Landing a man in a room

On March 17, 1930, construction began on the Empire State Building. On May 1, 1931, one year and 45 days later, the building was completed and tenants moved in.

On May 25, 1961, President Kennedy vowed to Congress that before the end of the decade, the United States would land a man on the moon and return him safely to the Earth. Eight years later, on July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong did the moonwalk and returned to Earth soon after.

In 2014, the Durango City Council approved future hotels on East 2nd Avenue across from Gazpacho. Excavation didn’t begin until 2019. In 2025, the hotel is unfinished and shabby. With 200 rooms and 201 parking spaces, future staff, if not deported, will have to share one space or park on 3rd Avenue.

Walking past the continuing construction, I hear mostly Spanish voices. In light of recent short-sighted executive orders, I wonder if the hotel will ever be finished. Perhaps some recently pardoned MAGAs, accomplished scalers of Capitol walls and smashers of windows, would step up and be willing to climb the scaffolding, install windows and do something productive in their lives.

Too late to match the Empire State Building schedule, but if one pretends that the start of excavation is the real beginning of the project, the hotels have one more year to put Apollo to shame and “land a Texan in the Hampton Inn and return him safely to Earth.”

– Rhys Shrock, Durango