This commentary is by Matt Benjamin and Tina Marquis, members of the Boulder City Council.
Those of us who serve on Boulder City Council don’t always agree. On land use, transportation and budgets, Tina and I have voted differently more than once. But we agree on this without reservation: The people who work for this city deserve to be treated with dignity. And right now, too many of them aren’t.
We are living through an extraordinarily difficult moment. The direction our federal government has taken has generated fear, grief and fury that is entirely understandable. That anger is real. And we understand that people need somewhere to put it.
For many residents, that somewhere is local government.
We get it. We’ve signed up for it. Email us. Show up at a public hearing. Tell us we’re wrong. That is exactly how democracy is supposed to work.
What we cannot accept is watching that anger land on the people who answer your calls, process your permits and maintain your parks every single day. Our staff carry out decisions made by nine elected officials. If you don’t like what’s happening, we are the ones responsible. Direct your frustration at the people you elected, not the people who implement what we direct them to do.
Downtown: Is there more work to do to improve the quality of our downtown? Absolutely, and we share that aspiration. But our downtown is in remarkably better shape than it was just four years ago. Real progress has been made.
Yet we have people who make it their daily business to berate, belittle and harass staff, as if somehow the issues facing our community are their fault. They are not. Accountability for those policies sits with us, not them.
Our recreation centers: The South Boulder Recreation Center debate has brought out both the best and worst of our community. Organized groups have shown up as true community partners, engaging constructively and holding the city accountable in good faith. We commend that.
But others have made it their business to personally harass and torment our parks department leadership. There is a clear line between questioning a plan and attacking the character of the people working on it. One is accountability. The other is cruelty.
This isn’t just a city hall problem.
Recently, the owners of Vacuums R Us & Sewing Too posted a statement explaining why they were closing their Boulder store. Among their reasons — in their own words — “your neighbors are assholes.”
They described disrespect so persistent that they added a staff therapy program and invented code phrases for situations when customers refused to accept answers from women employees. Their other Colorado locations thrived. It was Boulder that broke them.
A small business closed, in part, because of how people here treat other people here.
We want to be clear: The vast majority of people in this community are genuinely good humans — kind, engaged, well-intentioned neighbors who treat others with basic decency. We see it every day, and we are proud of it.
But a small number of people have made entitlement and cruelty their calling card. A few rotten apples really do spoil the barrel. When that behavior goes unchallenged, it shapes how the world, and those outside Boulder, see all of us.
That is why community accountability isn’t just nice to have. It’s how the good people protect what we’ve built.
This is Boulder, Colorado: extraordinary natural beauty, a deeply engaged citizenry and one of the highest concentrations of Ph.D.s of any city in the country. None of that gives anyone the right to be demeaning or cruel. Intelligence is not a prerequisite for decency.
We are not asking anyone to stop being angry or stop fighting for what they believe in.
We are asking — insisting — that this community hold itself to its own stated values. Those values have to mean something when it’s inconvenient. They have to apply to the city employee on the other end of your email, the parks manager being berated at a meeting and the small-business worker just trying to help.
If you see someone crossing that line, say something.
Direct your frustration at us, the nine people you elected. We are accountable to you. That is the job. But our staff and our neighbors are not fair game.
We can do better. We must do better.
Boulder is worth it.
