— MRW
‘Aurora seen around Denver and Colorado’
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Category Archives: Science (or not)
‘An emergency medical view on Boulder’s airport debate’
Copied below in its entirety:
Losing airport would mean losing air ambulance
As a retired emergency physician, I have a first-hand appreciation and profound respect for emergency services, especially our local medevac helicopter which flies over 300 missions per year. Often called during terrible weather, to rough locations in the middle of the night, statistically this is the most dangerous civilian flying, bar none, yet like the Coast Guard, they always go out when called. We are fortunate that Boulder’s airport is home base to such heroes.
Recent talk about closing the airport has proposed keeping limited helipads/service, but this is an uninformed compromise. Contrary to perception, fully-loaded helicopters are too heavy to safely take off or land straight up and down. Instead, they must use the full glide slope of runways, balancing weight vs power. When a runway is not available or a true vertical ascent is required, fuel, equipment and personnel are quickly stripped out and left behind. Leaving Boulder with a fully loaded helicopter is possible only because of our existing runways. The proposed limited helipad option would mean our air ambulance could never fly fully loaded and as such, would likely vacate Boulder, relocating to another airport and city.
When minutes matter, do you want the air ambulance here or half an hour away? I hope you never are in this situation, but if you should be, ask your emergency nurse or physician if that half-hour would have made a difference in your or your loved one’s outcome.
Now extrapolate this to all emergency and disaster services where helicopters are needed in force. During the 2013 floods, Boulder airport was the site of the second-largest helicopter evacuation in U.S. history after Hurricane Katrina. Whether fire or flood, I don’t want to ever explain to our mountain friends and neighbors why we couldn’t come get them.
Harry Ross, Boulder
— MRW
‘No letup in Boulder’s drug overdose epidemic’
Nextdoor post by Steve Lynton:
No letup in Boulder’s drug overdose epidemic
Initial data this year point to a 33% increase, although it’s probably too early to draw inferences from the preliminary statistics. Last fall, Boulder’s former police chief, Maris Herold, warned the City Council that “we are really in an epidemic of overdoses in Boulder.” She termed the city’s “explosion” in overdoses from fentanyl and other drugs “very alarming,” and she cited data to back up her message. By the end of last year, the city’s police force had responded to 123 suspected overdoses, 18 of them fatal. So this month, I asked whether reported overdoses had continued at a similar pace. For the first three months of this year, city police recorded 28 overdoses, 4 of them fatal. That’s an increase by one-third over the same three-month period of 2023, during which police reported 21 overdoses, 3 of them fatal. Of course, these figures are unavoidably incomplete, since overdoses don’t always result in calls to police or incident reports. It’s also early in the year to draw inferences or make predictions, based on a small initial dataset. Nonetheless, Boulder’s statistical analysis is overseen by a PhD criminologist, Daniel Reinhard; and the data provide a solid analytical basis for policymakers and elected officeholders.
Unfortunately, the message from Herold and from others–including prosecutors, health professionals, social workers, and advocates for those caught up in the drug emergency–isn’t sinking in. Clearly, the city’s overdose epidemic isn’t likely to disappear anytime soon. Clearly, Boulder’s first-responders have few tools other than Narcan to address the surge in overdoses. Clearly, drug trafficking and use are key issues in the spread of illegal encampments in city parks and public spaces and in criminal activity associated with those encampments. A survey during Boulder’s point-in-time count in July showed that over half of those living without shelter–64 out of 110 respondents–reported substance addiction. Clearly, Boulder’s criminal justice system has no simple means to address this epidemic. The county jail is at capacity; Boulder lacks a treatment center, such as the new one in Larimer County just north of here, to which addicted misdemeanor offenders might be sentenced as a jail alternative. Boulder’s county commissioners were urged by some elected officials and others last year to target a sales tax extension toward establishing a facility like Larimer’s. They balked; and although there’s been behind-the-scenes talk, no new strategy has emerged. Clearly, the drug epidemic isn’t at the top of the City Council’s agenda.
Former chief Herold’s observation last September seems to ring true today: “You are seeing a system that has high drug addiction –high mental health issues. And there is no help for us right now.”
— MRW
‘Housing First is a Failure’
— MRW
Who can blame him for being smitten with Julie Adams?
The Creature From the Black Lagoon (1954)
— MRW
Editorial:
— MRW
Credit where it’s due
— MRW
‘Be Prepared’ Boulderites!
I learned this as a Cub Scout at age 8 . . .
— MRW
People in Boulder, CO are crazy!
I speak as a longtime homeless camper, who sometimes kept perishable items along with canned goods in my food cache. Never had anything spoil, unless I forgot about it and then the smell would let me know!
NOT “America’s Smartest City” by a long shot . . .
— MRW
‘The Day After’
Power outage: The weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth on social media by pampered Boulderites is truly hilarious to me, a former homeless camper who lived outdoors for a decade.
There are alternatives: Longmont, CO’s municipal electric utility has 100+ years of experience behind it — the defunct Boulder Muni had only Rainbows and Unicorns.
Count your blessings, Boulder! Xcel Energy isn’t perfect, but they clearly are far better than the SCAM Boulder progressives were trying to run on us!
— MRW
homelessphilosopher 