Durango Voices.

• Author: LEWIS, DAVID

DURANGOS ECONOMIC LEADERS FACE A THORNY QUESTION: HOW DO YOU IMPROVE A JEWEL?

Durango is changing in many of the same ways the rest of Colorado is changing.

Durango, a Four Corners city of about 15,000, has a tourism-based economy with growing contributions from construction and high-tech. The city also has some extras -- a glorious main street, fishing and rafting on the Animas River, Fort Lewis College, and economic leadership that seems, like a veteran gem cutter, both cautious and farsighted.

And, of course, it has the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad.

Durango always has been beautiful and isolated. It is growing less isolated all the time. Economic development plans -- some advanced, some embryonic -- aim to bring it closer to the rest of the world. These include hiring a full-time eco-devo director, radical improvements in Internet services, building a new convention center, highway expansion and improving service at the Durango-La Plata County Airport.

The town's population is growing, and the population of the outlying county is growing even faster -- 30% in the '90s. Trust-fund babies, retirees and others are building first and second homes, some big enough to force the city to consider square-footage limits similar to those in Telluride, Vail and elsewhere.

"Growth is a two-edged sword,' said Antonia Clark, vice president and co-owner of the Toh-Atin Gallery and Publishing Co. "The economy here is very good. We had the best summer we ye had in a long time. But I hate to see a lot of big, beautiful ranches sold and subdivided. We hate to see that, but that's inevitable."

Clark's great-grandfather began blacksmithing in Durango in 1881. Later, he opened a hardware store. Clark has doing business in Durango in her blood. What follows is a sampler of voices like hers, Durango leaders' and long-time residents' hopes and fears for the future of their city:

Rod Barker, president and CEO of the Strater Hotel, runs a third-generation business. The Strater was built in 1887 and has been owned by the Barker family since 1926. In the Late '60s, the family started furnishing the hotel with antiques; beginning in 1984, the Barkers have invested about $400,000 yearly in the Strater.

I really am enjoying this town. In Durango you can be involved in the chamber (of commerce), the city council, the county commission, almost more than you want to. There's an overriding desire by people here to be part of the future.

I Like the changes I've...