BARRY NOREEN: In dark times, mayor hits on a few bright points

"The state of the city is good. We have a wonderful future ahead of us."

Thus spake Colorado Springs Mayor Lionel Rivera on Tuesday in delivering the annual State of the City address.

Rivera acknowledged times are tough, but in keeping with tradition, he was upbeat and focused on municipal bright spots.

Rivera is right that times are tough for City Hall and the taxpayers who keep it going, and he was right to set an optimistic tone.

It's what leaders should do in such times. We know gas is nearing $4 a gallon, but the message needn't be "all is lost, run for your lives."

Rivera focused on economic development, utilities, capital improvements and city services. He elicited applause a couple of times when recounting the city's successful campaign to keep the U.S. Olympic Committee headquarters.

Like most of our mayors, Rivera didn't touch on anything akin to human relations - City Hall historically hasn't been adept at that.

Mostly his message was a happy one. You'll have to forgive some for being less sanguine.

Joe Barrera, a longtime community activist and co-founder of the Colorado Springs Black/Latino Coalition, said, "In general I think that the city is a fairly tolerant place for racial and ethnic minorities, but having said that, I think the main problem, especially for Hispanics, is the huge number of working poor in the Hispanic community, and the city seems to be oblivious."

Barrera said, "The city needs to have more programs that help this group. They need to have, immediately, two or three more community centers focusing on helping the Hispanic and the African-American communities."

Instead, a tight budget has caused City Hall to ponder closing community centers in recent years. Adding centers is not going to happen.

Jim Stewart, president of the Black Chamber of Commerce, lauded improvements along I-25 that "have helped immensely."

Stewart said the city should get credit for moving members of minorities into the upper echelons of the police and fire departments. But he said "what they're not doing is recruiting minority candidates" at the entry level, meaning there may be few minorities in the upper ranks in the future.

Rivera trumpeted the construction of Fire Station No. 8 and heralded the major repair work the city did on the Cimarron Street bridge. He warned that to maintain police and fire protection, more cuts will be necessary to other general fund programs in 2009.

Even if he didn't say so Tuesday, Rivera knows it's about more than just infrastructure.

Barb Van Hoy, director of Citizens Project, credited the City Council for its unanimous support for the Diversity Festival.

"We could be shedding our reputation for not being a welcoming place," Van Hoy said.

However, she added that the city's failure to provide benefits for same-sex partners of city employees "continues to be a thorn in our quest to become the kind of city anyone would want to live in. We're definitely behind the times."

Francine Hansen of the Council of Neighbors and Organizations said her organization likes what it has seen from City Hall lately.

"Our biggest issues are land use issues," Hansen said. "They're pretty responsive. ... On the whole they're pretty good."

Tough times, yes. But most of that has to do with economic forces beyond City Hall's reach.

The best of times or the worst of times? Not even close.

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Contact Barry Noreen at 636-0363 or noreen@gazette.com. He appears every other Friday on KOAA's Comcast Channel 9 at 4 p.m.