Repair the Bolder Boulder course
I’ve run the Bolder Boulder many times. It’s well-organized, follows a beautiful course, has waves for serious runners or casual walkers, and gets you up and going on a holiday morning. After the gun sounded and our wave took off this past Monday, something happened that I’d never seen before: Ten seconds into the race a man in front of me stumbled and almost fell. He had encountered a pothole. A hundred yards further along, the same thing occurred to another runner. I know the City is full of potholes, and I know the race course covers six miles of City streets. Of all of the Bolder races I’ve been in, I remember the streets to have been swept and mostly repaired, but it’s a black eye for the City not to have fixed up some glaring, dangerous damage to the roadway, especially right after the starting line. The race has continually gotten better over time. Make it better next year, Boulder!
John Conrad, Louisville
Musk’s best investment? Donald Trump’s ear.
Is Elon Musk who we want to own our space and national security for the future (Golden Dome project)? From afar, we see nothing but success and huge amounts of wealth. Take a closer look, and it is not so wonderful. His wealth is largely based on Tesla stock, which has a multiple that does not make sense in the long run, let alone after he has alienated many of his environmentally focused potential customers.
Musk’s last 10 years:
Tesla — In the past eight years, it has had only one successful release (Y) and two terrible failures. Semi, which sold 140 from a factory built to support 500 per year, and the Cybertruck, which has been an undeniable failure on all accounts. Without federal subsidies, Tesla would be losing money.
Twitter — After borrowing the money to buy a successful company and after turning it into his own right-wing bullhorn, lost so much revenue that his bankers have had to write off their losses.
Space-X — He has seen good success as remote internet access but has been so aggressive on the launch dates that they have seen eight of their rockets explode in the past five years. If not for Congress continually pulling NASA funding to funnel subsidies to donors, this company would not be standing.
Boring and Hyperloop companies — Great hype but little to show for them other than an expensive one-mile transport down the Las Vegas strip.
DOGE — Promised $2 trillion in savings, but after a blundering start of firing everyone possible and abusing data security laws, he walks away with just over one-twentieth of that. This will dwindle as thousands of lawsuits are won due to his illegal methods.
It could be argued that his best investment over the past 10 years was to buy the ear of Donald Trump (over $250 million), who will likely hand him billions in federal subsidies and hand over the keys to a potential boondoggle of a Golden Dome defense system.
America deserves better.
Michael Bailey, Longmont
Join the Daily Camera’s Community Editorial Board
The Camera has several positions open on the Community Editorial Board and is inviting local writers to apply. The CEB members are volunteers who write every other week on topics of local interest that are selected by the Camera Editorial Board.
Applicants may send a resume of writing and/or general educational and work experience, a cover letter about why they are interested in joining the CEB and writing samples. Writing samples can include letters to the editor or guest opinions that have been published in any paper, or a 300- to 400-word essay on a recent CEB topic or a local issue. Applicants must live in Boulder and should not be members of groups that are politically active in Boulder or Boulder County. Applicants should include a telephone number, and finalists will be contacted to take part in brief interviews.
Send applications to openforum@dailycamera.com.
