Summer Garden Fun

Summer has officially started, and if you're looking for tips and tricks for sustainable landscaping and creating pollinator gardens, a new demonstration garden is being put in place at Santa Rita Park. City Council has scheduled a discussion for how best to use $361,084 in extra lodgers tax from 2022. And get ready for Clean Commute Week, June 24th through June 28th. You are watching the Local News Roundup, brought to you by Serious Texas BAR-B-Q and Kroegers ACE Hardware. I'm Wendy Graham Settle. Santa Rita Park will be the site of a garden and landscape program that shows how to landscape in a sustainable way for the arid Southwest. Demonstration Gardens at Santa Rita will demonstrate methods of landscaping available to residents and developers in the Durango area, focusing on low water landscapes forest escapes, and pollinator gardens. The garden project is through the city's utility division and will cost approximately $250,000. Landscaping and planting will begin this month and run into late June and the project is planned to be completed in August. At the city's June 20th regular meeting the city council will discuss how best to allocate the $361,084 in extra 2022 lodges tax. The current recommendations are to use $133,000 to fund grant opportunities for electric vehicle chargers for the city's sustainability division a hundred thousand dollars for the Department of Transportation Signage efforts and $128,000 for visit Durango projects. All according to the language in the 2021 ballot for lodges tax, in 2021 voters approved a measure to raise the lodges tax from 2% to 2.25%, and the distribution of the income was to be divided. 55% for sustainable tourism marketing 20% for transportation and transit services, 14% for arts and cultural events, and the remaining 11% to be divided among the aforementioned purposes or other purposes related to the tourism. At the city council's determination, city council meetings are open to the public to attend both in person at City Hall or virtually through Zoom links on the City of Durango's website. Dust off your bike helmet. Download the transit app and lace up your walking shoes. Clean Commute Week is here again. Come join the 13th year of Clean Commute Week, June 24th to 28th, with days full of activities, challenges and fun, local businesses can compete in the Business Commuter Challenge. From June 20th through the 27th, teams win points for each sustainable trip taken and the winner will be announced at the end of Clean Commute week. Bring your bike to the Farmer's Market on June 24th for a free safety check by Durango Cycling And pick up your Clean Commute passport at the Clean Commute Week Booth. Events ranging from trivia to a passage to culminate in bike to Workday Wednesday morning June 24th and celebrate the week that afternoon at the Love Your Commute Celebration at Buckley Park, beginning at 5:00 PM, find the full schedule of events online and as temperatures are on the rise. A reminder not to leave dogs in cars even when the outdoor temperature is just 70 degrees. The interior temperature of your car can reach 104 degrees in just 30 minutes. Witnesses who see an unattended dog inside a car on a hot day are instructed to call 911 and stay with the car until law enforcement arrives. Learn more about these and other stories online at Durangolocal.news. Thank you for watching this edition of the Local News Roundup. I'm Wendy Graham Settle.