Sunday Morning, Longmont
Chief of Public Safety Mike Butler and his friend Dan Benavidez have walked the neighborhoods of Longmont together on pleasant Sunday mornings for nearly five years.
Last Sunday I joined them for the first time, but not for the last. Also walking with us was Dana Walters, a program director for CASA of Boulder County. CASAs are Court-Appointed Special Advocates for children who may be suffering abuse. Dana is the program director of this volunteer organization. We were both walking to learn from the people of the neighborhood, and to learn why Mike and Dan take their walks. The message of these walks is important to me, and I hope the people of Longmont who received it think it is important, too.
We all met at the corner of Grand Avenue and Bowen Street. I had canvassed that neighborhood last September, walking alone, running for the City Council seat in which I now serve. Bowen was a hard street to canvass because most of the dwellings are four-family apartment buildings, with steps up to the top level and down to the garden-level lower units. But today it was sunny and pleasant, and families were outdoors.
There was a yard sale on the corner where we met. Two sisters sat in the yard, which was spread with a pretty impressive variety of stuff for sale. I spotted a table-top ironing board for $1. I needed it — but I only had $20 bills in my wallet, which would have seriously depleted the sisters’ supply of change. Kindly Mr. Benavidez had a dollar, so he paid the girls. Dan, I owe you one!
While we stood and chatted a mother, father, brother, and two young friends all appeared. Chief Butler introduced us all and began to explain why we were visiting. This family was more comfortable in Spanish than English, so Dan translated. I can halfway follow a conversation in Spanish but can’t string together a sentence to save my life. So mostly l listened. Chief Butler likes to ask three questions. He asks how people feel about living in Longmont, and if they feel safe, and if they feel they belong. But then he assures these Spanish-speaking people that he is not concerned with anyone’s immigration status, and that his police and firefighters treat everyone the same. In Longmont, nobody needs to be afraid of calling for help when they need it. The City safety forces don’t work with ICE.
We walked a few blocks south, conducting more conversations, half-English and half-Spanish. The families we met were usually extended, with three or four generations present. One family, living in both sides of a duplex, was putting together a graduation party for a middle son, who is looking forward to starting at Front Range in the fall. His older brother’s tiny daughter, beautiful in a pink dress and waist-length black hair, runs back and forth while we talk. Grandpa is open about his immigration status. I guess he’s confident that he belongs in Longmont. I certainly am. I tell the Graduate that I went to Front Range’s commencement ceremony last month, and how it was the most inspiring such event I ever saw. Chief Butler tries to interest him in police work.
An uncle drives up with a party tent for the back yard. The young men move off to help him. It’s time for us to cross the street and meet the congregation of Twin Peaks Church of Christ. Then the walk will be over, and I’ll go back to pick up my little ironing board and rush off to the rest of the day — two more gatherings, old friends to greet, more new friends to meet. There’s a lot going on in Longmont.
