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Dan
Can someone who knows the South Park Rail Historical Society leadership get in touch with them and see if this distressing message is of any substance? As a donor to the Como activities I am keenly interested in the goings on there and would hate it if we lose any of what has been magnificently achieved there.
Dan
Hi Dan. As a founder of the SPRS, past President and current Secretary/Board Member, I can confirm that there is little substance to these distressing messages. We have had a couple of set backs mainly with KMRy #4 but we are progressing towards having the entire historic site under the stewardship of the non-profit thanks in no small part to the Brantigans that recently saved the hotel and depot from being sold off for back taxes. The SPRS would have done this but we don't have that kind of cash around.
There are a number of individuals that are spending their own finances to make sure the project is moving forward (along with time and labor of course). However, you are never going to please everyone all of the time. As a board member, I'm always open to hear peoples thoughts on the Como Project. Usually they are great ideas however on occasion they are just not feasible. I have had a couple of my own ideas that were rejected by the board but I would rather see the over all project succeed then get hung up on what I think should be done. Some others can not adopted this point of view. I think anyone that has been involved with Historic Preservation has seen this happen.
It was said that the Como Project lacks and overall plan. This is simply not true. Jason Midyetter wrote the first overall plan back in 2018 and it was posted on our old website for a number of years. I personally have reworked Jason's original plan and it is being refired on a regular bases every month. In fact, its a line item in our regular board meetings. Again, not everyone will agree with the direction the plan lays out but it is important to have a common direction for our whole organization and supports to work towards.
Some contractors have been brought in to help with parts of the project. This is mostly to meet State licence and regulation requirements. We have also brought in the D&SNG to help guide the KMRy #4 completion project. Our volunteers are doing much of the "manual labor" on the project but we need the expertise that the D&SNG brings.
So, in the end, I can tell you that things have not gone exactly as I had planned when we founded the SPRS and the Como Project back in 2016 but it is still heading towards the same historical preservation goal that we envisioned back then. In fact, the Como Project is really getting there faster then I ever expected.
This is mainly because we have attracted the support of so many talented, hardworking and dedicated volunteers and supporters. And this is not just referring to the wonderful current volunteers but also the people that have contributed to the overall preservation of Como over the years and have since moved on either because of health, cost, "burn-out" or any number of other reasons, they have
all contributed to the success of the Como Project. I think we can proud of what we have accomplished so far but we should never forget the contributions of those who came before us.
Tim Bain
SPRS Founder
Board Member
