I am grateful Mark Wallach is willing to continue serving
Having served alongside Mark Wallach during some of the most turbulent years Boulder has faced — the pandemic, the King Soopers mass shooting, and the Marshall Fire — I have seen that he rolls up his sleeves when it matters most. Mark consistently volunteers for the hardest work, approaching every challenge with intelligence, humility and his trademark sense of humor.
One moment that stands out: The morning after the riot on the Hill in March 2021, I asked colleagues if anyone wanted to help clean up and check in with affected neighbors. Out of nine, only two showed up — Mark was one of them, broom in hand. That sums up his approach to public service: He is steadfast in doing the unglamorous work — from sweeping up after riots to reading budget fine print. Endearingly, he’s equally steadfast in his disdain for the more self-aggrandizing side of politics — you’ll be hard pressed to spot him angling for ribbon cuttings or photo ops.
Over the past six years, Mark has brought a steady, pragmatic voice to council. He understands that Boulder’s challenges are complex, so he resists easy soundbites. He simply brings hard work and thorough scrutiny to every decision, and doesn’t shy away from tough issues or difficult votes.
I am grateful Mark is willing to continue serving. Boulder will be fortunate to have his steady leadership for the challenges ahead.
Rachel Friend, Boulder
Talk may be cheap, but speech sure ain’t free
First Kimmel, then me. Talk may be cheap, but speech sure ain’t free! I was just unceremoniously booted from a commercial comment website that dines on free content from the residents of hamlets somewhat like Boulder, in fact, just like Boulder, canceling ruthlessly any who might wax a little too sassy and disrupt the reassuring bland. Welcome to the new America, where a few changes are being made.
Earl Noe, Boulder
Similarities between Putin and Trump are astounding
Alexei Navalny was the Russian patriot whose organization, The Anti-Corruption Foundation, opposed Putin’s dictatorship and his corrupt oligarchy. He was the man who was poisoned by Putin with Novichok, recovered in Germany, and returned to Russia to continue his fight. In his autobiography, “Patriot,” a memoir published in 2024, he describes the continuing corruption of Putin’s government and theft of his country’s natural resources wealth from the impoverished citizens. He was a producer on the movie, “Putin’s Palace,” which details Putin’s many thefts. If you don’t have the patience to read the book, his movie in English, is available on the internet. The comparisons between the Putin and Trump administrations are astounding.
G. Edward Bixby, Boulder
We are the country that allows these horrors
The Palestinian issue is very close to my heart. As a child studying the Holocaust, I struggled to comprehend how such a horrific event could occur in Europe, the so-called “fulcrum of civilization and modernity,” without anyone speaking out against it. Now, in 2025, an atrocity of unfathomable scale is unfolding before us, documented live and available on our mobile phones, for the past two years. The West is not merely a spectator; it acts as a staunch diplomatic, political, military and economic supporter of the genocide against the Palestinian people.
The West consists not only of governments but of the people as well. I, as an individual with a heart, compassion, values and morals, cannot accept what is happening in Gaza and the West Bank. There are no sides here to take; there is only a population that, for the last 76 years, has been denied proper recognition and the freedom of self-determination and governance. This is 76 years of land and wealth appropriation, violence against villages and livelihoods, mass extermination, unjust and unlawful imprisonments accompanied by a regime of torture, indiscriminate bombs, drones, snipers, and famine created by blocking the entry of food, water, and medicine. To all those who throw around words like “terrorists,” “October 7th,” and “Hamas,” I say this: read the book starting from page one, not page 76, and read the book written by the victims, not the winners of wars, if you truly wish to know and speak the truth.
Some might argue that we are not responsible for these issues. I disagree. We are the Country that allows these horrors to occur, and it is our duty to speak up and act like the civil, educated, and developed Americans we believe ourselves to be.
Laura Pizzichemi, Longmont