CB South dealing with bus stop vandalism in public buildings

Bus stop to remain locked for now

By Katherine Nettles

Repeated incidents of vandalism have caused the Crested Butte South Property Owners Association (POA) to close the bus stop at Red Mountain Park until it can put long-term measures in place to prevent further damage. The POA sent out a notice to its membership last week alerting bus riders that the building adjacent to the bus stop would remain “locked for the foreseeable future.” The hope is to reopen the building to the public in the future if the POA is able to secure law enforcement support, security cameras and more community vigilance. 

The issue has been people leaving trash and human waste in the building, and most recently, smashing potted plants in the space that had been left as a free offering to others.

“We’ve had signs of people partying in the bus stop and people camping out in there,” said POA manager Derek Harwell. “We’ve been finding mini [liquor] bottles filled with urine, and then it was urine in the trash and recycling bins…so the urine smell was overwhelming, and there was debris everywhere.”

Harwell said the destructive and unsanitary behavior has perplexed the POA staff and counteracted recent improvement projects to the building. “We had just put in a fresh new coat of white paint to lighten it up,” said Harwell, along with several new bookshelves, reading material for all ages, pin up message boards and “We were just about to redo the floor. And at the same time, it’s being abused. It’s a shame too, because in our parks master planning process, the bus stop was by far the thing people said they use the most,” said Harwell.

The POA is looking into security cameras and self-locking doors that would be timed for after the final bus departs the park each night. POA representatives also had a meeting with Gunnison County sheriff Adam Murdie on Tuesday about this and other issues in the neighborhood such as speeding and noise violations to see if they can have any solutions. People also kicked in the doors of the hockey changing rooms last winter, Harwell said. 

“My hope is that we can put some technological aspects in place, some law enforcement in place and increase some general awareness that can help the situation. If someone knows their kid is out until 11:30 p.m. every night, they can maybe have a conversation with them about it. Or if someone knows someone who is camping in there,” he said, finding them a better solution or reporting this to the POA could be helpful. 

The POA can be contacted at 61 Teocalli Road in CB South or at (970) 349-1162 during regular business hours with any information about the vandalism or other issues.