Vote YES on 2E to fulfill Boulder’s commitments to inclusivity, resilience

By Kristen Eller, Published in the Daily Camera

Boulder prides itself on being a forward-thinking community that embraces positive change, advances educational access and tackles challenging issues head-on. And Boulder has a lot to boast when it comes to the incredible amenities, stunning parks and popular venues available to residents and visitors. The beauty of Boulder comes, in part, from the investments this community has made over the course of many generations.

Boulderites have the chance to vote their values once again this year to make further investments in our community. On the ballot this year, voters will be deciding whether to strengthen local democracy, protect our neighbors from climate impacts and invest in our libraries. 

Taken in isolation, each of these issues stands on its own with great importance, but the whole picture is even greater than the sum of its parts. Looking at these issues holistically brings up the concept of “social infrastructure”, a framework outlined in NYU sociology professor Eric Klinenberg’s book “Palaces for the People.”

Communities with strong social infrastructure are ones with robust public spaces and strong social protections. Klinenberg defines it as “the physical elements of community that act as a conduit to bring people together and build social capital.”

Communities that have proven to be more resilient and better equipped to tackle social inequality, polarization and even climate disaster, are ones with strong social infrastructure. As an example: Klinenberg describes the fatal 1995 heat wave in Chicago that killed more than 700 people. He found that the highest rates of death were in low-income, highly segregated neighborhoods. But the lowest rates of death were also found to be in segregated, low-income neighborhoods, in some cases only a street apart from the ones that fared far worse. And, some lower-income neighborhoods experienced higher survival rates than their more affluent counterparts. Klinenberg wanted to know why. 

He discovered that, as hard infrastructure like power, transit and water broke down, social infrastructure was a determining factor in survival rates: 

“Densely populated (areas with) vibrant commercial strips and social networks, community gardens, parks and well-tended sidewalks … drew people out of overheated homes and into the streets, shops, gardens, parks, and into libraries, too: places where there were things to do and friends to meet,” according to a New York Times article about Klinenberg’s work.

Public libraries are social infrastructure. They serve as cooling centers, places to get information, places to connect with others. This year, our libraries have the chance to finally be put on a stable funding path via measure 6C, which will increase their overall budget by $2 million, enough to restore operating hours at branches and the makerspace, re-start paused programs, and re-engage in partnerships and outreach with our schools and communities. Before the library’s budget was slashed in 2020, it was doing weekly outreach to mobile home communities. Our library is a community connector, and we strongly support funding it properly through measure 6C. 

But social infrastructure isn’t limited to tangible things. This concept can be expanded to include policies that make it easier for people to participate in civic life in their community. Local decision-making works best — in fact, democracy works best — when more people are involved in it. Measure 2E will move our local elections to even years, where participation numbers double. General election years, like this year, simply draw more people out because there is more visibility on issues, more public reminders to vote and more overall support for people to cast their votes during even years. When more people vote, our community’s needs and desires are better represented in the outcomes of those votes. We strongly support increasing voter engagement through measure 2E. 

Finally, we cannot delay action on climate mitigation, and that’s why we must advance our climate response by voting yes on measure 2A. In order to protect our neighbors from future flood disaster in South Boulder, we strongly oppose the repeal of CU South and urge voters to cast a “no” vote on measure 2F so that Boulder can proceed with the development of much-needed housing and flood protections in our community.  

This year, let’s strengthen Boulder’s infrastructure and continue making the necessary investments Boulder needs so that our community continues to fulfill its commitments to being inclusive, accessible and resilient. 

Kristen Eller is a member of the steering committee for the Boulder Progressives, a grassroots organization that advocates for policies that protect human rights and advance social and environmental justice at the local level.