The Irony of Life, Part 8: Letter to the Editor

If you’ve been following this series, you know that I sold my house with contingencies about being able to stay here until I found another place because I knew about the Pandemic before it came to Colorado (Irony of Life #4).

I sent a letter to the editor of The Durango Herald on April 10, 2020:

Crisis brings out the best and worst of us. Since the advent of the coronavirus, two men in Durango, both contractors who own multi-family housing, broke their contract with an elderly woman by demanding that she vacate the premises during the Governor’s “Stay Home Order.” They sent intimidating emails stating that they will change her locks and paint her bedroom when it was snowing. She called the police; they said it was a civil matter, despite the Governor’s Order. She reached out to both realtors and the owner of the real estate company; they could not help her. Finally, she hired a lawyer to explain those amendments the owners had signed before closing because their realtor had not—the sentences that allowed her to stay until she found a place to move. Searching for two months, she still had not found a place not only because she is old and has two cats; most people are honoring the Stay Home Order and Social Distancing re’ COVID-19. The new owners taped another notice on her door. Because she had nowhere else to go, because her community failed her in crisis, she reached out to a friend in another state who said he would help her. That woman has lived in Durango for forty-four years. She was a professor at FLC, and she did service work in the community for the developmentally disabled. She is also a writer who has been blogging this story to thousands of followers.  And, as she told the owner of that real estate company, she’s going to write a book about it as soon as she relocates.

Please share.

Update  April 18, 2020:

The Durango Herald published my letter this weekend.  I just got a call Saturday night, 4/18/, from someone offering to help.

Til next time,

Please be kind to everyone you meet, for we all have our hidden sorrows. ~Tzaddi