Group Wants to Annex Silver Spur Street into Steamboat II, with 'Group' Meaning One Crackpot Homeowner the Neighbors Wouldn't Miss
Written by Park Trailer Monday, 24 September 2012
Inspired by a "group" in Hayden looking to annex the city to Routt County, a new group calling itself Citizens for a Less Intrusive Neighborhood has taped hand-made flyers to several post office cluster boxes in the neighborhoods of Silver Spur and Steamboat II west of Steamboat Springs. According to the letter's manifesto, a small section written in crayon on the flyers, the group hopes to have Silver Spur's Purple Sage St. annexed into Steamboat II, as the group finds its neighbors in Silver Spur to be "too in my face and restrictive for no damn reason."
Seeking to be able to "leave more stuff in its driveway or hang more shit on its walls," the Citizens for a Less Intrusive Neighborhood are hoping to have a street in Silver Spur annexed to Steamboat II, where homes are allowed to look like this. Government leaders responded to the request with amazement at how easy it is for any crazy person to make the front page of the local paper.
As an example of the group's concerns, the letter states that Silver Spur residents "won't even let me put my camper on blocks in the driveway" and "someone got bent out of shape when I nailed a 12-point elk rack to my front door."
Pirate reporters were made aware of the hilarious flyer and spoke with several residents on Purple Sage St., who all seemed to think Citizens for a Less Intrusive Neighborhood was actually just one man, "Crazy Willie," who lives in the lone unkempt lot.
"Yeah, that guy's nuts," said one neighbor who asked to remain anonymous for fear that Willie might poison her cat or just try and speak to her about anything. "So he says he has a 'group', huh? That's pretty funny. You can go talk to him. He lives right over there, the one with all the weeds in the yard. You can still see the holes in the door where we put the antler rack we made him take down. Just don't look him directly in the eye ..."
When The Pirate contacted "Crazy Willie," legally William Loonytunes, the homeowner denied that he was behind Citizens for a Less Intrusive Neighborhood, but added that they "sounded like a damn smart group with some good ideas." He said he agreed with several of the group's points, including that it was a major hassle to live in Silver Spur, because all the "uppity neighbors have all these rules about what you can have in your yard and stuff."
He said that if the group that he has no association with were to succeed in annexing his street to Steamboat II, he'd be "happier than a June bug in late May," as Steamboat II has no rules about what residents can do whatsoever.
"It's like a libertarian utopia over there in Steamboat II," added Loonytunes. "I saw one house had two campers and three snowmobiles in the driveway, and an extra brokedown camper in the back, behind the house. And another had a broken-down car in the yard so long, plants were growing out of it. Now that's my kind of place."
The Pirate also wrote several questions to the email address submitted on the original flyers, getouttamyfacesilverspur@hotmail.com">getouttamyfacesilverspur@hotmail.com. When asked why the group didn't just sell their homes and move to Steamboat II, where properties were available, the group responded with "I like my house, just not my neighborhood or neighbors. Besides, it would be a real pain in my ass to move. It'd be a lot easier just to get the government or whatever to sign off on putting the street in a whole new neighborhood and changing all the post office stuff and tax crap and whatever so I can put more junk in my front yard. And if that doesn't work, Plan B is to create a new neighborhood with just one house. We'll call it Steamboat III, and whoever lives there can do anything they damn please."