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ATROCITY ON BOULDER CREEK

6K views 24 replies 17 participants last post by  jbolson 
#1 ·
YO BUZZARDS!! Time to rally for boaters rights! The owner of the Red Lion Inn doesn't give an F about Boulder Creek. His dam has washed tons of debris and rebar into the creek and he doesn't seem to care about anything except getting 9 News to do sob stories about Weddings that are being missed. He hasn't made any attempt to clean up the pipes, metal rebar, rusted out corrigated metal and cement blocks that are washing into the creek. He is so cheap that he said he wants to use some sort of railroad cars to form a bridge across the creek. In the past his deathtrap forced boaters out of the creek at high water. Instead of allowing them safe access around his mess, he made it clear that he wanted us to walk on river left through a barb wire fence which we chopped apart last year after tearing our drysuits on it. Who knows what person can spearhead this problem and force this guy to build a real bridge. Can AW get involved or Gary Lacey or someone like that? If this joker does some rig job with railroad stuff who knows what sort of deathtrap boaters are going to have to deal with next. For such a popular river with a high flood risk it seems unbelievable that this cheapskate can get away with such crap. Anybody have any ideas or names of people or organizations that can help out??
 
#2 ·
I agree that the bridge needs to be cleaned up but the rail car idea is actually a very functional solution. You can set the cars on the old bridge abutments and the will span the creek without any low debris, like there previously was, in the creek. The danger to boaters or future concerns about flooding would be seriously alleviated, in my opinion. I work in construction and we are currently using rail cars for temporary bridges, they are great! Quick to install, very little chance of getting washed out, and clean. So yeah, clean up the mess but don't get to worried about his solution. In fact, building a new bridge would likely have much more serious environmental impacts due to a more invasive and complicated construction process.
 
#3 ·
Yeah, the rail car is a realllllly good idea. The only better idea would be some shitty trailer from the trailer park with the ends ripped off. What a half assed shitty unsightly solution.

Maybe one approach would be to talk to some city or county folks about the issue. Its probably a good time as boulder was worried about a 2ft wall of water coming down if the bridge collapsed instantly. I'd tell the county folks that bridges that are safe for kayakers are also bridges that don't wash out, collect debris, or crumble and present public safety hazards. If you come at it from the angle of public safety, you might win there. I'd assume that building permits would be needed for bridges and that the county has some say there. It seems like common sense that you would put a soundly engineered bridge over boulder creek.

The idea of putting in the crappiest unsafe bridge that will only last a few years just seems rediculous. Think of what would have happened is some car was on the bridge and it collapsed and was in the water.... scary.
 
#4 ·
The clowns who owns this place are all over the TV boo hooing about how much money they are losing. I don't feel sorry for them a bit. Maybe if they put in an adequate bridge in the first place they wouldn't be having this problem. This thing couldn't even handle a thousand CFS. Any kind of big rain event would have obliterated this thing in minutes.
 
#5 ·
The real Atrocity is how much you pay for crap food in a dank nasty resturant. That bridge has been a death trap for years and I gaurantee loser owner will do nothing to clean up his cheep ass bridge unless pushed.

We need to get somebody infront of the news cameras and let people know the real issue
 
#6 ·
Start talking to Boulder County Planning Department - they will have to approve any new structure. If you make your opinion known, they may have some pull. The fact this bridge has washed out twice should make them at least consider putting something in that is more sturdy.

Boulder County Land Use, Planning and Zoning: 303-441-3930
 
#7 ·
I intend to write a letter to the Boulder Daily Camera this weekend. I would encourage others to as well. Someone already wrote in yesterday:
Letters to the Editor - June 10 - Boulder Daily Camera

This owner, Chris Mueller, reaps much of his business from Boulder, so negative publicity should apply some pressure for him to do the right thing for the community. We had an encounter with him the other day. After the bridge blew out we were trying to take a quick, 10 second peek at the bridge to see if passage was safe. He was walking around on the opposite bank and informed us we couldn't be on his property. We tried to be friendly but he pretty much blew us off and did everything short of give us the finger. I was pretty unimpressed. I wouldn't expect that he'll do anything out the kindness of his own heart.

