Thank you for your article on Wednesday on making it work in Durango. One thing that jumped out was the role good paying jobs can play in helping to live here.

I am the CEO of a small manufacturing firm here. Like many similar firms in our area, we provide full-time, year-round jobs that pay well and offer benefits for their employees. Durango is a great place to start a business, but it is exceptionally difficult to stay here. The only space I have seen become available in the last five years is when another business closes or leaves the region. Locations where light industrial and office can be built are challenged by a lack of infrastructure, multiyear permitting processes, and fees that can be hundreds of thousands of dollars.

That’s no way to create a thriving local economy.

Durango and La Plata County should begin building public infrastructure on La Posta Road now. We have been talking about development there for almost 20 years. The city extended water to Animas Airpark, but little else has occurred. Montrose has made far more progress with Colorado Outdoors in less than half this time.

Give businesses a place to grow and many of them will stay simply because the owners love living here, just like the people interviewed. That helps create more good paying jobs, ameliorating our cost of living crisis and giving residents the opportunity to have a great life. And a great job, too.

Roger Zalneraitis

Durango