission is to promote art and art education throughout Southern Nevada — and that begins at home in Boulder City.

Beside the obvious art gallery in the Boulder Dam Hotel, the guild awards scholarships to children in town who would otherwise not be able to participate in the Parks and Recreation Department's art center's courses. Why are art courses important in the overall picture? Because these classes provide more than just art instruction to these preteens; they provide esteem building, learning to work individually and within a group, social skills and so much more.

The guild artists offer their time and talents to the community voluntarily. Currently, Tommy Tucker is spearheading a group of artists who are painting a large backdrop for the Boulder City Chamber of Commerce. It is a winter wonderland scene that will be used for Saturday's Santa's Picture Party. The backdrop is huge, 20 feet by 40 feet, and this team is painting for hours over several days to create the scene that Santa will sit in front of.

The guild artists donate original art work to St. Jude's Ranch for Children's fundraising silent auctions and many other worthy events. A guild artist offered her time and talent to re-create the Boulder City Community Club's Doodlebug character for this year's Doodlebug craft bazaar, scheduled for Saturday

Ms. Kohr did not explain that as a nonprofit organization the guild holds fundraising events, and the raffle for the pair of tickets to attend PBS's Downton Abbey Tea is one of those events. The Winter ArtFest and Spring ArtFest are also fundraisers, but they are much more than that; they are traditional, annual events that welcome artists and guests from all over the Southwest to our community for the two-day weekend events.

I believe Ms. Kohr's intent was heartfelt and I appreciate her support of the guild. She was correct when stating that a City Council member announced that he would like to see November be a month where Boulder City Art Guild's Winter ArtFest was the city's big event for that month, much like Art in the Park is in October and Doodlebug Bazaar is in December, and yet no one from the council attended the Winter ArtFest held at the Recreation Center on Nov. 7-8.

Ms. Kohr's disappointment in those in city leadership is understandable. Had any city officials attended either the Winter ArtFest or the Seasons reception at the gallery, the Boulder City Art Guild's newsletter editor would have enthusiastically taken photos and written an article praising the support of the city. The guild's monthly newsletter goes out electronically to members, friends of the guild, many art and charitable organizations, onto the chamber and guild's websites, and is posted on many Facebook pages.

Also, the newsletter editor hand-delivers hard copies of the monthly newsletter to the City Council. The goodwill between Boulder City and the Boulder City Art Guild would have been seen as a positive highlight. I know this for a fact, because I am the newsletter editor. I, too, was disappointed at the missed opportunity to share and spread good cheer and camaraderie, but maybe all the city officials were busy. After all, this is the busiest time of year.

Yolanda Grouell

Safety of new crossing to park questionable

Can we rethink the Buchanan Boulevard crossings from Broadmoor Circle and Royal Birkdale Drive to Veterans Memorial Park? I question the design features of the partially constructed, so-called "safe" areas for pedestrians crossing Buchanan to and from Veterans Memorial Park near, but not at, the intersection of Broadmoor Circle/Commons Way.

I have been told that although not yet completed that there will soon be a crosswalk at this location, approximately 250 feet north of the intersection. I realize that there are neither designated crosswalks nor signs or signals indicating pedestrian crossings anywhere near this intersection, except the one faded pedestrian sign on northbound Buchanan between Royal Birkdale Drive and Broadmoor Circle.

This is a 45-mph-posted downhill section of Buchanan and I feel that utilizing the new location is even more dangerous than currently crossing Buchanan at the large Broadmoor Circle/Commons Way intersection to the park.

Most of us have been taught at an early age that for safety-related pedestrian and vehicular visibility we should cross at open intersections if crosswalks are not available. Additionally, prior to the new crossing being completed there will have to be modifications to the median area on the east side of northbound Buchanan between the street and the storm channel. This will include relocating or deleting the permanently installed utility features approximately 180 feet north of Broadmoor Circle along with the installation of Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant sidewalks. The same applies where Royal Birkdale enters but does not cross Buchanan.

Then there is the little issue of the "safe haven," or suicide zone as I see it, in the median between northbound and southbound lanes of Buchanan approximately three car lengths south of the last visibility-restricting tree in the center median and coincident with the beginning of the southbound left turn lane into Broadmoor Circle.

This just doesn't seem right to me, but neither does proposing a roundabout at the Adams Boulevard and Veterans Memorial Drive intersection. I spent some time midweek during morning rush hour, between 8 and 8:30 a.m., at that location, observing and documenting what I believe to be a very efficient intersection providing a smooth traffic entrance to Boulder City and efficient and fast-moving egress to the west. It is well controlled with efficiently timed traffic signals resulting in outstanding traffic flow, unlike another of our choke points of entrance and egress, the intersection of Buchanan and U.S. Highway 93.

Harold Begley