I believe when the bridge blew out 7 years ago, it was the same situation. The owner thought the city should pay to rebuild it even though it is on private land. The city refused and so he did the cheapest job possible creating a death sieve for people in the creek and as demonstrated this week, potential danger for the entire community downstream near the creek. Even having averted a disaster, the city and county wasted massive amounts of time and money closing the area around the creek, positioning emergency crews, and removing debris and dismantling the bridge in a safe manner.

I'm actually really surprised he was allowed to do such a shotty job in the first place. Is anyone familiar with the process to approve the construction of a bridge like this?
 
#8 ·
Just made some calls and was told to talk to the City of Boulder Transportation dept. They and CDOT would be the ones to approve a new bridge. Cleanup would be through the City of Boulder (good luck) and it sounded like the bridge that just failed was supposed to be a temp fix from the last time it blew out and he never followed up on fixing it.
 
#9 ·
Red Lion

I know Chris. Let me be the devils advocate hear for moment. Chris has been trying to hold onto a business he has devoted his life to and that he can hand down to his children. That's his priority and it's not for a small community of recreational people who travel down the creek 1 month out of 12.

Chris made a mistake by not investing in a proper bridge in the first place and now he is paying for it. He may pay for it with everything he as worked his life for. He is backed into a corner now and to expect him to have the kayak community at heart is unrealistic. He doesn't want to deny access like what is going on with the Taylor.

I do think the county should force him have some type of minimum specification that he must adhere to avoid the situation we currently have. For the safety of all people down stream.

Making your safety concerns known to the county/city/state will be most effective avenue; not publicly trashing Chris.
 
#10 ·
Rwanda is an atrocity. This is an inconvenience for

...a small community of recreational people who travel down the creek 1 month out of 12.
Should the bridge there be safe for navigation, yes. But trashing this guy isn't going to make it happen not to mention,

expect[ing] him to have the kayak community at heart is unrealistic.
I think deforrest, being independently wealthy and all, should pay for the clean up and construction of a new bridge. After all, this seems to impact deforrest the most.
 
#11 ·
Possumturd (great handle btw) I will give you and Chris the benefit of the doubt on getting it cleaned up and a new sturdy bridge put in. I hope he does the right thing and spins that to the news and the people of Boulder and the boaters.

But the History is there.... just saying
 
#12 ·
Private bridge on private property, so he should pay to replace it and it should be designed and built to the standards in place for the saftey of everyone in the floodway.

This would be a good opportunity for Boulder County and the City of Boulder to negotiate hiker and biker access to Chapman Road. The private property owners that need a bridge have also stopped access to this trail for years. Could be a win/win, they get bridge and hikers and bikers get access to a great loop trail. And the Red Lion gets access to a large group of hunger/thirsty hikers and bikers.
 
#14 ·
I don't feel bad for him at all. This has happened before. If he had put in a proper bridge to begin with he wouldn't have to worry about it washing out every year, he wouldn't be spending to fix or replace it, and he wouldn't be losing $30,000 in wedding business this weekend. Now he's out so much money he has no option but to do the quickest, cheapest replacement and the result is that we all lose and the same thing is going to happen next year, 5 years from now, or whenever.
 
#16 ·
PT, I appreciate the differing opinion. However, I'm still unconvinced. I'm not advocating publicly bashing Chris. I would hope that all boaters could consider him a friend. I'm advocating raising public awareness about the problem the poor bridge repair is causing in order to apply pressure to him to build a sound, safe structure this time so that history doesn't repeat itself.

You say he made a mistake the first time, but I don't think he sees it that way, does he? Someone who feels like they made a mistake would say, "I'm sorry that the bridge on my property has caused such a public safety hazard to the city Boulder. I made a mistake in the original repair, but this time I will invest in a proper repair and build a safe and stable structure.". Instead he's saying "I'm losing thousands of dollars in business and I may lose my business because the city is not allowing people access through an emergency vehicle road and they're still not willing to pay to replace the damaged bridge."

I have sympathy for a person trying to maintain their livelihood and support their family, but a business should be able to run on it's own merits. If your kitchen in your restaurant is falling to pieces, you invest in refurbishing it. You don't tell the press that you need the city to rebuild your kitchen or you'll go out of business. Regular maintenance is a cost of doing business. The paper was reporting a repair cost of around $50k. That's not an unreasonable cost for a business to incur (sounds like he'd almost be there based on the $30k in lost business this weekend alone if it'd been done right to begin with).

