Native American ceremony highlights Special Transit groundbreaking
Under a beautiful blue sky on Feb. 16, Oglala Lakota spiritual leader Lee Plenty Wolf offered tobacco to the four directions as part of a Native American blessing at the groundbreaking for Special Transit’s new facility in Boulder. Special Transit donors, board members, employees and other guests at the groundbreaking participated in a smudging ritual to cleanse negative energies from themselves and the site.
The idea for the ceremony originated with Jenny Bux, sister of Lee and a Special Transit employee, who knew that the land near the Valmont Butte had historical significance to her tribe as well as other Native American peoples. She suggested that the blessing be included in the groundbreaking to ensure that the Native American spirits “welcomed Special Transit’s use of the land and its new facility".
Lenna Kottke, executive director of Special Transit, gave an overview of the $11.25 million project to the 70 or so people gathered for the ceremony. The guests arrived at the site in style – bused in by Special Transit because 63rd Street and Butte Mill Road were closed by development work at the site.
Kottke noted that planning for new facility started in 2004 when the Special Transit board of directors explored what would be needed to provide quality transportation and mobility assistance to the “silver tsunami” – a growing wave of older adults in which one in five people in Boulder County will be over the age of 60 by 2025.
Kottke also acknowledged the public and private financial support that had made the project possible. Special Transit has raised all but $400,000 of the $11.25 million cost of the new facility from community members, foundations and various public sources including a $5.25 million grant from the state of Colorado.
Boulder County Commissioner Ben Pearlman and U.S. Congressman Jared Polis spoke briefly about the local, state and federal government’s appreciation for Special Transit’s service to the community and the importance of supporting the future needs of the older adult population through funding for the new facility.
For the official breaking of ground, Kottke, Pearlman and Polis were joined by Jon Kottke, chair of the capital campaign steering committee; Alice Mae Bowen, lead individual donor to the project and Special Transit rider; Jana Petersen, president of the board of directors; Susan Osborne, mayor of Boulder; and Tom Mauser of the Colorado Department of Transportation.
Groundbreaking Photos
Groundbreaking YouTube Video
