Craig Youth Coalition Swaps Grants, Council Debates E-Bike Rules

Steamboat Springs —The September wind off the Yampa River carries the scent of pine and wet asphalt as Sara Hayes steps to the microphone in the Craig City Council chambers. She isn’t there to sell anything; she’s there to hand over the keys. For five years, the Communities That Care coalition has been the quiet engine behind Moffat County’s youth prevention efforts, and now that engine is being swapped for a bigger one.

Hayes explained that the coalition recently wrapped up its work under the Communities Organizing for Prevention grant and officially began operating under the new Elevating Prevention in Colorado (EPIC) grant on July 1. It’s a subtle shift in acronyms, but the scope is anything but subtle. “CTC taught us how to work together, but EPIC expands what we can do together,” Hayes told the council. “We’re not losing who we are. We are building on a foundation that took years to create.”

That foundation is built on concrete numbers. The Youth Action Council has grown, school-based mentoring programs are active, and the Safe Spaces initiative has started mapping out where young people actually feel safe. The data is interesting. When the coalition surveyed more than 200 youths, the ice rink and the movie theater came out as top spots for comfort. But the shadows were darker. Sherwood Park and City Park flagged major concerns. Youth pointed to Sherwood Park’s secluded trails, poor lighting, and lack of trash cans as breeding grounds for fights, drinking, and drug use.

One teen summed it up bluntly during a coalition meeting: “I’d feel better going to Sherwood if there just wasn’t so much trash laying around.”

The city listened. A joint cleanup effort between the coalition and city crews hit both parks, clearing out the debris that had become a magnet for neglect. Now, the coalition is finalizing a countywide resource guide — a project that had stalled for years. With roughly 1,500 copies slated for print and distribution across Moffat County, the paper trail is finally catching up to the pavement.

But the pavement is changing, too. Later in the meeting, the conversation shifted from youth to wheels. Councilmember Joe Herod leaned into the mic, his voice carrying the frustration of a man who’s been cut off by a machine. He’s seen it on the streets of Craig: younger riders weaving through traffic on electric bikes, moving at speeds that make the old rules feel obsolete.

“I had a couple of kids run out in front of me, flip me off, and I was like, what the heck,” Herod said.

It’s a small moment, but it captures the friction of a city trying to figure out where the sidewalk ends and the road begins. Police Chief Michael Cochran noted that the issue is relatively new, with municipalities just starting to draft ordinances to address the technology. City Manager KC Hume was in the middle of weighing in when the meeting adjourned, leaving the question of speed limits and age restrictions hanging in the air, much like the dust from the cleanup at Sherwood Park.

Outside the council chambers, the streetlights flicker on, casting long shadows across the empty sidewalks. A lone e-bike leans against a lamppost, its battery indicator glowing a steady green in the dark.