Moving mountains

The City of Boulder has been trying to get rid of The Fix’s dirt jumps since they were built. We’ve already spent thousands interpreting the law and moving invisible lines. A few weeks ago, we had to move a huge pile of dirt.

The Fix and its landlord Maverick American justify the dirt jumps under the doctrine of ancillary use. The jumps are used for product testing and review. Last spring we spent over $5,000 erasing a property line so the jumps are on the same parcel as the building, and since then everything’s been going fine — from our perspective.

A woman who lives in the condos next door apparently hates kids, fun and any combination thereof. Dude: She lives in a commercial district. The circuit board maker next door regularly emits what smells like ammonia, but she seems to dig that. She hates people riding their bikes. And she works for the city, so she knows all the sneaky tricks.

The most recent: Under the rules governing ancillary use, any structures must be at least 55 feet from the center of the road. Well, guess what? The big roll-in ramp was 45 feet.

Come on.

So we organized a monster work party and moved that sucker by hand. What an act of defiance — a bunch of decent folks asserting our commitment to wholesome fun: one shovel at a time, over many hours, in plain sight of our tormentor.

Whew! Let’s hope the pile stays there for a while.

Placing the frame. Are you sure that’s 55 feet?	Alex, co-owner of The Fix, exercises his top-down management style	Oompa loompa …	Fear the Dirt Masters. Wolverine and Sam.
While the rest of us slung dirt, Mark did the technical work.	We recruited real horsepower for this part of the operation.	The pile’s getting smaller, but now it’s all rocky and extra-packed. Pick, shovel, pick, shovel.	Coming together.
What a cool idea to pile the rocks around the outside. Welcome to Castle Flintsone.	Ladies and gentlemen, we have roll-in.	Alex and Jimmy hog the glory.	View from the top. Ah, the potential energy …