As reported in the Clarion earlier this month, two Sturm College of Law students are suing to halt famed artist Christo’s proposed art installation bridging the Arkansas River in Southern Colorado.
Their frivolous suit, if successful, would destroy the fledgling art project and have devastating effects on the statewide community for years to come.
Justine Shepherd and Mason Brown, the two students, are members of the Environmental Law Clinic and are pursuing a lawsuit based on absurd notions of environmental damage that might be inflicted to the Arkansas River Valley.
The lawsuit is associated with the group ROAR, “Rags Over the Arkansas River,” and using this demeaning and malicious, offensive name, they’ve attacked Christo’s project head-on.
They cite few sources and use unconvincing examples to bolster their foolhardy attempt at stopping this project, which has been projected to generate up to $121 million in economic activity for the state of Colorado. Isn’t that just what we need for our community?
We need people from the whole nation to visit our state, take in our stunning beauty, take an interest in local communities and business and maybe even stay a while to see the magnificent work of art – a machination of the mind of a brilliant artist – bridging nature’s serene vista and enhancing the beauty around it.
The proposed art project would generate not only economic activity, which the state and our local municipalities desperately need, but would also renew an interest in everything Colorado. When a similar project was conducted by Christo in New York City’s central park, 4 million viewers came to see the attraction.
We could have similar tourism and cultural interest in our state, if only green ideologues weren’t trying to frag the project with ludicrous lawsuits designed to bolster the credibility of the students instead of protect the environment.
Yes, I said it. This suit is more designed to promote the law students and “get their names ‘out there'” than to act in the noble cause of protecting natural resources; here altruism acts as a shameful cover to what is truly naked, disgusting self-interest.
The students in question are throwing Colorado’s future into the ash-heap while trying to promote their own petty careers. This is to be understood, of course. The current job market and stagnant economy dictate candidates for any high-level position must be outstanding, noteworthy and have a resumes that brags of their skills and boasts their credentials.
However, our state should not suffer at the hands and whims of two self-interested students seeking to boost their resumes.
Long has Colorado been dubbed a “flyover state,” a big Western, square-shaped box where the people are more concerned with business and cattle than high culture and thought-provoking art.
We have a chance to reverse this narrow-minded view and establish dominance as a cultural, artistic and regional powerhouse if we allow this project to be made and even help the artist in his attempts.
We can become a leader in the Southwest if we don’t allow ideologues to prevent progress. Imagine the squandered opportunity we’ll suffer if the lawsuit succeeds and our state does not participate in Christo’s art project.
We will forever be remembered as one of his efforts where rowdy locals stood up and cried “No!” to public culture. As a committed Coloradoan and lifelong local, I am personally tired of seeing my state made a mockery of and stereotyped.
As a local, I am deeply committed to this state’s future, and will not stand idly by while radicals try to halt a project that benefits our community, spirit and image.
And as a local, I will firmly stand and fight Shepherd and Brown, and in doing so, advocate for common sense, community, and art that lifts up people’s spirits, expands their thinking and is an enormously positive impact on our revenue and tourism.