This isn't only about recreational boaters either. The sieve itself is a danger for anybody hanging around the river banks. Sh-t happens and sometimes people, children, pets, and possessions fall into the creek and that thing creates a lethal hazard. Furthermore, as we've just seen, the bridge created a threat to all the people and structures around the creek bank in town due to the blockage of water and potential for a surge in flow and debris.

If you really want to help your friend, you should tell him how he's coming across to the public. You should encourage him to dig deep into his pockets, fix the thing right and be done with it.

P.S. JBL, seriously? Get a sense of humor.
 
#17 ·
Red Lion

I'm advocating raising public awareness about the problem the poor bridge repair is causing in order to apply pressure to him to build a sound, safe structure this time so that history doesn't repeat itself.
I have no problem with that either

You say he made a mistake the first time, but I don't think he sees it that way, does he?
I don't know him well enough, frankly. He may think what he has done is perfectly fine. Which it is not.


I have sympathy for a person trying to maintain their livelihood and support their family......
It's obvious to me he has neglected the bridge issue over other improvements that have been made to the site; the enhanced terracing for example.

This isn't only about recreational boaters either.
Agreed I tried to make that clear.

If you really want to help your friend, you should tell him how he's coming across to the public. You should encourage him to dig deep into his pockets, fix the thing right and be done with it.
I don't know if I could call him my friend. I know him and I am close friends with a dear friend of Chris's who had to cancel their 60th wedding anniversary there this weekend. All of those people are stressed out at this time. I am simply trying to add some perspective to the situation as to temper the boater community if only a bit. We need a controlled diplomatic effort.

I want the bridge fixed correct just as much as anyone and have expressed the inadequacies' of the previous bridge. I go under the bridge more than across it.
 
#19 ·
I'd bet there would be a lot of buzzards who would contribute to a bridge fund so we wouldn't have to portage that death trap. Especially if the bridge was designed with kayak safety in mind... And in the process make a lifelong friend out of a landowner on a great stretch of creek. I'd donate. Hell Possumturd, suggest to Chris he should have a fundraiser/bakesale/whitewater party/whatever and we'll all paddle in and give him a boost. Possumturd, good to meet and boat with you last weekend.

Darren
 
#23 ·
Hahaha - I worked for this cantankerous bastard, hereafter refered to as "the old man," for years. The old man doesn't give a crap about codes/regulations/laws etc. The old man has been busted for taking water out of the creek, without the obligatory water rights, to water his landscaping. I don't think any of his renovations have been done to code or been inspected. The old man simply doesn't take kindly to being told what to do and how to do it. It's his way or the highway - which is why when working for him I always tried to avoid the old man at all costs.

Good luck trying to get him spend anymore money than he has to to keep his business open. It's on the verge of closing all together as it is. He should just sell that property and ride of into the sunset in his RV with the good memories of his glory years (back when you couldn't get alcohol in Boulder city limits) and stop trying to patch up a sinking ship. Can you imagine what that property must be worth now almost 50 years after he bought it?

As an aside, I have good memories of running the tubes on the original bridge back when I first moved to Boulder in the early 2000's. Anyone know if that original bridge had been around for decades? Or has this bridge washout been happening on a regular basis?

As the Red Lion turns.......
 
#24 ·
Right now they are putting up a temporary 1-way bridge. Apparently the owner has agreed to install a permanent bridge within the next few months. He still thought the city should pay for it, but since they've refused apparently he's putting up around 100K of his money to pay for it. So it looks like he's going to do the right thing.

Izza, I don't know how many times history has repeated itself, but apparently 7 or 8 years ago the bridge washed out and he did this cheapo repair job building on top of the rubble.
 
#25 ·
clean up

I know this suggestion will not be popular with many egocentric boaters, but here goes. If we want to get the mess cleaned up, then I would suggest getting a group of willing boaters to request permission to do so, and spend an afternoon cleaning it up (after all repairs are complete). The anaology I would use is mother nature, who doesn't hesitate to throw errant trees in our paths, which are quickly removed by impacted boaters seemingly with great zeal. This solution solves the problem and perhaps creates a friend, rather than an enemy.
 
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